Though it would be gratifying to aid his widow, I do not think these facts are proven or can be assumed.
GROVER CLEVELAND.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, September 7, 1888.
To the House of Representatives:
I return without approval House bill No. 5525, entitled "An act granting a pension to Mrs. Jane Potts."
The husband of this beneficiary enlisted in 1861 and was mustered out of the service in April, 1865.
He was taken prisoner by the enemy and endured for a long time the hardship of prison life.
He never applied for a pension, though undoubtedly his health suffered to some extent as the result of his imprisonment.
The beneficiary married the soldier in 1871.
He conducted his business affairs, managed his farm, and accumulated property up to the year 1880, when by a decree of court he was adjudged insane, caused by sickness as far as was known, and that his disease was hereditary.