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CATHERINE CLIFFORD.

The Committee on Invalid Pensions, to whom was referred the bill

(H. R. 9318) granting an increase of pension to Catherine Clifford, hav-
ing carefully considered the facts presented, respectfully report:

The beneficiary of this bill, Catherine Clifford, is now drawing pen-
sion at $12 per month, under the general law, as the widow of James
Clifford, who served from October 21, 1864, to July 20, 1865, as private
of the Twenty-fifth Independent Battery, Indiana Light Artillery,
who died from disabilities contracted in said service.

and

2d Session.

{No. 2465.

LOWELL H. HOPKINSON.

JANUARY 8, 1897.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed.

Mr. POOLE, from the Committee on Invalid Pensions, submitted the

following REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 3785.]

The Committee on Invalid Pensions, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 3785) granting a pension to Lowell H. Hopkinson, having carefully considered the evidence relating thereto, report thereon as follows: Lowell H. Hopkinson served in Company H, Eleventh Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, from April 20, 1861, to October 25, 1862, when he was honorably discharged on surgeons' certificate of disability, on account of severe wound of right elbow, received at Manassas, Va., August 29, 1862. He served in Company A, Fifty-ninth and Fiftyseventh Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry from November 14, 1863, to July 30, 1865. During this service he was treated for chronic diarrhea and pleurisy contracted while a prisoner of war. He was taken prisoner at Coldharbor, Va., June 3, 1864, and paroled December 10, 1864. He was pensioned under the general law for gunshot wound of left arm and disease of kidneys, and was receiving $5 per month when, on September 17, 1890, he was allowed a pension of $8 per month under act of June 27, 1890. He was granted an increase to $12 under said law, from November 12, 1895, which rate he is now receiving for disease of urinary organs, gunshot wound of left arm, loss of part of right index finger, lumbago, and paralysis.

The certificate of last medical examination rates him two-eighteenths for wound of arm, four-eighteenths for loss of part of index finger, seventeen-eighteenths for paralysis and resulting urinary disease, and ten-eighteenths for malarial poisoning. He requires the regular personal aid and attendance of another person.

The wound of left arm and disease of kidneys are established as of service origin, but the other disabilities are not. If they were he would be entitled to $72 under the general law. The paralysis and urinary disease are connected by the examining board as cause and effect. Paralysis seems to be the principal disability. Claimant can not rise from his bed without assistance, but by means of a rope, attached to a ring over his bed, he is able to raise his shoulders while an assistant swings him into a wheel chair, where he sits and moves about the room. Evidence of two credible witnesses, filed with this committee, shows that claimant in his helpless condition has absolutely no means of support aside from his pension of $12 per month. It is recommended that the bill be amended by striking out the word "fifty," in line 4, and inserting in lieu thereof the word "thirty," and that as amended the bill do pass.

H. Rep. 2- -3

2d Session.

ELLA D. CROSS.

No. 2466.

JANUARY 8, 1897.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed.

Mr. SULLOWAY, from the Committee on Invalid Pensions, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany S. 3415.]

The Committee on Invalid Pensions, to whom was referred the bill (S. 3415) granting a pension to Ella D. Cross, having carefully considered the facts in the case, respectfully report:

At the last session of this Congress an exactly similar bill for the relief of the beneficiary named was introduced in the Senate (S. 997), reported favorably (Senate Report No. 89), and passed that body February 19, 1896 (Record, 1919). It was favorably reported by the Committee on Invalid Pensions (House Report No. 844), debated in Committee of the Whole (Record, 5582), and passed the House May 29, 1896 (Record, 5920), after which it was sent to the President, but suffered a pocket

veto.

The facts in the case may be summarized as follows:

Claimant is the widow of Richard E. Cross, late lieutenant-colonel of the Fifth New Hampshire Infantry, known as the "Fighting Fifth." September 5, 1861, he was mustered in as a private, and served continuously until August 4, 1864, after which time he was pensioned for gunshot wounds of chest, hand, and leg. He died September 16, 1894, leaving the claimant and an invalid daughter.

