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THE XATTONAIi TRIBUNE: WASHUSTG-TOX, U. 0., JULY" 29, 1882.
iasuc-d consisted of mule incat. When ra
tions are cut off for twenty-four hours the
deficiency is never made jiood. I notice
that sleeping in the moonlight -without
shelter has had a singular oflccfc on a great
many persons. Somo have become " moon
struck," and gone crazy; others have
become totally blind. Thore are scores of
idiots and lunatics imprisoned here, whose
mental disorders havo entirely originated
from extreme suffering. Incessant Ir.ncer is
a terrible affliction. There have been hun
dreds of deaths in this prison from the mere
want of water. As soon as a man becomes
helpless he is usually deserted by all who
know him. This is not always the case, but
is usually so. Every day when I go to the
Kwainp I sco at least a weore of half-dying
men lying within a rod of it, vainly begging
the passers-by for a drink of water. Nobody
will give it to them, for if you let them
drink out of your cup .you may catch the
scurvy or some other .loathsome disease.
Self-preservation seem&'fco require this dis
play of cruelty. They lay there until they
die and are dragged out of the way. The
water wc obtain from the creek is unfit to
drink. It is foul and contaminated, but we
must drink that or none. All the wells in
the prif on are private property. At the dis
tance of about forty paces from the western
side of the stockade "Wirz has had a line of
tall poles put up. running across the camp
from north to south. At the top of each
one of them floats a white rag. "We have
been notified that if any unusual crowds of
us collect -within the line of those poles, the
batteries will open on us with grape and
canister without warning.
August 6th. Every morning a troop of
horsemen, blowing horns, and accompanied
by a pack of blood-hounds, circle around the
stockade and adjacent sections to strike the
trail of any prisoners who may have escaped
during the night. I hear it frequently stated
that many fugitives are overtaken and torn
to pieces by these bloody dogs. "Wirz occa
sionally takes part in these " hunts." On my
way to the swamp this morning T saw the
police lash a thief unmercifully. He had been
convicted of stealing a canteen. They made
him takeoff his shirt and tied him to a pole,
and a " cat-?o-ninc tails" brought the blood
and yells at every blow. I narrowly escaped
a punishment of this kind myself a few days
ago. On the second or third evening after my
arrival, somebody shouted near me, " "Who
wants to buy a good quart cup V Having
nothing to cook my rations ill I yelled " this
way with your cup," and paid .$10 in rebel
scrip for it the last money I had. I poured
some water in it, and discovered that it
leaked, and on turning round quickly found
that the person I had bought it of had
promptly disappeared. He was a stranger
from some distant detachment, the darkness
assisted to conceal his identity, and I real
ized that there was no use in trying to find
him. Plugging the bottom of the cup with
a rag, I consoled myself with the thought
that it would answer very well to carry
water in from the swamp. "While I was
using it for this purpose the next day a pris
oner claimed it. I refused to give it up, and
-was instantly arrested on the charge of steal
ing it, and was marched in haste to the pres
ence of the Chief of Police. " Where is the
man -you bought it of? " was the first ques
tion asked me after I had! told my storyl Of
course, it was impossible for me to, answer
that. The owner of the cup proved' his
property beyond the shadow of a doubt, and
with malicious eagerness demanded that I
should be stripped and lashed. The Chief
cogitated a few moments with all the care
and thought of a Supreme Court Justice, and
then informed me that he believed my state
ment and ordered me released. I lost my
ten dollars, however, which is a heavy loss
in this place. Subsequently a policeman
enme to my detachment and took me to po
lice headquarters, informing me that the
real thief had been found. I confronted him,
but hesitated to swear positively that he was
the man, since it was quite dark when I
made my purchase, nis reputation was a
bad one, and he was released with the warn
ing that a severe lashing awaited him if a
complaint against him was ever presented
there again. "When a man is found dead in
the morning (they usually die at night) he
is stripped stark naked. His hands are then
laid across his breast, his wrists are tied to
gether with a rag, and his big toes are tied
together ia the same manner. This com
pletes his funeral toilet. The rags we call
"clothing" that have been taken oft' him,
though thickly infested with vermin, become
the property of his brother, if he has one
here; if not, then his "pardner" gets them,
some member of his company or regiment,
some member of his prison mess, or whoever
endeavored to take care of him during his
last illness. The claim to the property
comes in about the order I have stated. This
regulation is enforced with considerable
exactness, and prevents many fierce tumults.
August 1th. An acquaintance, who has
just returned from the swamp, informs me
that while he was washing himself a pris
oner close by him was shot dead by a brutal
guard. One man was dipping water near
the dead-line (the water is purer where it
first flows into the stockade) when a sentry
who had been waiting for a victim for half
an hour with cocked musket, fired, but miss
ing his intended man by six feet, killed a
mere boy who was already half dead with
disease. The body fell into the water. The
guard was immediately relieved and went
off to get his furlougb and brag that he, too,
had killed a Yankee. A committee of pris
oners have been released by Winder, and
have left the stockade to go to Washington
to try to prevail upon the Government to
exchange us. They bear an earnest petition,
signed by representatives of every detach
ment in the stockade. One of the worst
diseases hero is the scurvy, brought on by
our wretched food. It assumes -different
phases. In some cases the flesh is discolored,
as though the victim had been severely
bruised from head to foot, and is so soft that
it shows the print of a man's fingers on the
slightest pressure. In other cases the bones
are attacked, producing agonizing pains; or
the cords of the limbs contract, so that walk
ing is impossible, or the teeth come out of
the guns when the man is eating. Hundreds
of men have literally starved to death here,
because of scurvy in the mouth, which abso
lutely prevented them from eating. Some
cases are such that to describe them would
be revolting. There is no medicine or diet
to be had here that will combat scurvy. The
man who gets it is a living corpse. His
doom is sealed. Wirz was in to see us to
day, but wc anticipate no benefits, for he is
not a philanthropist by any means. His
language and profanity are exceedingly
amusing. To one sergeant he exclaimed,
"Py Gott, you don't vatch dem damn Yan-
gees glosc enough ! Dey are schlippin' rount
and pcatin' you efery dimes." His mostami
able motto is: UI likes do creenbacks," and
he freezes pn to them at every opportunity.
