The claim was rejected by the Pension Bureau on the ground that the dropsy causing his death was not due to his military service, but that he was subject to the same before his enlistment.
I am perfectly satisfied that the rejection upon the ground claimed was correct.
GROVER CLEVELAND.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, June 19, 1888.
To the Senate:
I return without approval Senate bill No. 1957, entitled "An act granting a pension to Virtue Smith."
The beneficiary named in this bill is the widow of David M. Smith (incorrectly named David W. Smith in the bill), who served as a bugler in a Minnesota regiment from August 22, 1862, to September 28, 1862, in a campaign against the Sioux Indians.
He received a gunshot wound in the right elbow, for which in 1867 he was granted a pension of $6 a month, which was very soon thereafter increased to $8, and in August, 1875, said pension was further increased to $10 a month, which he received to the date of his death.
He died in the city of Washington on the 22d day of January, 1880.
He obtained a position in the Second Auditor's Office of the Treasury Department in 1864, and worked steadily there until about six months before his death.