3d Session. JOHN Y. WILLIAMS. No. 1755. FEBRUARY 2, 1895.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed. Mr. TURPIN, from the Committee on Indian Affairs, submitted the following REPORT: [To accompany H. R. 6925.] The Committee on Indian Affairs, to whom was referred House bill 6925, report: Your committee referred the same to the Indian Office for additional information; this information will be found in the following letter from Hon. D. M. Browning, Commissioner, to wit: DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, Washington, January 15, 1895. GENTLEMEN: Bill H. R. 6925, "To authorize adjustment and settlement of accounts of John Y. Williams in equity," having been referred to this office for a report thereon, the following statement is made: Superintendent John Y. Williams took the Fort Hall School September 9, 1889, and continued in charge until August 4, 1893. He found the school in very bad condition, the building very much dilapidated and necessitating considerable outlay to do any satisfactory work. Williams went into the work earnestly and put things into satisfactory shape, not always with regard to the regulations of the Indian Department. During his administration they had a very severe visitation of scarlet fever, and the school was isolated. Mr. Williams lost his son by the disease, and his own condition became such that he did things carelessly and without due regard to the law and Department regulations. The result was a large amount of suspensions against his accounts, which he tried by several months' labor to remove by substitution of new vouchers to take the place of those suspended. Williams impressed many of those dealing with him in this office with having made an earnest but badly managed effort to build up the Fort Hall School, which school was reported by special agents, who were sent there to investigate, to be in first-rate condition about the time he left. It is not believed that the United States suffered by any carefully planned dishonesty on his part, but from his irregular method of doing business. It is believed that the school represents a fairly economical expenditure of the means used by him to improve and build it up. I can see no reason why this bill to settle his accounts on "principles of equity and justice" should not pass. The bill referred to is respectfully returned herewith. Respectfully, The COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS, House of Representatives. D. M. BROWNING, Commissioner. The committee recommend that the bill do pass. 3d Session. No. 1756. ELIZABETH DESHLER WHITING. FEBRUARY 2, 1895.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed. Mr. STALLINGS, from the Committee on Pensions, submitted the fol lowing REPORT: [To accompany H. R. 4637.] The Committee on Pensions, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 4637) granting a pension to Elizabeth Deshler Whiting, have considered the same and respectfully report as follows: Mrs. Whiting is the widow of Lieut. Henry Whiting, late of the United States Marine Corps, who was commissioned second lieutenant in the Corps on July 1, 1874, and promoted to be first lieutenant March 20, 1883. He died in active service, and from causes originating in line of duty, January 8, 1890, and his widow, the beneficiary, is receiving a pension of $17 per month, granted under the general law, with $2 additional for each of two little children under 16 years of age. Medical evidence on file shows that the claimant is suffering from a chronic disease of the middle ears, practically incurable, and causing severe deafness of both ears. She is unable, because of that disability, to do anything toward earning a support, and aside from a very small and uncertain income derived from the proceeds of her husband's life insurance, she has nothing but her pension with which to procure a livelihood for herself and children. There are many precedents for the proposed legislation, and in view of the facts presented above your committee recommend the passage of the bill, with the following amendments: Change the title so as to read: "A bill granting an increase of pension to Elizabeth Deshler Whiting," etc.; strike out the word "fifty," in line 8, and substitute therefor the word "twenty-five," so as to fix the rate of pension at $25 per month. ELIZABETH J. COOK. FEBRUARY 2, 1895.