2d Session. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. No. 32. DECEMBER 4, 1879.-Ordered to be printed. Mr. KIRKWOOD, from the Committee on Pensions, submitted the following REPORT: [To accompany bill S. 342. ] The Committee on Pensions, to whom was referred the bill (S. 342) granting a pension to Charles Reed, have examined the same, and report: That the petitioner enlisted in fall of 1861, in Company H, Eleventh Iowa Infantry Regiment, and was honorably discharged on July 15, 1865. (These facts are corroborated by the War Department records.) That prior to enlistment he was sound in body and health, of great physical strength, and free from any disease; that while in line of duty, on skirmish line, near Atlanta, Ga., on July 4, 1864, he was sun-struck, which occurred again near same place on 21st of same month; that he was treated for said disease by Dr. John G. Miller, assistant surgeon of his regiment, whose present whereabouts he cannot ascertain. Elizabeth Reed, petitioner's wife, Henry Hanson, and Henry Beechmann all testify to petitioner's soundness at and before enlistment, and of his disability and nervous prostration and inability to stand exposure to the sun since leaving the service. Benjamin Beech, captain of claimant's company, testifies to petitioner's good record as a soldier, to the sun-strokes alleged, and that petitioner thereafter was rendered unfit for severe duty while in service, and that his disability has continued and increased since his muster out of the service. The report of the board of examining surgeons, dated Muscatine, Iowa, November 7, 1877, describes petitioner's disability, and contains the following opinion: "Judging from his present condition and from the evidence before us, it is our belief that the said disability did originate in the service aforesaid and in the line of duty. The disability is permanent, and he is one-half incapacitated from obtaining his subsistence by manual labor." The Commissioner of Pensions reports, January 3, 1879, that the claim was rejected February 1, 1878, on the ground that there was no record evidence of the alleged disability, and because of claimant's inability to furnish the necessary testimony to connect it with his military service.. Your committee are of opinion that the evidence satisfactorily establishes the fact that the soldier is disabled by disease contracted in the service and in the line of duty. They recommend that the bill be amended by striking out in lines six and seven the words "at the rate of dollars per month," and that the bill so amended be passed. 2d Session. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. DECEMBER 4, 1879.-Ordered to be printed. No. 33. Mr. INGALLS, from the Committee on Pensions, submitted the following REPORT: [To accompany bill S. 341.] The Committee on Pensions, to whom was referred Senate bill 341, report: Peter Getert was a member of Company C, Sixteenth Regiment Iowa Volunteers. He enlisted November 12, 1862, and was discharged November, 1875. The records of the War Department fail to show treatment for any disease while in the service. He claims pension by reason of scurvy and rheumatism contracted while a prisoner of war at Andersonville in 1864. He furnishes evidence that he was sound and healthy when enlisted, and at the time of his capture. Two of his comrades testify to an attack of scurvy while at Andersonville, which soon after his exchange developed into extensive ulceration of the left leg, which has continued to the present time, accompanied by inflammatory rheumatism of an aggravated type. The board of examining surgeons at Muscatine, Iowa, certify, June 5, 1878, that they had carefully examined Getert, and found him suffering from disease of left leg, caused either by scurvy or varicose veins. They concluded that his disability originated in the service of the United States, in the line of duty. They fixed the rate of his incapacity at three-fourths; and concurring with them, the committee recommend that the bill do pass, with an amendment in the sixth line by inserting the word "six" before "dollars" in line seven. |