December 10, 1894, his widow applied for a pension, and the case was several times submitted and resubmitted for admission, the gunshot wound of chest being accepted as the death cause. The medical referee, however, rejected the claim, on the ground that death was due to apoplexy. The evidence tends to show that the soldier died from heart disease, and the examining surgeons at Washington find that this disease was due to the gunshot wound in chest. If there is any doubt at all in the matter, we think it should be resolved in favor of the claimant. She is poor and in broken health.

The soldier had an excellent military record, to which his three wounds partly testify, and he participated, with his famous regiment, in some of the severest battles of the war.

Your committee again respectfully recommend the passage of the bill.

2d Session.

No. 2467.

THOMAS H. CARPENTER.

JANUARY 8, 1897.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed.

Mr. FENTON, from the Committee on Military Affairs, submitted the

following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 1841.]

The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 1841) authorizing the restoration of the name of Thomas H. Carpenter, late captain, Seventeenth United States Infantry, to the rolls of the Army, and providing that he be placed on the retired list of officers, have considered the same and find that the facts in the case are substantially set forth in Senate Report No. 1295, Fifty-second Congress, second session, part of which report is hereunto appended and unanimously adopted as the report of this committee.

[Senate Report No. 770, Forty-sixth Congress, third session.]

The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was recommitted the bill (S. No. 129) authorizing the restoration of the name of Thomas H. Carpenter, late captain, Seventeenth U. S. Infantry, to the rolls of the Army, and providing that he be placed on the list of retired officers, have duly considered the same and beg leave to make the following report:

Capt. Carpenter was appointed a first lieutenant from civil life in the Seventeenth U. S. Infantry May 14, 1861, and was promoted to the rank of captain May 4, 1863. He shared the different vicissitudes of the Army of the Potomac until the battle of Gettysburg. He was promoted to the brevet rank of major for gallant and meritorious services at that battle, where he was so severely wounded while charging the enemy on the morning of July 3, 1863, as to render him permanently unable to perform active military duty, and he has not up to the present time recovered from the disability caused by the wound which he received.

At Capt. Carpenter's request, in January, 1864, and while still using crutches, he was assigned to duty as assistant provost-marshal for the State of Iowa, and rendered such services as he was able to perform in his disabled condition until October of that year, when he was ordered to the headquarters of his regiment, at Fort Preble, Portland Harbor, Maine, where he continued for some time to perform such services as he was able to render. He was twice examined by Surg. Gen. Barnes, and was by him pronounced wholly unable to perform military duty, not only from the effects of a wound in the left thigh, but from inguinal hernia, resulting from services rendered in the line of duty as an officer. Dr. Barnes was also of opinion that either disability disqualified him for the performance of military duty. After performing such duty as he could at Fort Preble, from October, 1864, to August, 1865, using a cane when on duty as officer of the day, he was ordered before a retiring board, then in session at Wilmington, Del. A surgical examination there by Surgs. Baily and Edwards developed the fact that he had received a gunshot wound in the left thigh, that his knee was stiffened thereby, and that he was suffering from oblique inguinal hernia, requiring the use of a truss; but nevertheless the board, with these facts before it, found that he was not incapacitated for the performance of the active duties of his office in the field.

In February, 1866, on account of Capt. Carpenter's evident unfitness for the performance of active military duty, he was again ordered before a retiring board, sitting in Philadelphia. For some months previous to his appearance before this board

he had been suffering severely from a sore throat and had obtained a surgeon's certificate on that account as a ground for a leave of absence. The surgeons on the board, not finding any disease of the throat (as he had recovered from that affection before appearing before them), appeared to take it for granted that he was capable of performing active service in the field, notwithstanding it was shown and admitted by them that he was suffering from permanent stiffness and lameness of the left leg, and also from hernia, requiring the support of a truss, and without such support his entrails would be liable to come down, and when down to strangulation might result in death. They regarded the danger from this cause so great as to advise him to provide himself with a duplicate truss when in the field, to avoid danger in case one should break. Nevertheless the board found and reported that he was not incapacitated for active service. The action of this board was such as to force him to resign. In sending in his resignation he said:

66

Having been pronounced permanently lame, but fit for duty in the field, by the surgeons of the retiring board, I am forced to resign my commission as captain in the Seventeenth U. S. Infantry."