August Slli. Glorious tidings!! Last
night at auusot our camp was thrown into
intouso exciloment by the entrance of two
rebel officers, who proclaimed that they had
been delegated to communicate to us " glad
tidings of great joy." The Commissioners
of the two Governments had met, they said,
and had agreed upon terms of immediate
parolo and exchange, and at the earliest date
possible wo will be speeding on onr way to
the Union lines. This is no newspaper re
port, they stated, but they had actually read
the official notification sent to General
Winder ordering us to be prepared for in
stant removal northward. 1 cannot describe
the mingled feelings of joy, incredulity and
gayety that prevailed. The prolonged
cheers that went up were deafening. Those
who have lately entered this sink of misery
place as much reliance on the information
as the dying thief on the cress did in the
words of the Savior. Most of the old pris
oners, however, do not believe a word of it.
I saw two men have a spirited. battle be
cause one of them believed the news and the
other refused to do so. One effect of the
matter has been to utterly unsteady the
market. Trices are tumbling. You can
now purchase a piece of pine the size of a
man's arm for 1.20 rebel money. Pork and
meal only command half the rates they did
yesterday.
August 0i. A heavy rain fell last night,
demolishing huts, "gopher holes," and wig
wams, spoiling rations, and creating great suf
fering. A source of much regret to many of
us is the fact that our friends at home have
no means of knowing whether we were
killed or captured in battle. I saw a lively
melee at the north gate this morning. A
small squad of prisoners, having no faith in
the rumored exchange, and rendered desper
ate by starvation and other afflictions, had
asked to be mustered into the rebel army.
As they were about to be marched out they
were suddenly assailed by a mob of prisoners,
severely beaten, and dragged off to police
headquarters to be arraigned on the charge
of high treason. Their trial is now pro
gressing. So far the rebel officers havo not
interfered. All prisoners arrested on im
portant charges are tried by juries, and
each offender is permitted to have an attor
ney, if he can find one who will as
sume the management of his case. There
are plenty of men in this stockade enjoying'
passable health who weigh only half what
they did when they were captured.
August 10;. Wo are having a continual
succession of rain, tempered by spells of sun
shine. Last night, during a terrific storm,
the stockade fell in three places, causing great
consternation among the reserves and sen
tries. The rebel drums beat, the batteries
were quickly manned, a warning shell
screamed over the prison, infantry fell into
line across the gaps, and the sentinel chain
was more than doubled. At the moment the
stockade fell great numbers of us might have
escaped, but most of us were ignorant of what
had really happened until too late. Four or
five hundred slaves are now repairing the
work of an angry Providence. It is enough
to make a man sick , to hoar spmufOf these
Georgia "yahoos" brag about their southern
chivalry. The very first principle of chivalry
is kindness to prisoners, of war. These
ignoramuses don't know what the word
means.
August 11th. A few moments ago, while
a force of slaves were digging up the earth
near the dead-line to bank the stockade with a
a prisoner requested one of them to throw him
a root for fuel. A rebel miscreant who stood
by drew up his musket and shot the prisoner
dead. I do not attempt to chronicle every
murder of this kind thatoccuis, for several of
them happen daily. The interior military
government of this prison is subordinate to
its civil government. The Union sergeants
elected or appointed over our messes and de
tachments to draw rations and transact busi
ness for us, can any of them be tied up and
lashed by the police for the violation of civil
regulations, the same as the meanest prisoner.
For the last three days we have drawn un
usually small rations, and what we have
drawn have been unfit for any human being
to eat. We are evidently getting the refuse
of the southern commissary department.
The cooked "beans" (a kind of coarse pea)
which they give us have all the nutriment
boiled out of them, and are thickly inter
mixed with bugs, worms, chaff, sand, gravel
and oiher filth, being very destructive to the
teeth. The " fresh beef" issued to us is so
rotten that most of us throw it away.
Starved as we arc we cannot stomach it.
What little corn-bread we draw is made from
unsifted meal, the latter being chiefly com
posed of bran, husks, and chunks of cobs.
This bread is baked only part vay through,
and contains little or no salt. If a man
should get all he could eat of this sort of
stuff it would soon kill him to eat it. Wc
would prefer our rations uncooked, if we
could draw wood to cook them with, but
while vast forests of pine tower around us
our captors refuse to allow us to supply our
selves with fuel. Their excuse is that a
squad of prisoners overpowered their guards
in June, while out gathering Ioosq wood, and
escaped to the Union lines. Wo blame our
Government for this state of affairs. It
should retaliate with a remorseless hand.
