burden and expense upon his mother, who, as the evidence on file shows, has no property and no means of support other than her labor. After considering the facts in the case your committee is clearly of the opinion that the bill should pass after amending the same by inserting after the word "receiving" where it occurs in the ninth line the following:

Provided, That in the event of the death of Walter D. Harbraugh, invalid and dependent child of said Daniel L. Harbraugh, the additional pension herein granted shall cease and determine.

Amend by striking out "twenty-five" in line 8 and inserting "twenty-four."

JOHN D. CRAIG.

MAY 29, 1900.-Ordered to be printed.

Mr. KYLE, from the Committee on Pensions, submitted the following

The Committee on Pensions, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 4577) granting an increase of pension to John D. Craig, have examined the same and report:

The report of the Committee on Invalid Pensions of the House of Representatives, hereto appended, is adopted and the passage of the bill is recommended.

HOUSE REPORT.

Records of the War Department show that this soldier, now 63 years of age, served as a private in Company M, Fourth Illinois Cavalry, from September 5, 1861, to September 26, 1864; that he was wounded at Pittsburg Landing, Tenn., April 8, 1862, in the left leg just below the knee, and that he was under treatment for intermittent fever from May 14 to May 23, 1862; and these records also show that the soldier was on duty in the secret police department, Natchez, Miss., and as scout with the provost-marshal of Vicksburg in August, 1864.

He first applied for pension April 17, 1880, on account of the wound of left leg, and was pensioned on account of same in 1882 at $8 per month from the date of his discharge from the Army.

Between the date of the above allowance of pension and May, 1888, he filed five applications for increase of pension, all of which were rejected upon the ground that a higher rating was not warranted, and in none of these applications did the soldier allege any disability other than the one for which pensioned.

In May, 1889, his pension was increased to $12 per month from November 14, 1888, by reason of the wound of leg.

On September 26, 1889, he filed a claim on account of an additional disability, namely, sunstroke, alleged to have been incurred in July, 1862, while at the forge as farrier and blacksmith for the company; this claim, however, was rejected November 16, 1897, upon the ground that there was no record of treatment for said disability in the service, and that the claimant, with the aid of a special examination, had failed to furnish satisfactory evidence showing the origin of epilepsy as a result of sunstroke in the service.

The claimant first alleged that the sunstroke was incurred in July, 1862, but subsequently changed the date of incurrence to August, 1863.

It may be accepted as legally established that the claimant was free from anything

like fits, spasms, or epilepsy before enlistment, being, however, of an excitable temperament and passionate disposition, becoming at times easily angered, and then talking loud and looking wild.

On the point of incurrence of sunstroke or fact that he became overheated in the service, and that epilepsy, spasms, or fits resulted, the testimony is conflicting. His assistant as blacksmith in the service and his orderly sergeant and several comrades could not remember that he contracted any disease or ailment in the service, and never saw him have any fits or spasms in the service; while others of his company testify to the claimant becoming overheated in Tennessee and that he had several fits or spasms thereafter which the doctor said were epileptic; and from extracts from an alleged diary kept by the soldier during his service, it would appear that he had become very heated in August, 1863, while trying to fit more shoes ready to drive than two men could drive; and that in October, 1863, and March, 1864, he had spasms so that it was not deemed safe to put him on guard duty, on account of the

same.

The beneficiary, however, refused to submit such diary to the Pension Bureau in proof, and his statement that he sent such diary home to one Alexander Wells is denied by said Wells.

According to claimant's statements he remained in the secret service of the Government from discharge to the winter of 1865; then was employed as assistant treasurer in Costello's circus, and in Howe's show, until 1866, and thence, to 1867, sold patent rights in Illinois. In the spring of 1867 he went to Cooper County, Mo., and started blacksmithing.

He married on March 22, 1867, and from that time on the testimony takes him up, and while some of the witnesses testified that he was then in apparently good health, others testified that he complained of neuralgia or rheumatism and aching pains in his shoulders and arms; that his mind was not right at times, and that he had spasms and spells; that beginning some time after 1871 he was under treatment at times for epilepsy minor, had flighty spells, and that this condition continued; and, while not a typical case of epilepsy, the claimant, however, suffered from tetanic spasms, with loss of consciousness and spasmodic respiration.

