EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 23, 1889_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
I herewith return without approval House bill No. 11999, entitled "An
act granting a pension to William Barnes."
The beneficiary named in this bill served in a Kentucky regiment from
August 9, 1861, to December 6, 1864.
He made claim for pension in the Pension Bureau in September, 1882,
alleging that in October, 1862, he was accidentally injured by a pistol
shot in the thigh while in the line of duty.
It is conceded that he was wounded by the discharge of a pistol which he
was carrying while he was absent from his command with permission on a
visit to his home, and that the discharge of the pistol was accidental.
The circumstances of the injury are neither given in the report of the
committee to whom the claim was referred by the House of Representatives
nor in the report of the case furnished to me from the Pension Bureau,
but on the conceded facts the granting of a pension in this case can be
predicated upon no other theory except the liability of the Government
for any injury by accident to a person in the military service, whether
in the line of duty or not.
I think the adoption of the principle that the Government is an insurer
against accidents under any circumstances befalling those enlisted in
its military service when visiting at home is an unwarrantable stretch
of pension legislation.