stated that he belonged to
Captain Frank Mason's company of volunteers, of Prostburg, in the State
of Maryland.

Whether this company was organized for the purpose of cooperating at any
time with the Union or State forces is not alleged, and it may well have
been existing merely for the purpose of neighborhood protection.

Such as it was, the company was ordered in June, 1861, to proceed to
Cumberland to repel a threatened attack of Confederate forces. Upon
arriving at that place the men were ordered to uncap their muskets. In
doing this, and through the negligence of another member of the company,
whose musket was discharged, the claimant was wounded.

It does not seem to me that the facts in this case, so far as they have
been developed, justify the passage of this act.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 5, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 4226, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Fannie E. Evans."

The beneficiary named in this bill is the widow of George S. Evans. He
was a soldier in the Mexican War, and entered the Union Army in the War
of the Rebellion, on the 16th day of October, 1861, as major of a
California regiment. He became a colonel in February, 1863, and resigned
in April of that year, to take effect on the 31st of May ensuing.

His resignation seems to have been tendered on account of private
matters, and no mention was then made of any disability. It is stated in
the committee's report to the House that in 1864 he accepted the office
of adjutant-general of the State of California, which he held for nearly
four years.

He died in 1883 from cerebral apoplexy.

In March, 1884, his widow filed an application for pension, based upon
the allegation that from active and severe service in a battle with the
Indians at Spanish Fort in 1863 her husband incurred a hernia, which
incapacitated him for active service.

There appears to be evidence to justify this statement, notwithstanding
the fact that the deceased during the twenty years that followed before
his death made no claim for such disability.

But it seems to me that the effort to attribute his death by apoplexy to
the existence of hernia ought not to be successful.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 5, 1886_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 2971, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Fra