Our fate could be made no worse. Sherman
should have been instructed to threaten the
complete ravage of the South unless our
condition was ameliorated.
August 12th. I could scarcely sleep last
night on account of the groans of a man who
lay near me. At daylight he was out of
Andersonvillc. He was dead, which is what
the boys call "getting exchanged." The
weather is distressingly warm; the sun
fairly scorches us. Three meals a day have
gone out of fashion. We now eat twice a
day, if wc have anything to cat. Wo cap
tured about as many men at Yicksburg as
are now confined in this stockade Suppose
we had marched them dawn into a Yazoo
swamj), cut away the timber, built a stock
ade around them, deprived them of shelter
of any kind, starved them, shot them, or left
them to die by inches from pestilence, filth,
and famine. What would the world have
said ? It would probably havo refused to
believe such an atrocity was ever committed.
The first thing that was done after Vicks
burg fell was to run a fleet of Union supply
steamers down to the wharf of the city and
unload tons and tons of the best kind of
rations for the use of Pcmberton's emaciated
army. That was an example of Northern
chivalry.
Knlercd according to act of Congress in the year
18S2 by Tin: National Tiiiisuks in the office of the
Librarian of Congress at Washington.
BECK'S BLACK LIST.
HIS ATTACK ON THE PENSIONERS
A GREAT DEBATE IN THE SENATE.
The Pension Bill Under Discussion Senators Plumb,
Logan, and Plait on the Proposition to Ailver
liso the List oF Pensioners Eloquent SliPi'chcs In
Defense or Hie Itlght.s or the Soldier A Vuirerloo
for the Fraud-Ohrlckers. ' '
The debate which occurred in the Senate on
the 15th inst. apropos of an amendment which
Mr. Beck offered to the Pension bill was one of
the moat interesting and instructive that has
ever taken place in that body upon the subject
of pensions, and for the information 'of our
readers wo present below a carefully-prepared
digest of the discussiou. In order that the cir
cumstances which led to the debate may bo
fully understood, it should be stated that among
the amendments to the Pension bill as reported
from the Committee on Appropriations was one
requiring the Secretary of the Interior to trans
mit to Congress, at the beginning bf each reg
ular session, a classified list of all pensioners on
the rolls, with their post-office address, amount
of pension annually paid to each, and a state
ment of those dropped from the rolls or added
thereto each year. This amendment was agreed
to in Committee chiofly to meet any reasonable
demand that Senator Beck and others of bis
way of thinking could mako for further safe
guards against fraud, but it failed to satisfy
the Senator from Kentucky, and when it was
reached, in the course of the regular considera
tion of the bill, he oflercd an additional amend
ment, (the full text of which wo printed in our
last issue,) in substance requiring the Commis
sioner of Pensions to post at every post office a
list of the pensioners residing in that county,
with the annual and total payments to each,
and a general request for information concern
ing the justice of the same, and, in addition, to
advertise the list at least onco a year in a cer
tain number of newspapers in each locality.
The point of order was made against this, as
against the Committee, amendment, that it was
new legislation, and therefore not germane to
the bill, and both were finally ruled out, but
pending this action Mr. Beck was permitted to
address the Senate in support of his proposition.
Said ho :
I know of no mode that will be so efficient in
obtaining positive information concerning
pension frauds) as to havo lists of the pension
ers presented before the people among whom
they live. I assume, further, that no soldier,
that the widow of no soldier, that the children
of no soldier -will feel any humiliation, any
degradation, in having a list published such as
I propose; nor will they imagine that they are
suspected of any dishonesty by having the fact
that they aro pensioners on the Government
or claimants for pensions avowed in the face of
the world. Wo publish to-day a Blue Book
which contains the namo of every person in
ollicc who draws a dollar from the Government.
There is not a man in any county in any
State in the Union who does the humblest ser
vice for the county court, who when he goes
before the court and gets his money lias not his
namo published by the count", with a state
ment of the amount paid him andwluunit is
paid for. Tho pensioner of tho Government,
when his namo is published and five amount
ho receives, and tho service he rendered, with
a statement of the honorable wounds' that ho
bears, or the disease ho contracted-while en
deavoring to servo his cmnrrv hat inns. ".,
wife, and his children w o.t '-' ' iT 0.
humiliation or degradatio
But there is a class of l
seek to avoid publication,
the information that we v
in the city of Louisville,
tion from a very intclligc
to-dav drawing a pension a
rf who-wiIL :itl2 do -
J sere M ronresj
inmReit-ttiMy
& 'murais.
irk-,v,5 1
i t ; rears
of pension, a one-armed man. Ho was a soldier
who lost an arm in a disreputable brawl in a
disreputable place, and the surgeon who cut oil
his arm, if my amendment parses, will tell tho
Commissioner where be lost it, how be. lost it,
and that he cut it off in that very place.
Mr. Logan". Why does he not tell him now?
Mr. Beck. Because he is neither a spy nor
an informer. Make it legal to furnish such in
formation, and see what the result will bii. I
have letters in my possession from men in Il
linois and in Ohio and in New Hampshire and
all over the country, asking mo for information
as to whether this man, that man, and the
other is drawing a pension, because if thoy are,
and they believe they are, tho proof is abund
ant that they are not entitled to them. I havo
a letter in my desk from a colonel of one of the
Kentucky regiments, :is brave a man as was in
tho Federal Army
Mr. Br.Air.. Any one of tho Senator's cor
respondents could ascertain that fact by ad
dressing tho Commissioner of Pensions.
