The last medical examination of the soldier, made on May 9, 1901, describes his physical condition as follows:

Malarial poisoning: Tongue has a heavy yellow coating. Epigastrium is tender. Area of hepatic dullness extends 3 inches in the median line.

He is well nourished; his skin is smooth and of good healthy color; his muscles are not large, nor are they firm. He does not claim to have had any chills nor fever in a long time, but does allege frequent headaches.

Rheumatism: We find no restriction of normal mobility in any joint, though the distal phalangeal joints show a little thickening, as though there were slight calcareous deposits, yet he closes the fingers perfectly and swings his arm freely. He arises with care, but alleges that the effort is painful to his back, and he flinches when pressure is made on the dorsum.

Heart: There is a marked mitral regurgitant murmur, some oedema of both legs, and marked dyspnoea after running rapidly up and down two flights of stairs.

Deafness: There is otitis media and chronic catarrh in both ears, especially in right ear. There is exostosis of the nasal septum which extends across the right cavity and has burrowed into the opposite inferior turbinated bone, which created chronic pharyngitis and the otitis media. Can hear at a distance of 2 feet with difficulty. Hearing impaired to a like degree in left ear.

The board of surgeons recommended a rating of $10 per month under the act of June 27, 1890, on account of disease of heart and severe deafness of both ears.

There has been filed with your committee the affidavit of the beneficiary, setting forth that he is incapacitated for earning a subsistence by reason of physical inability to do manual labor, and by reason of deafness; that owing to deafness he is unable to obtain a position as bookkeeper (the occupation he had followed for thirty-four years) having been refused positions on that account, and that he has no means whatever except the pension of $8 per month.

There has also been filed with your committee the affidavit of Dr. George W. Bush, of Brooklyn, N. Y., setting forth that he examined the beneficiary and found him to be suffering from severe deafness of both ears, the result of old ulcerative and inflammatory processes, that it is difficult for him to hear any conversation; that he also found the action of the heart irregular, apparently the result of muscular rheumatism, and that his condition is such that he is almost wholly debarred by these disabilities from earning a living.

It seems to your committee that the soldier's pharyngitis and catarrh is a result of, and traceable to, the disease of the respiratory organs (phthisis) for which he was formerly pensioned, and that the deafness is of course a result of such catarrh.

Under these circumstances your committee believes that the relief sought for in the bill is justified, and the bill is therefore reported back with the recommendation that it pass after the same shall have been amended as follows:

In line 7 strike out the word "Volunteers" and insert in lieu thereof the words "Volunteer Infantry."

1st Session.

JOHN C. NELSON.

No. 2120.

MAY 20, 1902.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed.

Mr. GIBSON, from the Committee on Invalid Pensions, submitted the

following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 5480.]

The Committee on Invalid Pensions, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 5480) increasing pension of John C. Nelson, submit the following report:

This bill proposes to increase the pension of John C. Nelson, late captain of Company I, Eleventh Tennessee Cavalry, from $12 to $24

per month.

Records of the War Department show that John C. Nelson, the beneficiary named in the bill, and now 67 years of age, served as captain of Company I, Eleventh Tennessee Cavalry, from October 13, 1863, to September 13, 1864, when he was discharged on an adverse report of a military board in accordance with section 10 of an act of Congress approved July 22, 1861.

This act of Congress last named provided a military commission to examine into the capacity, qualifications, propriety of conduct, and efficiency of commissioned officers of volunteers, and in the case of the beneficiary this commission found that he knew but little of the regulations and tactics-in fact, the commission regarded him as incompetent for the position which he held, hence his discharge.

He is now, and has been since July 18, 1890, a pensioner under the act of June 27, 1890, at the maximum rating, namely, $12 per month, on account of total inability to earn a support by manual labor, due to rheumatism, disease of heart, and disease of left eye.

