1st Session.

S

No. 1446.

EDWARD G. GARNER.

MAY 14, 1900.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed.

Mr. KETCHAM, from the Committee on Military Affairs, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 6676.]

. The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred (H. R. 6676) for the relief of Edward G. Garner, Company E, One hundred and twenty-eighth New York Volunteer Infantry, report the same back to the House with the recommendation that it do pass with the following amendment:

That no pay, bounty, or emoluments shall become due or payable by virtue of the passage of this act.

The report of the War Department shows Edward G. Garner to have been enlisted August 11, 1862, and mustered into the service August 20, 1862, as a private in Company E, One hundred and twenty-eighth New York Volunteer Infantry, to serve three years. He appears to have served faithfully until November 5, 1862, when he was reported as a deserter. The record shows further that on December 24, 1863, he again enlisted under the name of Edward Lount, as a musician, in Company C, Second New York Mounted Rifles Regiment, and appears to have served faithfully with this organization until August 10, 1865, when he was mustered out of the service with his company.

The War Department is powerless to remove the charge of desertion from the One hundred and twenty-eighth New York Volunteer Infantry as the time from his desertion to his reenlistment exceeds four months. In view of the long and faithful service under his last enlistment and his first enlistment up to the time he is reported to have deserted, your committee believe it would be only an act of justice to remove from his record the charge of desertion.

1st Session.

No. 1447.

DR. WALTER F. ROBINSON.

MAY 14, 1900.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be

printed.

Mr. ОTJEN, from the Committee on War Claims, submitted the

following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 10817.]

The Committee on War Claims, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 10817) to pay Dr. Walter F. Robinson a salary as contract surgeon, etc., beg leave to submit the following report, and recommend that said bill do pass with amendments:

This is a bill enacting that the sum of $400 be paid to Dr. Walter F. Robinson for services as acting assistant surgeon in the Army from October 13, 1898, to January 2, 1899.

Your committee find the facts to be as stated in letter from the Chief of the Record and Pension Office, War Department, and is as follows:

Case of Walter F. Robinson, late private Company A, First New York Infantry Volunteers, and acting assistant surgeon, United States Army.

It is shown by the records that Walter F. Robinson was enrolled and mustered into service June 28, 1898, as private, Company A, First New York Infantry; that he was detailed on special duty as professional assistant to the regimental surgeon September 24, 1898; that he continued on that duty until December 21, 1898, when a furlough was granted him; that he was on furlough until January 2, 1899, when he was honorably discharged the service as private, Company A, First New York Infantry, under telegraphic orders from the Secretary of War, dated December 30, 1898.

It is also shown by the records that Companies K and M of this regiment, together with attached men from other companies of the regiment, left Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands, November 8 for Hilo, Hawaii, and returned to the command November 28, 1898, and that they were under the medical care of W. F. Robinson, an enlisted man detailed as surgeon.

In a telegram, dated December 14, 1898, addressed to the Surgeon-General of the Army, Colonel Barber, of the Presidio, San Francisco, Cal., inquired whether the application for discharge of this soldier had been acted on, and requested authority to "have contract dated from September 27, 1898," date from which he was on duty as surgeon. It is also stated in that telegram that the services of the soldier as surgeon had been valuable.

It is further shown by the records that Walter F. Robinson served under contract

as acting assistant surgeon, United States Army, from January 2, 1899, to March 31, 1899.

Respectfully submitted.

RECORD AND PENSION OFFICE,

War Department, May 3, 1900.

The SECRETARY OF WAR.

F. C. AINSWORTH, Chief Record and Pension Office.

Gen. Charles King, under date of April 24, 1900, makes the following statement:

During the month of October, 1898, as brigadier-general of volunteers, he was in command of the military district of Hawaii, with headquarters at Honolulu; that the ravages of typhoid and malarial fevers among the troops became so serious that the surgeons and nurses proved entirely too few for the duty demanded of them, and that he was compelled to call upon men who had enlisted for the war as privates in the ranks, many of them to act as nurses, and one physician, at least, to serve in his professional capacity-Private W. F. Robinson, of the First New York Volunteer Infantry. Private Robinson was placed on duty as physician by special order, dated on or about October 13, and he was continuously on such duty up to the time affiant sailed for Manila in November; and, to the best of his belief, for many weeks longer.

Your committee report back the bill and recommend its passage with the following amendment:

At the end of line 9 insert "deducting therefrom the money paid him for any other position held during that period;" and in line 7, after the word "as," insert the word "acting."

1st Session.

MCHENRY ROBINSON.

No. 1448.

MAY 14, 1900.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed.

Mr. FITZGERALD, of New York, from the Committee on Claims, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 2799.]

The Committee on Claims to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 2799) for the relief of McHenry Robinson, executor of the estate of Elizabeth S. Cushing, submit the following report and recommend the passage of the bill..

The bill authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to issue to McHenry Robinson, the executor of the estate of Elizabeth S. Cushing, duplicates of the following-named 4 per centum consols of 1907, registered in the name of Elizabeth S. Cushing, February 21, 1899, namely, bond No. 10729, denomination $50; bonds Nos. 48610, 48611, 48612, each of denomination $100; bond No. 24270, denomination $500, upon the filing of an indemnifying bond, to be approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, as prescribed by section 3703, United States Revised Stat

utes.

Elizabeth S. Cushing was an elderly woman, aged 77 years and 5 months, who died about July 20, 1895. Shortly before her decease it is known that she destroyed a number of papers. McHenry Robinson, the executor of her estate, was an old and intimate friend of the deceased, and after a thorough search was unable to find the bonds named herein. It is believed that the bonds were either destroyed with the other papers, or were misplaced by deceased and lost. Interest has been paid to Mr. Robinson regularly since death of Mrs. Cushing by the Treasury Department.

Section 3702 of the Revised Statutes prescribes that—

Whenever it appears to the Secretary of the Treasury, by clear and unequivocal proof, that any interest-bearing bond of the United States has, without bad faith upon the part of the owner, been destroyed, wholly or in part, or so defaced as to impair its value to the owner, and such bond is identified by number and description, the Secretary of the Treasury shall, under such regulations and with such restrictions as to time and retention for security or otherwise as he may prescribe, issue a duplicate thereof, having the same time to run, bearing like interest as the bond so proved to have been destroyed or defaced, and so marked as to show the original number of the bond destroyed and the date thereof.