He died
April 7, 1867, of dropsy, never having made any application for a
pension.
His widow filed an application for pension in 1880, thirteen years after
the soldier's death, alleging that the disease of which he died, claimed
to be dropsy, was contracted in the service.
The claim was rejected by the Pension Bureau on the ground that the
dropsy causing his death was not due to his military service, but that
he was subject to the same before his enlistment.
I am perfectly satisfied that the rejection upon the ground claimed was
correct.
GROVER CLEVELAND.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 19, 1888_.
_To the Senate_:
I return without approval Senate bill No. 1957, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Virtue Smith."
The beneficiary named in this bill is the widow of David M. Smith
(incorrectly named David W. Smith in the bill), who served as a bugler
in a Minnesota regiment from August 22, 1862, to September 28, 1862, in
a campaign against the Sioux Indians.
He received a gunshot wound in the right elbow, for which in 1867 he was
granted a pension of $6 a month, which was very soon thereafter
increased to $8, and in August, 1875, said pension was further increased
to $10 a month, which he received to the date of his death.
He died in the city of Washington on the 22d day of January, 1880.
He obtained a position in the Second Auditor's Office of the Treasury
Department in 1864, and worked steadily there until about six months
before his death.
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