Mr. Beck. 1 do not know whether ho could
or not, or whether ho knows that ho could or
not; but if you Avill publish the lists of the
pensioners and tho claimants for they aro
quite aa important as tho men who arc draw
ing pensions, and 180.000 or 190,000 of them
have sprung to tho front since tho arrears-of-pension
act was passed who never thought
they wore entitled to pensions until that great
sum was given to them the neighbors will
know who is applying, and they will know the
merits of tho case. It is as important to stop
fraudulent claims as it is to dovclop those al
ready passed of a fraudulent nature. ' De
pendent relatives " is a very wide class. Tho
widows of soldiers who havo married again and
do not tell of it, because if they did their pen
sions would bo forfeited, form also a largo
class. The neighbors know, and the neighbors
will tell, and if you make it the law that thoy
shall have the right to tell the Commissioner,
he will know that Sally Jones was married at
such a time and still draws a pension as a
widow. If a pensioner is not in fact a depend
ent relative of a soldier as he claims to bo, that
can bo told. If any frauds havo been perpe
trated, they will be told. In tho face of tho
present condition of things I am not going to
say a word about tho arroars-of-pension act. I
said some unkind things about that act once,
and was called to task sharply enough by tho
Senator from Kansas. Perhaps the language I
then used was not altogether proper; but what
I want now is a law that will enable tho Com
missioner to obtain information that will, en
able him to prevent frauds being perpetrated on
the Government.
Mr. Beck went on to quote from ex-Commissioner
Bentley's reports attacking tho present
system of proving claims, and then proceeded
to stato what ho conceived to bo tho difficulty
about our present legislation. Said he, in con
clusion: I desiro to say, in addition, that from tho
information I havo, no set of men will be as
earnest and zealous in giving information to the
Commissioner of Pensions or to any agent that
ho may send as the very best soldiers who
fought in tho Federal Army. 1 have a letter in
my desk fiom, I think, tho bravest man in
eastern Kentucky, one of tho most gallant sol
diers, in which ho stated to mo that if the
names wero given all through his regoin of
country where ho knew them, and from all
West Virginia, ho could save this Government
$2.")0,000 a year by having fraudulent cases
looked into that he himself would know about.
This is a cheap and easy way pf going at it.
Mit. ri.uMu eeplies.
Senator Plumb, of Kansas, was the first to
reply to Mr. Beck. His remarks wero caustic
and to tho point. Ho began by saying that tho
Senator from Kentucky was interested simply
in maintaining his old theory that for all prac
tical purposes tho pension-roll is a fraud and in
getting up a hue and cry about it. His object
was to focus upon tho poor pensioners tho pre
judice of every person in his neighborhood,
and securo his displacement from the roll. Tho
man ho Mr. Beck spoko of as tho bravest man
on the soil of Kentucky was not bravo enough
to give information to tho Commissioner of
Pensions in regard to ono singlo pensioner or
put over his signature his belief that tho man
was.not entitled to a pension. His letter was
cowardly and anonymous, in point of fact, be
cause ii was anonymous in refcrenco to tho
subject of it. Said Mr. Plumb further:
I do not object to publicity in con
nection with pensions. Any proper incisure
for that purpose, innpircd by a proper feel
ing, will got my vote; but at the loso of a
session of Congress which was opened by a gen
eral denunciation of tho p?nsion-roll, where
tho general allegation was supported by a long
speech on the part of tho Senator from Ken
tucky to show that tho arrears-of-pension act
was a fraud, and that persons who had been put
upon tho roll by reason of that act were largely
persons who wero not entitled to pensions, I (o
not mean if I can help it that a session opened
thus shall closo by giving effect to his insinua
tions in the shape of such proof as he has oflercd
or any other.
I havo no doubt there arc fraudulent persons
on tho pension-roll. We pass fraudulent claims
here every session. You cannot construct a
pension-roll of 250,000 names without thoro
being fraud upon it. There is now and then a
porson upon it who, as tho Senator from Ken
tucky said, incurred his disability somewhere
else than in the army. There is now and then
a widow upon the roll who has since married ;
there is now and then a person upon it who
was not in the army at all; but such cases aro
constantly being ferreted out. Never until the
millcniuin comes shall wo bo without fraud un
der the best possible system oficgislation ; but I
say that the pension-roll as a whole, not only
as a whole but in nearly all its parts, with few
and minor exceptions, represents men who
were disabled in the service of their country
and who are legally and equitably entitled to
every cent they get.
It is asked if theso men arc fairly entitled
to pensions why do they object to having their
names published. 1 do not know that thoy do
object; but I know men who aro drawing
pensions who seem to be just as healthy as I
am.
Suppose now wo pass this provision and it
has the elfcct which the benator from Ken
tucky desires it shall have, there are six men
in a particular township put down as having
received a pension from the Government.
When it is believed that the Commissioner of
Pensions desires information from the people of
tho neighborhood in regard to those men, every
man in tho neighborhood who has a prejudice on
account of party, on account of personal feeling,
or on account, of any other thing, will lift up bis
voice to say that those men are not entitled to
pensions. Against the judgment of tho medi
cal officers and the investigation beincarried
on in tho Pension Bureau it is proposed to take
the judgment of laymen, of tho man's neigh
bors, and to say to a man, " Unless you parade
your wound, unless you parade your illness, un
less you exhibit your body and all its frailties
and impcrfectionsand disabilities to this trial by
tho hundred, to thninspection of your neighbors,
you are not fit to be borne upon the pension-roll.
