Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 September 1890 — WASHINGTON. [ARTICLE]

WASHINGTON.

The President has signed the anti-lottery and river and harbor bills. The recent publication of rulings by the Secretary of the Interior Department upon pension cases contains a remarkable tale told in the application for a pension by a claimant residing in Illinois. He made oath that at the battle of Shiloh; April-6, 1862, being on -the skirmish line, a~ cannon ball cu t off the limb of a tree, which fell upon his back, crushing him to the ground. While lying there a confederate soldier rushed upon .him and bayoneted him in the neck. He was sent home, and there remained for ten months. Herejoined his regiment in March, 1868. Before Jackson, Miss., he was again on theskirmsh line, whc« a shell cut eff the limb of a tree, which fell upon him, bearing him to the ground, and once again a confederate soldier appeared, plunged a bayonet into his neck and retired. Before a special examiner, sentout to investigate this strange "Sttsrj', theciaimantstolidly adhered to his declaration. The . Assistant Secretary naively indorsed this as “an extraordinary and - w tax—uironTrunran credulity especially as wot an officer or comrade had even heard of his being wounded.”