P. M. KENT.

[To accompany bill H. R. No. 774.]

FEBRUARY 23, 1855.

Mr. EDMANDS, from the Committee on Invalid Pensions, made the

following REPORT.

The Committee on Invalid Pensions report:

That the committee find, on examination of the case of Phineas M. Kent, that Kent was late pension agent at New Albany, Indiana; that on settlement of his accounts, the accounting officers suspended a voucher for $240. This was a payment made to the heirs of Rachael Howe, deceased. It was made on a certificate of the War Department authorizing it. This voucher is refused by the accounting officers on the ground that the pensioner was not legally entitled to draw her pension from the 4th of March, 1841, to 4th March, 1843. There is evidence of the payment of the money, and the certificate of the War Department authorizing it, is also shown. The only question is, whether Kent shall suffer the loss of the money thus paid. In a precisely similar case-that of Newton Lane, pension agent at Louisvillerelief was given by Congress. Your committee recommend the following bill for the relief of Kent.

MARY P. B. LEVELY.

[To accompany bill H. R. No. 775.]

FEBRUARY 23, 1852.

Mr. EDMANDS, from the Committee on Invalid Pensions, made the

following REPORT

Mr. Edmands, from the Committee on Invalid Pensions, reports:

That the committee have examined the case of Mary P. B. Levely, who petitions for arrearages of pension as due to her husband from the date of his injuries in 1812 to 1829, when a pension, which was granted to him, was made to commence; also an amount equal to the whole pension between the year 1836, when the payment ceased, and the present time.

By the papers it is shown that Henry Levely, the husband deceased of the applicant, was captain of the privateer "Nonsuch," of Baltimore, in the war of 1812; that in 1829, on an application by him, in consequence of personal injury received in the war, he obtained a pension of $240 per annum from the date of the application. This was continued to him until 1836, when the privateer pension fund failed, since which he has received nothing.

Admitting the meritorious services of Captain Levely, the severity of the wounds under which he has suffered, and the dependent condition of the widow, the committee are not in favor of taking up the case before the year 1829, when the application for pension was made and allowed. They, however, see no reason why the pension should not be granted to him in continuation from the year 1836-when it was cut off by the privateer fund having run out-until his death, and they recommend that a bill be passed giving to the widow an amount equal to the pension between the year 1837 and 1841, the year of his death; and they report the accompanying bill.