The physician who last attended the soldier testifies that the cause of death was chronic alcoholism. This should be the most reliable of all the medical testimony, and taken in connection with the conceded intemperate habits of the deceased and the fact, that the brain was involved, it satisfies me that the rejection of the widow's claim by the Pension Bureau on the ground that the cause of death was mainly intemperance was correct.
GROVER CLEVELAND.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, July 6, 1888.
To the House of Representatives;
I return without approval House bill No. 6431, entitled "An act for the relief of Van Buren Brown."
The beneficiary named in this bill was discharged from the Army September 11, 1865.
He filed an application for pension in the Pension Bureau May 19, 1883, alleging chronic diarrhea, rheumatism, spinal disease the result of an injury, and deafness.
His claim was very thoroughly examined and reopened and examined again after rejection, and rejected a second time.
The case is full of uncertainty and contradiction. Without discussing these features, I am entirely satisfied that a pension should not be allowed, for the reason, among others, that three careful medical examinations made in 1883, 1884, and 1886 failed to disclose any pensionable disability.
GROVER CLEVELAND.