His claim to pension under the general law, filed on July 7, 1888, and based upon rheumatism and neuralgia, alleged to have been incurred by exposure, etc., while wading across the Tennessee River near Knoxville, Tenn., in December, 1863, etc., was rejected on July 20, 1900, upon the ground of no record in the War Department of treatment for said disabilities or of other satisfactory testimony showing origin of said disabilities in the service, and claimant's inability, after

having been afforded the benefits of a special examination, to furnish the required testimony, and the testimony procured tending to show existence of rheumatism prior to enlistment.

The beneficiary, subsequent to this rejection, filed testimony tending to show that he was free from rheumatism at and prior to his enlistment, but the Pension Bureau declined to reopen the case upon the ground that such testimony merely related to prior soundness, which did not go to the cause of rejection.

Testimony obtained upon special examination shows that the officer at the time of his enlistment and during the first part of the service was vigorous and robust, but a physician who knew the officer before the war testified that the officer's principal trouble as a young man in his young days and before the war was rheumatism of the chest; that while he could not say positively that his disease prior to the war was rheumatism, the tendency, however, was rheumatic; that he had a complication of bronchial troubles with rheumatic tendencies; that he got well, however, of that attack, and that rheumatism was not developed. A lieutenant and a number of comrades of the officer's company testified that the officer while in the service, in the latter part of 1863 and first part of 1864, complained of rheumatism and pain all over him; that he was sick and under treatment of the surgeon; that by the way he walked they could tell he had rheumatism, and the physician who testified that the officer prior to the war had a tendency to rheumatism, but that rheumatism never developed prior to the war, testified that he treated him a year or so after the war for rheumatism and gastric catarrh; and two brothers and a sister of the officer, and others who knew him since 1865 and 1868, respectively, testified that he either had rheumatism or complained of rheumatism and neuralgia upon his return from the army; that he was hardly able to walk at one time; that he was crippled up in his legs and complained of his legs and heart, and that he also complained of neuralgia; that his rheumatism was most manifest in cold and wet weather; and medical testimony was also filed, covering the period since 1884, as to treatment for intercostal rheumatism and neuralgia and for eye trouble and operations on the eyes since 1889 and 1890.

The last medical examination of the soldier, made on April 18, 1900, described his condition as follows:

We find all joints tender when manipulated, but not enlarged. We find a general atrophy of all muscles, with slight contraction of muscles and tenderness of left arm and shoulder, and loss of power three-fourths.

We think, from history of case and present indications, that claimant suffers with frequent attacks of supra orbital neuralgia and brachial neuralgia of the left side of the heart. We find also dyspnoea and slight dilatation.

We find a left oblique inguinal hernia, tumor passing through the external ring; tumor size of a goose egg. Rate $12 for rheumatism, $4 for neuralgia, $6 for disease of heart, and $10 for inguinal hernia.

There has been filed with your committee the affidavit of several residents of Dayton, Tenn., setting forth that the beneficiary is and has been severely afflicted with chronic rheumatism, which renders him totally unable to do manual labor; that his income being insufficient to pay for medical treatment and the expenses necessary to support his family, he gave a mortgage on his home property to procure the necessary means, and being unable to pay the mortgage when due, he even lost his home; that he is now in pecuniary destitution and has dependent upon him a wife who is mentally wrong.

The evidence in the case indicates that the officer's rheumatism or neuralgia was due to his military service, and in view of the findings of the board of examining surgeons of April 18, 1900, an increase of his pension to $17 per month therefore appears fully justified.

The bill is reported back with the recommendation that it pass after the same shall have been amended as follows:

In line 6, before the word "Company," strike out the word “of.” In same line, after the word "Eleventh," insert the word "Regiment. In line 7, before the word "Cavalry," insert the word "Volunteer." In same line, strike out the words war between the States."

In line 8, strike out the word "twenty-four" and insert in lieu thereof the word "seventeen."

In line 9, strike out the words "the one" and insert in lieu thereof the word "that."

Amend the title so as to read: "A bill granting an increase of pension to John C. Nelson."

H R-57-1—Vol 8- -9