STEAMER ASHUELOT. ACT JANUARY 29, 1887 (24 STAT. L., 891). SEC. 2. That the widow, child, or children, or in case there be not such, then the surviving parent or parents of those in the service who were lost in the wreck of the United States steamer Ashuelot, namely: William Gronan, seaman; George Valentine, captain of the hold; Fritz Rackenbach, quartermaster; William Bronson, landsman; Saint Leger Crone, quarter-gunner; Ah Kid, painter; Sun Shing, carpenter's mate; George Ashton, carpenter; Ah Yoo, landsman; Andrew Scotland, private marine; and Benjamin H. Wohlrab, landsman, shall be entitled to and receive, out of any money in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, as follows, to wit: The relatives, in the order named, of the persons connected with the United States steamer Ashuelot hereinbefore referred to, a sum equal to twelve months' sea-pay of each person lost: Provided, That in any case where heretofore a pension has been granted, or may hereafter in fact be granted, to any such widow, child, or dependent parent by reason of the death of any of the persons named in this section, in the payment of such pension account shall be taken of any sum paid as above provided, and to the extent of its account said sum shall be in lieu and stead of such pension, and no further: * * * U. S. S. MAINE. ACT MARCH 30, 1898 (30 Stat. L., 346). * Provided, That nothing herein shall affect the right of any of the beneficiaries under this Act to any pension to which they may be entitled under existing law after the expiration of one year from said fifteenth day of February, eighteen hundred and ninetyeight. REMARRIAGE OF WIDOW, MOTHER, OR SISTER. SECTION 4708, REVISED STATUTES. The remarriage of any widow, dependent mother, or dependent sister, entitled to pension, shall not bar her right to such pension to the date of her remarriage, whether an application therefor was filed before or after such marriage; but on the remarriage of any widow, dependent mother, or dependent sister, having a pension, such pension shall cease. RENEWAL OF PENSION TO CERTAIN REMARRIED WIDOWS. ACT MARCH 3, 1901, AMENDING SECTION 4708, REVISED STATUTES (31 STAT. L., 1445). SEC. 4708. The remarriage of any widow, dependent mother, or dependent sister entitled to pension shall not bar her right to such pension to the date of her remarriage, whether an application therefor was filed before or after such marriage; but on the remarriage of any widow, dependent mother, or dependent sister having a pension, suc pension shall cease: Provided, however, That any widow who was the lawful wife of any officer or enlisted man in the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps of the United States, during the period of his service in any war, and whose name was placed or shall hereafter be placed on the pension roll because of her husband's death as the result of wound or injury received or disease contracted in such military or naval service, and whose name has been or shall hereafter be dropped from said pension roll by reason of her marriage to another person who has since died or shall hereafter die, or from whom she has been heretofore or shall be hereafter divorced, upon her own application and without fault on her part, and if she is without means of support other than her daily labor as defined by the Acts of June twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred and ninety, and May ninth, nineteen hundred, shall be entitled to have her name again placed on the pension roll at the rate now provided for widows by the Acts of July fourteenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-three, and March nineteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-six, such pension to commence from the date of the filing of her application in the Pension Bureau after the approval of this Act: And provided further, That where such widow is already in receipt of a pension from the United States she shall not be entitled to restoration under this Act: 1 And provided further, That where the pension of said widow on her second or subsequent marriage has accrued to a helpless or idiotic child, or a child or children under the age of sixteen years, she shall not be entitled to restoration under this Act unless said helpless or idiotic child, or child or children under sixteen years of age, be then a member or members of her family and cared for by her, and upon the restoration of said widow the payment of pension to said child or children shall cease.2 SEC. 2. No claim agent or other person shall be entitled to receive any compensation for services in making application for pension under this Act. REMARRIED WIDOWS; RENEWAL; RIGHTS EXTENDED. ACT FEBRUARY 28, 1903, AMENDING SECTION 4708, REVISED SECTION 1. * "SEC. 4708. The remarriage of any widow, dependent mother, or dependent sister entitled to pension shall not bar her right to such pension to the date of her remarriage, whether an application therefor was filed before or after such marriage; but on the remarriage of any widow, dependent mother, or dependent sister having a pension such pension shall cease: Provided, however, That any widow who was the lawful wife of any officer or enlisted man or other person in the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps of the United States, as described in paragraphs one, two, and three of section forty-six hundred and ninety-three of the Revised Statutes of the United States, during the period of his service in any war, and whose name was placed or shall hereafter be placed on the pension roll because of her husband's death as the result of wound or injury received or dis 1 Right of election under sec. 4715, however, exists. (13 P. D., 378.) 