Wo havo heard a good deal about tLcso ex
penses. Tho expenses of the war to its close
arc said to have been, in round numbers,
(,000,000,000. It was an expensive job. Thank
God, it was well dono; and if it costs $0,000
000,000 more to repair the damages to the men
who carried that flag and who planted it on tho
rambarts of rebellion, let us appropriate tho
money. It was money well spent, and it will
be money well spent as long as there is one of
those veterans to drag his emaciated body over
tho country that ho helped to keep intact.
It was an expensive war, and tho fact that it
was expensive is evidenced to-day. It is wiso
for this country, it is a good thing for this
country that it appreciates to-day in this largo
pension-roll that it had a war of that kind on
its hands with tho magnificent result which
followed it. It is not only a stimulHS to patriot
ism, but it is a warning against treason as well.
1 do not want to hear, Hume I shall never hear
any man speak of the sizo of tho pension list,
or any man speak of the number borne on its
rolls, or any man stato the dollars it costs to
keep it up as any reason for any kind of restric
tion whatever or to show why tho appropria
tion should not continuously and always bo
made.
SOME TELLING HITS.
Mr. Plumb then proceeded to point out the
irenco between publishing the names of
' eminent employees in a Blue Book and ad-
"1
ising the list of pensioners. Said he:
is asked, why not publish these names as
v c u iblish the nami s of persons who are in tho
vymentof tho Government? That is an
., . ly different thing. Hero is a man em
ployed by the Government; his employment is
open and notorious ; the only fact to be known or
to bo considered is that he is employed and tho
sum which ho receives ; but thou you como to
publish the name of a man who is borne upon
the pension-roll, and especially when you pub
lish it with tho statement which accompanies
this amendment and with the impetus and an
imus which is behind it, you aro publishing it
for the purpose of stating in point of fact that
his easo and every caso on the pension-rolls is
prima facie a fraud.
The question as to whether a man is prop
erly borne there is not a question that his
neighbors can tell. It is a question which is
determined by a skillful medical or surgical
examination, or both. How can any man look
ing at his neighbor going about tell, in the first
place, whether ho is disabled at all in a great
many cases ; and, in tho next place, whether
that disability related to service in the army?
Consequently, you will not get anything more
out of it than you will get from that inquisi
tion which each man, moro or less, has of his
neighbor, and you will, in tho publication of
this list, with tho animus which, as I said, is
behind it, cast upon these men an imputation
of fraud which they will feel keenly as long as
they live, and which will go very far to oJfset
the benefit which tho Government bus given
them by reason of puttiug them on the pension
roll. The preceding Commissioner of Pensions has
been quoted, and ho indulged in a general de
nunciation of tho list ; at least that was tho
clfect of it. At tho samo time tho money
which Congress gave him to investigate tho
question of pension frauds was not expended.
We gave him ono year $11,000, 1 think, to pay
tho expenses of clerks to be detailed from his
office to investigate frauds, and while he said
in a report to Congress that a great many frauds
existed, ho only spent one-half of the money
wo gave, him for tho purpose of detecting them.
That kind of testimony will not do. If an
officer of tho Government says that frauds aro
being perpetrated upon it, and ho has money
placed in his hands for tho purpose of detecting
those frauds and ho does not uso it for that
purpose, ho is not a competent witness to say to
what extent frauds are being carried on against
the Government, and to that extent I say the
testimony of the preceding Cohtmhsioner of Pen
sions, Mr. llenttcy, is not entitled to credit.
I get letters occasionally, as tho Senator from
Kentucky gets them. 1 think now thcro are
250,000 persons borne on the pension-roll. Tho
Senator from Kentucky has been the champion
on this floor and in the country in tho allega
tion that tho pension-roll contains large num
bers of frauds. Ho gets moro letters on that
subject probably than anybody else, and all he
has been able to mention is about half a dozen.
Suppose thcro wero half a dozen cases of fraud
out of about 250,000 ; supposo there wero 1,000 ;
you could not administer any law better than
that. Supposo thcro wero 5,000, what does
it amount to in point of fact? You will not
get nearer a fair administration of law than
that.
As I said, I occasionally get letters of that
kind myself. 1 got a letter about six months
ago, or rather it was a letter to the Commis
sioner of Pensions under cover to me, written
by a man living in a county in my State, in
which he went on to say that a neighbor of his
was drawing a pension who was not entitled
to it. He narrated certain reasons why ho be
lieved the man was not entitled to a pension.
I sent tho letter to tlo Commissioner of Pen
sions, who ascertained that not only was tho
man named not upon tho rolls, but ho had
never even mado an application for a pension.
This neighbor of his simply got a suspicion in
his mind that tho man was getting a pension ;
ho thought ho was not entitled to one, and ho
addressed this letter to tho Commissioner of
Pensions on tno subject, and there was a marc's
nest. That is all there was about it, and I havo
no doubt that there is a large majority of cases
of just the same kind.
