GROVER CLEVELAND.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _October 16, 1888_
_To the House of Representatives_:
I return without approval House bill No. 6201, entitled "An act granting
a pension to John Robeson."
The beneficiary named in this bill enlisted August 8, 1862, and was
discharged for disability on the 21st day of November, 1862, after a
service of a little more than three months.
In the certificate of disability upon which his discharge was granted
the captain of the beneficiary's company states that "he has been unfit
for duty for sixty days; that the soldier represents that he has not
done efficient service since enlistment by reason of phthisic, from
which he has suffered since childhood, but has grown worse since
entering the service."
The surgeon of the regiment states in said certificate that "the soldier
has asthma, with which he has been afflicted from his infancy."
Upon this certificate, based necessarily so far as his previous
condition is concerned, this man procured his discharge after doing but
very slight service.
He filed an application for pension in the Pension Bureau in October,
1879, basing his claim upon the allegation that he contracted asthma in
September, 1862, about a month after he entered the service.
Two special examinations were had in his case, and his statement was
taken in each.
On the first examination he said he could not account for the statements
of his captain and surgeon, unless they arose from a remark he made that
he had phthisic when he was small.
Pages:
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783
784
785
786