EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 16, 1889_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
I return without approval House bill No. 7, entitled "An act granting a
pension to Thomas B. Walsh."
This beneficiary enlisted January 1, 1864, and was discharged August 1,
1865.
He is reported absent without leave in April, 1864, and further recorded
as having deserted November 24, 1864. He was restored to duty in May,
1865, by the President's proclamation.
He filed an application for pension in December, 1881, alleging that he
contracted rheumatism in May, 1865.
This statement of the claimant and nearly, if not all, the evidence in
the case which tends to show the incurrence of the disability complained
of appear to fix its appearance at a date very near the return of the
beneficiary after his desertion.
In these circumstances the proof of disability, such as it is, is as
consistent with its incurrence during desertion as it is with the theory
that the beneficiary suffered therefrom as the result of honorable
military service.