Mr. President, it is not for tho country to
complain about the amount of pensions; it is
not for the country to cut its pattern too small;
it is not for tho country to growl and grumble
about tho administration of a law embracing
as it does so many persons within its grasp
becauso now and then a man gets upon tho
pension-roll who is not entitled to be there. I
can say this: if the man actually was a soldier,
if ho actually served three years, doing actual
military duty, ho was physically worse when
lie came out than when he went in by reason
of that service, and whether this proof of a
particular disability incurred at a particular
time goes to tho nicety that would he observed
iu legal proceedings or not I do not care. I say
the country owes him a pension prima fm-ir, and
it is not losing anything by paying it to him.
On the other baud, Avhile I havo no doubt
thore are men on that roll who ought not to be
thore. I know there are thousand, and perhaps
tens of thousands, who ought to Lo thoro who
aro not there. I know men who cannot make
the proof who were plainly disabled in the lino
of duty. I know men who hav refused to
make application for. a pension. One man who
lived within six miles of whuro I live lost I1I3
oye-sight and wasted his farm in an endeavor
to recover it. Ho lost his cyc-sigbt in the ser
vlco of his country, and has refused to go upon
tho pension-roll. I think he was moro nice
than wise, and I have so advised him. I think
no man ought to be ashamed to apply for a pen
sion whero he actually incurred a disability in
the lino of duty in tho service of the country,
and the country ought to bo just as glad to pay
him as he should bo made to make an applica
tion for tho pension.
SEXATOK LOGAN TO THE FKOXT.
Senator Logan next took Mr. Beck in hand
and handled him without gloves. Said he:
I know persons who draw pensions who
look as if they are stout and healthy men; but
at the samo time I havo no doubt they aro en
titled to pensions. I could illustrate this by
members on this floor. I know three Senators
on this floor to-day who aro suffering from
wounds they received iu the army; but yet
they do not draw pensions ; they do not ask
for pensions. To look at those men there is
not a man in the Senato who would suppose,
that cither one of them could obtain a pension
if he would try; yet they could without any
trouble, and I know that they suffer and are
confined frequently to their beds from the
effects of their military service. Yet nobody
would suppose they were entitled to be pension
ers. Therefore, I concludo that there arc many
persons drawing pensions in this couutry
whose wounds arc covered by their garments
and aro unseen, wounds which aro painful to
them ; and because such a man is going around
people say he is not entitled to a pension. That
is the reason why there is so much criticism on
the pension-list. I know an ex-omcer of the
army here in Washington city to-day. Ho
comes into the Senate very frequently. He is
a pensioner. I suppose if any benator were to
see him he would say that man is a fraud. I
know ho is not a fraud, and I will tell you why.
That man to-day is as healthy a looking man
as you or I, and yet that man wears a seton in
his body ruuning through from sido to side,
and ho has done so ever since the war. Ho has
to do it in order to keep the wound open to
preserve his life, and that man is as healthy a
looking man as I am. But his wounds arc con
cealed and many persons say that he is a fraud.
T know he is not a fraud. I know ho is not
able to-day to perform any labor of any kind,
and yet ho walks around a healthy-looking
man.
Thcro is one thing I desire to say, and I am
sorry to have to do so here. I have frequently
replied to it on this floor although I am not on
the Committee on Pensions, and that is this
enormous pension list. Of courso it is enor
mous. There arc many other tilings that aro
enormous; many other of our appropriations
in other directions aro very strange, so far as
tho amount is concerned. There aro many
things in regard to which we might say Con
gress was appropriating a largo amount of
money where there w:is not half as much merit
as there is in the pension-roll. It is true wo
appropriate $100,000,000 or a little more this
year. Wo appropriate it because wo owe it,
that is the reason why. In other cases wc
appropriate that which we do not owe, but ap
propriate for things that we propose to do. This
is an appropriation for an account accumulated
against the Government of the United States,
where the debt exists to-day by reason of pass
ing on these ckims by the Commissioner of
Pensions under the law. Hence we appropri
ate for that which wc owe, that which has been
adjudged against us. I ask why, then, should
a raid be made on that any moro than on an
appropriation that is made to pay the judgment
of a court that has decided m reference to a
claim, or something of that character? I can
not understand it.
- The Senator from Kentucky said that about
Now Orleans there wore a great many persons
drawing pensions who were not born when tho
battle of New Orleans was fought, on the alle
gation that they assisted General Jackson.
That may be true. If it is, I cannot under
stand it, I must confess. Tho law is perfectly
plain. All persons who gave a certain number
of days' service in that war are entitled to pen
sion, aud their widows are entitled to pensions.
Why did not tho Senator say that a soldier who
served in tho war of 1S12 afterward may have
married a lady who was not born at the tinio
the battle of New Orleans was fought, but as
his widow she is entitled to the pension ? Is
that a fraud ? Will the Senator say that? Yet
he would have it go to the country that becauso
persons draw pensions on the roll of the war
of 1S12 who were not born at that time, there
fore they aro frauds against tho Government.
A Senator ought not to put such a phase on it
as that and let it go to the country, becauso it
is not true; it is not the fact. It is tho fact
perhaps that they were not born then, but it is
not a fact that they aro fraudulently on the
pension-roll. Wo may say that children draw
pensions who were not born when the late war
existed. That may be true, but docs that prove
that they aro fraudulently on tho pension-roll?
Certainly not; it only proves that they are tho
children of a deceased parent, and by tho law
they aro entitled to the pension that the parent
would have received ; that is all. It docs not
show that it is a fraud.
I agree with tho Senator from Kansas that
this tiling of publishing tho names in tho
newspapers ami posting them up in tho post
offices all over the country is an offenso to any
man of a sensitivo nature. I do so regard it.
