73,
when the soldier died; that he examined the body after death, and to the
best of his knowledge such death was caused partially by epilepsy, and
that the epilepsy was the result of "wounds about the face and head
received during his service during the war."

Another physician testifies that the soldier applied to him for
treatment in 1868, and that his disability was the development of
confirmed epilepsy, and he expresses the opinion that this was due to a
wound from a buckshot. This physician, while not giving epilepsy as the
cause of death, says that "had he lived to die a natural death he
certainly would have died an insane epileptic."

The report speaks of his death by "an accidental shot."

The truth appears to be that he was killed by a pistol shot in an
altercation with another man.

Unless it shall be assumed that the epilepsy was caused by the buckshot
wound spoken of, and unless a pension should be allowed because, if the
soldier had not been killed in an altercation, he might have soon died
from such epilepsy, this bill is entirely devoid of merit.

Surely no one will seriously propose that a claim for pension should
rest upon a conjecture as to what would have caused death if it had not
occurred in an entirely different way.

The testimony of the physician who testified in this case that death was
caused partially by epilepsy suggests the extreme recklessness which may
characterize medical testimony in applications for pension.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 18, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 2282, entitled "An act to
pension Mrs. Theodora M. Piatt."

The deceased husband of the beneficiary named in this bill served
faithfully and well in the volunteer service, and after his discharge as
major entered the Regular Army and was on the retired list at the time
of his death, which occurred on the 17th day of April, 1885. At that
time he seems to have been engaged in the practice of the law at
Covington, Ky.

He does not appear to have contracted any distinct and definite
disability in his army service, though his health and strength were
doubtless somewhat impaired by hardship and exposure.

It is conceded that he committed suicide by shooting himself with a
pistol.

A coroner's inquest was held and the following verdict was returned:

Benjamin M. Piatt came to his death from a pistol bullet through the
brain, fired