Medical examination of May 25, 1892, rated the soldier $12 for the wound of leg and $30 for epilepsy, and described the last-named disability as follows:

"There is quite a good deal of anesthesia of skin; reflexes are absent; muscular twitching, very tremulous and nervous; shows a decided loss of mental power, conversation interrupted and vocabulary is limited."

The board of surgeons stated that the claimant was incapacitated by epilepsy from the performance of any manual labor.

There has been filed with your committee the statement of Dr. Inskeep, of Mount Carmel, Ill., to the effect that he has known the soldier for the last eight or nine years; that he has had from two to eight seizures of an epileptic character during said day; that his mind for the last five years has been a total wreck; and that he requires an attendant to keep him from falling; and that he is unable to do any work.

While your committee is not willing to hold that the present epilepsy from which the beneficiary is suffering is a result of having been overheated while in the service, the preponderance of proof, however, shows that he was so overheated; and your committee is willing to resolve the doubts in the case, as to whether the present disease of the nervous system is due to such overheating, in favor of the beneficiary to the extent of recommending that his pension be increased, not to $72 per month, as sought for in the bill, but to $30 per month; and report the bill back with the recommendation that it pass.

1st Session.

No. 1548.

WILLIAM H. McLYMAN.

MAY 29, 1900.-Ordered to be printed.

Mr. KYLE, from the Committee on Pensions, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 4999.]

The Committee on Pensions, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 4999) granting an increase of pension to William H. McLyman, have examined the same and report:

The report of the Committee on Invalid Pensions of the House of Representatives, hereto appended, is adopted and the passage of the bill is recommended.

HOUSE REPORT.

Records of the War Department show that William H. McLyman served as first lieutenant Company C, Thirty-eighth Regiment Ohio Volunteers, from August 25, 1861, to November 15, 1862, and as captain and commissary of subsistence of volunteers from November 15, 1862, to August 22, 1865, and that he was brevetted major, United States Volunteers, August 18, 1865, for efficient and meritorious services. He never filed a claim for pension under the general law, but is now, and has been since March 21, 1896, a pensioner under the act of June 27, 1890, at $10 per month, on account of partial inability to earn a support by manual labor by reason of disease of heart and sciatica, and this action was based upon a certificate of medical examination of July 8, 1896, which showed as follows:

"There is marked tenderness on pressure along the course of the sciatic nerve from its point of emergence from the pelvis to the knee. Claimant is unable to walk without the use of a crutch. Amount of disability, $12. Heart's action rapid; sounds weak and muffled. Claimant complains of vertigo and shortness of breath; is obese, being about 60 pounds over weight. In our opinion, he has a fatty heart. Amount of disability, $12. This claimant is so disabled from sciatic rheumatism and disease of heart as to be incapacitated for performing any manual labor. Amount of disability under old law, $30."

It will be seen that notwithstanding the description of the disabilities herein stated, showing total inability to perform any manual labor, and which condition was further shown by the testimony of Drs. Fuller and Trichler, the Pension Bureau, instead of allowing, as it should have done, a rating of $12 under the act of June 27, 1890, granted but $10 per month.

There has been filed with your committee a large number of affidavits setting forth that the beneficiary has been suffering for a few years past from chronic rheumatism

and other ailments, totally incapacitating him from pursuing his usual vocation or performing labor of any kind; that in consequence thereof he has had business reverses and is at the present time very poor; that his services during the war were responsible and laborious, and that he stood high as a competent and reliable officer, and that the pension of $10 per month is entirely inadequate to furnish him with the necessaries that his age and infirmities demand.

In the opinion of your committee the probabilities are that the disabilities from which this officer is suffering to-day are due, in a large measure, to exposure during his service of four years in the Army; in view of which your committee believe that the rating of $24 is fully warranted, and report the bill back with the recommendation that it pass.