EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 10, 1888_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
I return without approval House bill No. 2233, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Bernard Carlin."
By this bill it is proposed to pension the beneficiary therein named as
of Company A, Fourteenth Regiment of Missouri Volunteer Infantry.
It seems that he served in the company and regiment named, but that he
also served in Company A, Sixty-sixth Illinois Regiment, and it is
claimed that while in the latter service exclusively he received the
injuries for which a pension is claimed.
His application is still pending in the Pension Bureau, and the papers
pertaining to the same are now in the hands of an examiner for special
examination.
I think this should be completed before a special act is passed, and
I understand this to be in accordance with a general rule adopted by
Congress and its pension committees. This is certainly the correct
course to be pursued in this case, in view of the failure to state in
the special bill the regiment and company to which the soldier belonged
at the time of the incurrence of disability. This can be corrected by
the Pension Bureau if the claim is found meritorious.