But I say, if you publish it in reports to tho
Congress of the United States tho same as you
publish any other report, then it caunot bo an
offense, becauso then they are treated liko
everybody else ; but to single them out and
post them up as if they wero pirates or
plunderers I do consider an offenso ; I would
if I wero ono of tho pensioners. I say an
offense; i do not mean an offense intended,
but I mean that is tho effect of it, aud it would
have that elfcct upon me if I were a pensioner
and my name was posted up in my post-offico
so that my neighbors could look at it and
examine and see whether I was a thief or not.
The object is not to notify tho people who tho
pensioner is, but to subject him to criticism.
3IE. PLATT CLOSES THE DEBATE.
Senator Bayard, of Delaware, aud George, of
Mississippi, endeavored to help Mr. Beck out,
but only succeeded in displaying their own
utter ignorance of the workings of tho pen
sion system. Mr. Piatt, of Connecticut, mado
the closing speech of tho debute, aud put tho
caso in a nut-shell. Said ho :
I will state my great objection to publishing
this list in all the papers. It is an objection
which is suggested to mo by my examination
of pension c:ises. Case after caso has como hero
whero people have been dropped from the rolls
upon the charge that they were fraudulent
pensioners; that they had obtained their pen
sions by fraud ; and in every instanco I thiuk
thcro has been developed tho fact that thcro is
a neighborhood quarrel about it. Tho people
havo taken sides ; half of tho community, for
instance, think that tho pension is properly
granted; tho other half think that it is im
propeily granted. What will bo tho result if
theso lists arc published publicly in the news
papers? It would bo a blessed thing if we could
havo tho millennium and all pe. plo should
dwell in harmony; that thoro should bo no
such thing as jealousy or malice or suspicion iu
all tho wholo land ; but that is not the fact. In
every community thcro aro people who havo
enemies. No matter how deserving a pen
sioner may be, no matter how much ho may
need his pension, tho experience which I
havo spoken of teaches, and Senators must
know, that with the list published in tho news
papers tho Pension Office will bo Hooded with
suggestions that this man or that man is draw
ing a pension which ho ought not to rcceivo,
and based solely upon malicious motives. That
I desiro to avoid. I do not think that we ought
to put this great body of pensioners in a posi
tion whero everybody who has a grievance or a
dislike will be tempted to send to the Commis
sioner of Pensions, poslago freo and possibly
anonymously, tho information that that caso
ought to bo investigated.
No vote was taken on Mr. Beck's amend
ment, tho presiding officer of tho Senato ruling
it out, as wo havo said, on a point of order, or
else an opportunity would havo been afforded
our cx-soldicrs and sailors to sco for themselves
who are their friends and who their enemies
in tho Somite,
CHARGES OF DESERTI0X.
A BILL FOR THEIR REMOVAL REPORTED
TO THE SENATE.
The Ainenilmonts Proposed to the Orisin.il Measure.
Interesting Discission on the Subjoct The Ob
ject and Character of the Dill Pally KxplaincJ.
Tho Jleasons Y'hy It Should liecomc a Law at
Once.
On Thnrsday.the 20fch instant, in the Senate,
Mr. Cockrell rose and said:
I am directed by tho Committee on Military
Affairs, to whom was referred the bill H. R.
No. 5221) to relievo certain soldiers of the Lite
war from the charge of desertion, to report it
with amendments. This is the bill for which,
consideration was asked yesterday mormpg,
and it has been since printed with the arm mo
ments. Task that it may now bo acted upon,
as it is a very important matter and will only
take a few moments.
By unanimous consent, the Senate, as in
Committee of the Whole, proceeded to consider
tho bill.
Tho bill was reported from the Committee on
Military Affairs with amendments.
The first amendment was in section 1, so as
to make tho section read :
That the chnrge of desertion now standing on
the rolls ami records iu tho oilice of the Atln, .;.
General of tho United Statc3 against any so'll r
whe served in the lato war in the volunteer scrota
shall be removed in all cnsc-5 where it shall be mat 1
to appear to the satisfaction of the Secretary of
"War. from sueh rolls and records, or from ot'u r
satisfactory testimony, that any such soldier serve :l
faithfully until the expiration of his term of enlist
ment, or until tho 22tl day of May, A. D. l'. jr
was prevented from completing Ins term of '-en.'.c-s
by reason of wounds received or disease contracted
in the line of his duty, but wko by reason of ab
sence from his command at the tune the same was
mustered out, failed to be mustered out and to re
ceive an honorable discharge.
The amendment was agreed to.
The next amendment was in section 2, so a3
to make the section read:
Sec. 2. That the charge of desertion standing on
the rolls and records in tho oflice of the Aojuta-it-Gencral
of the United States ncrainst any solc'.ir
who fcerved in the hitc war in the volunteer s.r ico
shall also be removed in ail cases where it shall bo
made to appear to the satisfaction of the Pecret.iry
of War, from such rolls nnd records, or from other
satisfactory testimony, that such soldier cha-c I
with desertion or with absence without leave del
not intend to desert, and alter such charge of de
sertion or absence without leave voluntarilv r
turned to his command and served iu the line of
his duty until he was mustered out of the service
and received a certiiicatc of honorable discharge.
The amendment was agreed to.
