2d Session.

No. 20.

GEORGE M. BENTLEY.

[To accompany bill H. R. No. 628.]

JANUARY 5, 1855.

Mr. A. STUART, from the Committee on Invalid Pensions, made the fol

lowing REPORT.

The Committee on Invalid Pensions report:

That upon a re-examination of the case of Geo. M. Bentley, to whom a pension was granted by act of Congress, passed at the last session of Congress, it is found that the committee were misled in the report made by them, favorable to the claim of said Bentley, and that the injury or disability for which the pension was granted, existed at the time the said Bentley entered the service of the United States. They therefore report a bill repealing the act passed for the relief of said Bentley.

2d Session.

No. 21.

ISAAC ALLEN.

[To accompany bill H. R. No. 629.]

JANUARY 5, 1855.

Mr. A. STUART, from the Committee on Invalid Pensions, made the fol

lowing REPORT.

The Committee on Invalid Pensions, to whom were referred the petition and papers of Isuac Allen, ask leave to report:

That the said Isaac Allen was placed on the pension rolls by special act of Congress, approved March 3, 1845, at the rate of four dollars per month, in consideration of disability contracted in the war of 1812, while serving as a private in Capt. Herrick's company, Col. McCobb's regiment. His disability has since increased to three-fourths of a total disability, as appears from the affidavit of Philip Bradford, a physician and surgeon, duly certified to be reputable in his profession. Had Mr. Allen been placed upon the rolls under the general law, his pension would have been increased as soon as he should have produced satisfactory evidence of the increase of his disability to the Commissioner of Pensions; but having been pensioned by special enactment, the Commissioner does not feel authorized to allow the increase. Your committee seeing no reason why he should be treated differently from other pensioners, therefore recommend that he receive a pension at the rate of six dollars per month, commencing January 25, 1853, that being the day when the evidence of his increased disability was filed in the House of Representatives. The committee, therefore, ask leave to introduce a bill for that purpose.

WYATT GRIFFITH.

[To accompany bill H. R. No. 630.]

JANUARY 5, 1855.

Mr. A. STUART, from the Committee on Invalid Pensions, made the

following REPORT.

The Committee on Invalid Pensions, to whom were referred the petition and papers of Wyatt Griffith, ask leave to report:

The said Wyatt Griffith enlisted as a private soldier at Ashe Court House, North Carolina, under Lieutenant Wiley Gordon, on the 8th day of September, 1814, and served in Captain Brannon's, afterwards Captain Parker's, company, Colonel Hamilton's 3d rifle regiment North Carolina infantry, for and during the war with Great Britain; and for this service bounty land warrant No. 8291, for 160 acres, issued to him on 21st January, 1817. While marching from North Carolina towards the Canada frontier, about the first of December, 1814, and when near Halifax Court House, from fatigue and exposure he took cold, which settled into rheumatism, and disabled him from service most of the time until his discharge, and has continued ever since. The disability consists of a collection and hardening of humors in the right hip-joint, which has dislocated the joint, and rendered him incurably lame and totally disabled for life. This appears from the affidavit of the petitioner and from the records of the Pension Office; and petitioner is also sustained by Jesse Cox, a man who served in the same company and who knew him for twenty years immediately after his discharge from the service in North Carolina. Other satisfactory evidence shows the disability to have continued until the present time; and all of it agrees that said Griffith is, and always has been, a man of good character and habits. Although the evidence is such as to convince your committee, it is not such as would entitle Griffith to a pension under the rules of the Pension Office; and as he swears it is impossible to procure such testimony as the Commissioner of Pensions requires, his case appears to be a proper one for special legislation. Your committee therefore ask leave to report a bill.