l the time of his death, August 21, 1874.

In 1882 his widow filed her application for pension, alleging that he
died of wounds received in battle. The claim was made that he was
injured while in the Army by a horse running over him.

There is little or no evidence of such an injury having been received;
and if this was presented there would be no necessary connection between
that and the cause of the soldier's death, which was certified by the
attending physician to be gastritis and congestion of the kidneys.

I can hardly see how the Pension Bureau could arrive at any conclusion
except that the death of the soldier was not due to his military
service, and the acceptance of this finding, after an examination of the
facts, leads me to disapprove this bill.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 6, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 5394, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Sallie Ann Bradley."

The husband of this proposed beneficiary was discharged from the
military service in 1865, after a long service, and was afterwards
pensioned for gunshot wound.

He died in 1882. The widow appears to have never filed a claim for
pension in her own right.

No cause is given of the soldier's death, but it is not claimed that it
resulted from his military service, her pension being asked for entirely
because of her needs and the faithful service of her husband and her
sons.

This presents the question whether a gift in such a case is a proper
disposition of money appropriated for the purpose of paying pensions.

The passage of this law would, in my opinion, establish a precedent so
far-reaching and open the door to such a vast multitude of claims not on
principle within our present pension laws that I am constrained to
disapprove the bill under consideration.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 6, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return herewith without approval House bill No. 5603, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Mrs. Catherine McCarty."

The beneficiary is the widow of John McCarty, of the First Missouri
Regiment of State Militia Volunteers, who died at Clinton, Mo., April 8,
1864.

The widow filed her claim in 1866, alleging that her husband died while
in the service from an overdose of colchicum.

The evidence shows without dispute that on the day previous to the death
of the soldier a comrade procure