The next amendment was in section I, so a3
to make the section read :
Sec. -1. That when the charge of desertion shall
be removed under the provisions of this act from
the record of any soldier, such soldier, or, in cao
of his death, the hefrs or legal representatives of
such soldier, shull receive all pay and bounty whuh
may have been withheld on account of suchehargo
of desertion or absence without leave : Provided,
hoicever, That this act shall not bo so construed as to
give to any sueh soldier as may be entitled to relief
under the provisions of this act, or, in case of his
death, to the heirs or legal representatives of any
ucli soldier, the right to receive pay and bounty
for any period of time during which such soldieV
was absent from his command without leave of ab
sence : And yrovided further. That no soldier, nor
the heirs or legal representatives of any sold.cr,
who served in tho Army a period of less than
twelve months, or who received a local bounty and
deserted, shall be entitled to the benefit of the pro
visions of this act.
The amendment was agreed to.
Mr. Hoak. I do not know that I understood
the bill correctly by listening to a singlo read
ing, but if I did, one of the first sections pro
vides for relieving tho soldier of the elfect of
a mere technical desertion, whero he served
through tho whole war, but failed to be present
when his regiment was mustered out, or who
after the active service was all over was in such
ill health that he. failed to report at a hospital,
perhaps; having had a furlough, ho did not
come back to the hospital. It relieves tho sol
dier against that mere technical desertion
where ho performed substantially all the duties
of the soldier.
If that be the effect of the first section, why
should that class of cases bo exempted from tho
benefit of the first section by the fonrth sec
tion, which provides that no soldier who has re
ceived a local bounty and deserted shall be en
titled to tho benefit of this act? This is deser
tion technically just as much even if you re
lieve the soldier from the operation of it. Why
should not that class of soldiers who did receive
a local bounty of one, two, or three hundred
dollars and served through the war entirely be
included in tho bill?
Mr. Cockkell. There is a difference be
tween tho act of desertion and the charge of
desertion. At tho close of the war, when tho
war was all over as everybody knew, on tho
22d of May, 1SG5, when the grand reviews were
held here, a great many soldiers stopped off at
their homes in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana,
and other places. A largo portion of the army
was sent to Louisville aud was mustered out
there along in Juno and up to tho 1st of July.
When tho final muster-out came quite a largo
number of soldiers were not there. They wero
not absent on furlough or regular leave of
absence, and they wero indiscriminately
marked "deserted." Thero was no desertion
it that.
Mr. Hoae. Was not that technical deser
tion? Mr. CocKftEt.i. It was not technical deser
tion by any means. Absence without leavo is
only ono step in desertion. Every desertion in
cludes absence without leave, but every
absence without leavo is not a desertion.
Desertion is moro than absence without leave.
It is absenco without leavo with the inten
tion of not returning, and that constitutes tho
gist of desertion. The last clause in the fourth
section is in regard to what were known as
bounty-jumpers; those who would enlist and
receive a local bounty, and when started off to
their commands would not get there, but
would turn up at some other place aud enlist
again. We guarded that in that way.
Mr. Hoai:. I have a case in my mind which,
if tho Senator will allow mc, I shall state.
Thero was a soldier in Worcester county, Mas
sachusetts, of great distinction, who was terri
bly wounded. Ho got leavo to go from ono
hospital to another just at tho closo of tho
war. One hospital was about five or six miles
from his home, tho other was at Ecadville, I
think, in tho eastern part of tho State. In
stead of going to tho hospital, ho went to his
homo in a country town near whero I live.
Congress passed an act removing tho charge of
desertion from his name.
Mr. Cockkell. That was right.
Mr. Hoar. President Grant vetoed tho act,
and we passed it over his veto.
Mr. Cockkell. That was right.
Mr. Hoak. Tho Senator may recollect tho
case. Was that in fact a desertion?
Mr. Cockkell. Not at all.
Mr. Hoak. Why not? It is construed as
desertion.
Mr. Cockkell. It is not a desertion any
moro than it would bo larceny if you were to
take my horso in my absence and ride him h'df
a inilo to a neighbor's and bring him back and
turn him into tho' lot. It would be trt.3pis
to take the horso without leave, hut it would
not bo larceny. Thero is tho samo differenco
between absence without leavo and desertion.
The man was not a deserter, and yet tho charge
of desertion was entered on his record. The ob
ject of tho bill is to removo thi3 charge of
desertion, and the second section restricts it to
those who did not intend to desert, so that it
docs not apply to cases of actual, willful de
sorters. Mr. Maxey. I will ask tho Senator from
Missouri in chargo of tho bill to explain ono
other point, so as to place tho committee right.
The bill provides that iu tho case of the sol
dier who served to tho end of his enlistment,
or to tho 22d of May 10-3, it was necessary to
stato on tho record tho reason why ono who
did not serve to tho end of his enlistment, or
to tho 22d of May, 105, should not bo regarded
as a deserter. . .
Mr. Cockkell. I havo just stated in reply
to tho Senator from Massachusetts that every
body knew tho war was over. Tho armies
wero reviewed hero on the 21st, 22d, and 2Cd
of May, 1S65, and then a largo portion of tho
army was sent to Louisvillo to ho mustered
Mr. Maxey. I understand it, hut I say that
is tho reason which actuated the committee.
That was tho general day of discharge.
Mr. Cockkell. Wo havo a great many
special cases. Ono soldier in Cincinnati, Ohio,
as ho was passing through the city, saw his
residence whero his mother and his family
wore, living, and he ran to see themfor a few
1 .