By staying in the Army he could, of course, have drawn full pay for years and done no duty, for no commanding officer would have ordered anyone in his condition to perform active duty, and retirement would have been the ultimate result. But Capt. Carpenter did not look upon it in that light at that time.

In June, 1868, he attempted to have his case reopened, and to that end called on Gen. Hancock, who then had his headquarters in Washington, D. C. Gen. Hancock remembered the case, and admitted the wrong and contradictory report of the surgeons, and called the attention of Gen. Schofield (then Secretary of War) to it. Gen. Schofield, as a first step toward righting an evident wrong, as he said, ordered Capt. Carpenter before a retiring board in New York City. The proceedings of this board show that he was suffering from lameness and hernia, but notwithstanding these facts, and the declaration of the board that he was thereby disqualified for appointment to an office in the Army, it found and reported that he was not incapacitated for active service at the time.

The certificate of Surg. Billings of March 15, 1869, approved by Surg. Gen. Barnes, shows that Capt. Carpenter was then suffering with hernia and from the effects of a gunshot wound, causing stiffness of the knee, by which he was rendered unfit for the duties of an officer serving with troops. The certificate of Surg. Basil Norris, of February 28, 1880, shows that Capt. Carpenter was still suffering from hernia and from the wound in his left thigh, and that from these causes, or either of them, he was disqualified for military duty. He was examined by a great number of surgeons (outside of the retiring boards) and all of them, without a single exception, have given it as their opinion that in consequence of his injuries he was unfit for military duty; and the certificates of the following surgeons and physicians to the same effect are filed with the papers in the case, and can be readily referred to if necessary: Dr. A. O. Blanding, late surgeon Twentieth Iowa Volunteers; Dr. A. T. Hudson, late surgeon Twenty-sixth Iowa Infantry; Dr. George F. Wetherell, late assistant surgeon Twenty-sixth Iowa Infantry; J. S. Billings, assistant surgeon and. brevet lieutenant-colonel, U. S. Army; Dr. Washington Reynolds, of Kittanning, Pa.; Harvey E. Brown, brevet major and assistant surgeon, U. S. Army; and Henry C. Parry, assistant surgeon, U. S. Army, Fort Preble, Me.

The official record of Capt. Carpenter's service, and Adjt. Gen. Townsend's letter of August 16, 1865, show that he was severely wounded at the battle of Gettysburg, July 3, 1863, and that in consequence thereof he was only assigned to light duty afterwards. Letters are also on file with the papers from Maj. S. H. Lathrop, Seventeenth U. S. Infantry; Lieut. Col. Andrews, Thirteenth U. S. Infantry; and Col. Greene, Sixth U. S. Infantry, testifying to the manner in which he performed his duty as an officer. His restoration with a view to retirement was recommended by the House Military Committee of the Forty-first Congress, and a bill authorizing his retirement passed the House on the 29th day of February, 1879, but reached the Senate too late for consideration.

In conclusion, the committee beg leave to say that they are of opinion that the findings of the three retiring boards were erroneous, unjust, and not warranted by the true facts of the case. They believe that Capt. Carpenter was not fit at the time he was respectively examined by them to do field or garrison duty, or even to carry a sword and scabbard, as it was impossible for him to walk any distance without feeling great pain in his body and stiffness in his wounded leg; and there seems to be no doubt in the mind of your committee that if Capt. Carpenter had continued in the performance of military duty he would have aggravated his disease (hernia), and which would probably have resulted in his premature death.

From the above state of facts, the committee feel justified in reporting the bill back to the Senate favorably.

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