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed. Mr. MOSES, from the Committee on Pensions, submitted the following REPORT: [To accompany H. R. 8401.] The Committee on Pensions, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 8401) to grant pension to Elizabeth J. Cook, have considered the same and respectfully report as follows: The claimant is the widow of the late Robert T. Cook, of Arkadelphia, Clark County, Ark., who is shown to have served as a soldier in the war with Mexico, but of whose service no record can now be found at the War Department. Mrs. Cook has made application at the Pension Office under the Mexican war act of January 29, 1887, but the case has been regarded as inadmissible because of the aforesaid inability to find a record of the soldier's service. Your committee has before them, however, convincing proof that, notwithstanding the failure to discover a record, the soldier did serve as alleged. John C. Peay, an aged citizen of very high standing, of Little Rock, Ark., swears that he was second lieutenant in Company E, First Arkansas Mounted Infantry, in the war with Mexico; that the regiment was mustered at Washington, Ark., and while stationed there Robert T. Cook was employed in the commissary department, and when the regiment left for San Antonio, Tex., Cook continued with the organization as commissary sergeant. The witness testifies further that he saw Cook several times on the march to San Antonio, and also on the march from Rio Grande to Saltillo, Mexico. Witness was subsequently assigned to picket duty, and when he last saw Cook in the service he was on duty at Saltillo about December 20, 1846, and he (witness) was officially informed that Cook remained at said place in service as late as January or February, 1847. After the war witness was well acquainted with Cook in Arkansas, and often conversed with him about their military service in Mexico. Correspondence with the War Department by your committee elicits the information that the service of Lieutenant Peay is a matter of record. Mr. Cook's service is further shown by the testimony of Lewis Stardage, formerly a slave belonging to the mother of Mrs. Cook. This witness testifies to having a distinct recollection of the time when Mr. Cook joined the company of cavalry for the Mexican war, and was absent several months. After his return home Mr. Cook said he had been to Mexico, and often related incidents connected with his service in that country. H. Rep. 2- -2 Another old-time acquaintance of the claimant and her husband, Mr. W. H. Calloway, of Clark County, Ark., swears that as early as 1855, when there was no idea of pensions being granted to Mexican war veterans, he heard Robert T. Cook relate circumstances connected with his service in Mexico, and further that Cook was a man of honor and integrity. The claimant was married to the soldier December 7, 1843, and he died June 14, 1880. She is now about 67 years old, and stands in much need of the pension provided by the bill. The passage of the bill is respectfully recommended, with an amendment striking out all after the word "Mexico" in line 9 to and including the word "troops" in line 11 and substituting therefor the words, "in the First Arkansas Mounted Infantry Volunteers." 3d Session. No. 1758. LEGISLATIVE, EXECUTIVE, AND JUDICIAL APPROPRIA TION BILL. FEBRUARY 4, 1895.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed. Mr. DOCKERY, from the Committee on Appropriations, submitted the following REPORT: [To accompany H. R. 8767.] In presenting the bill making appropriations for the legislative, executive, and judicial expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1896, the Committee on Appropriations submit the following in explanation thereof: The estimates on which the bill is based will be found on pages 9 to 68 and 78 to 85 of the Book of Estimates for 1896, and aggregate $22,349,101.57. The whole amount recommended in the accompanying bill is $21,805,726.52, being a reduction under the estimates of $543,375.05, and an increase over the appropriations for the current year, made at the last session, of $438,103.23. LIMITATIONS. Limitations with reference to appropriations made in the bill, not heretofore imposed, are recommended as follows: On page 10, the following: That the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Fifty-third Congress shall, before the expiration of his term of service, appoint from among the Representatives-elect to the Fifty-fourth Congress a temporary committee on accounts, of three members, which said committee on accounts shall have the same powers and perform the same duties in reference to payments made from the contingent fund of the House of Representatives of the Fifty-fourth Congress as are now authorized by law and the rules of the present House of Representatives; and which said temporary committee on accounts shall begin to exercise its powers immediately upon the termination of this Congress, and shall continue to exercise and discharge said duties until after the meeting and organization of the House of Representatives of the Fifty-fourth Congress, and until the appointment of the regular committee on accounts. And all payments made out of the contingent fund of the House of Representatives upon vouchers approved by said temporary committee on accounts shall be deemed, held, and taken, and are hereby declared, to be conclusive upon all the Departments and auditing officers of the Government. And hereafter the |