The claim for a pension in this case is on behalf of the father of Thomas Cotton, who was killed at Pittsburg Landing April 6, 1862.
The application of this claimant still remains in the Pension Bureau undetermined. The doubt in the case appears to relate to the dependence of the father upon his son at the time of his death.
This is a question which the Bureau is so well fitted to investigate and justly determine that it is, in my opinion, best to permit the same to be there fully examined.
GROVER CLEVELAND.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, June 23, 1886.
To the House of Representatives:
I return herewith without approval House bill No. 6753, entitled "An act granting a pension to Mrs. Alice E. Travers."
The husband of the beneficiary, John T. Travers, enlisted August 25, 1864, and was discharged June 11, 1866.
He died January 6, 1881, from the effects of an overdose of morphine which he administered himself. He was a druggist, and when suffering severely was in the habit of taking opiates for relief and sleep.
The disease from which it is said he suffered was lung difficulty, claimed to have been caused by a severe cold contracted in the service.