2 See act Feb. 28, 1903, following. ease contracted in such military or naval service, and whose name has been or shall hereafter be dropped from said pension roll by reason of her marriage to another person who has since died or shall hereafter die, or from whom she has been heretofore or shall be hereafter divorced, upon her own application and without fault on her part, and if she is without means of support other than her daily labor, as defined by the Acts of June twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred and ninety, and May ninth, nineteen hundred, shall be entitled to have her name again placed on the pension roll at the rate now provided for widows by the Acts of July fourteenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, March third, eighteen hundred and seventythree, and March nineteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-six, such pension to commence from the date of the filing of her application in the Pension Bureau after the approval of this Act: And provided further, That where such widow is already in receipt of a pension from the United States she shall not be entitled to restoration under this Act:1 And provided further, That where the pension of said widow on her second or subsequent marriage has accrued to a helpless or idiotic child, or a child or children under the age of sixteen years, she shall not be entitled to restoration under this Act unless said helpless or idiotic child, or child or children under sixteen years of age, be then a member or members of her family and cared for by her, and upon the restoration of said widow the payment of pension to said child or children shall cease." SEC. 2. That the provisions of this act shall be extended to those widows otherwise entitled whose husbands died of wounds, injuries, or disease contracted during the period of their military or naval service, but who were deprived of pension under the Act of March third, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, because of their failure to draw any pension by reason of their remarriage. SEC. 3. That no claim agent or other person shall be entitled to receive any compensation for services in making application for pension under this Act. PRESUMPTION OF DEATH. ACT MARCH 13, 1896 (29 STAT. L., 57). That in considering claims filed under the pension laws, the death of an enlisted man or officer shall be considered as sufficiently proved if satisfactory evidence is produced establishing the fact of the continued and unexplained absence of such enlisted man or officer from his home and family for a period of seven years, during which period no intelligence of his existence shall have been received.? And any pension granted under this Act shall cease upon proof that such officer or enlisted man is still living. SECTION 4735, REVISED STATUTES. No pension shall be granted to a widow for the same time that her husband received one. 1 Right of election under sec. 4715, however, exists. (13 P. D., 378.) CHAPTER V. NAVY AND PRIVATEER PENSION FUND. Section 4750, Revised Statutes, designates the Secretary of the Navy as the trustee of the Navy pension fund. Section 4758, Revised Statutes, designates the Secretary of the Navy as the trustee of the privateer pension fund. Section 4751, Revised Statutes, repealed in part by sec. 5, act June 3, 1878 (20 Stat. L., 90), and sec. 4752, R. S., relate to creation of Navy pension fund. Section 4753, Revised Statutes, relates to investment of, and section 4754, Revised Statutes, to rate of interest on, Navy pension fund. Section 4755, Revised Statutes, prescribes that Navy pensions shall be paid from the Navy pension fund upon appropriations authorized by Congress. Section 4759, Revised Statutes, relates to source of privateer pension fund, and section 4760, Revised Statutes, provides that such fund shall be paid into the Treasury. Section 4762, Revised Statutes, requires commander of every vessel having a commission, or letters of marque and reprisal, to enter in his journal the name and rank of any officer and the name of any seaman who, during his cruise, is wounded or disabled, describing the manner and extent, as far as practicable, of such wound or disability. Section 4763, Revised Statutes, requires every collector to transmit quarterly to the Secretary of the Navy a transcript of such journals as may have been reported to him, so far as it gives a list of the officers and crew, and the description of wounds and disabilities. TWENTY YEARS' SERVICE IN NAVY OR MARINE CORPS. SECTION 4756, REVISED STATUTES. There shall be paid out of the naval pension fund to every person who, from age or infirmity, is disabled from sea service, but who has served as an enlisted person, or as an appointed petty officer, or both, in the Navy or Marine Corps for the period of twenty years, and not been discharged for misconduct, in lieu of being provided with a home in the Naval Asylum, Philadelphia, if he so elects, a sum equal to one-half the pay of his rating at the time he was discharged, to be paid to him quarterly, under the direction of the Commissioner of Pensions; and applications for such pension shall be made to the Secretary of the Navy, who, upon being satisfied that the applicant comes within the provisions of this section, shall certify the same to the Commissioner of Pensions, and such certificate shall be his warrant for making payment as herein authorized.1 1 See footnote following page. TEN YEARS' SERVICE IN NAVY OR MARINE CORPS. Every disabled person who has served in the Navy or Marine Corps as an enlisted man, or as an appointed petty officer, or both, for a period not less than ten years, and not been discharged for misconduct, may apply to the Secretary of the Navy for aid from the surplus income of the naval pension-fund; and the Secretary of the Navy is authorized to convene a board of not less than three naval officers, one of whom shall be a surgeon, to examine into the condition of the applicant, and to recommend a suitable amount for his relief, and for a specified time, and upon the approval of such recommendation by the Secretary of the Navy, and a certificate thereof to the Commissioner of Pensions, the amount shall be paid in the same manner as is provided in the preceding section for the payment to persons disabled by long service in the Navy; but no allowance so made shall exceed the rate of a pension for full disability corresponding to the grade of the applicant, nor, if in addition to a pension, exceed one-fourth the rate of such pension.1 WOUNDED OR DISABLED PRIVATEERSMEN. SECTION 4761, REVISED STATUTES. The Secretary of the Interior is required to place on the pensionlist, under the like regulations and restrictions as are used in relation to the Navy of the United States, any officer, seaman, or marine, who, on board of any private armed vessel bearing a commission of letter of marque, shall have been wounded or otherwise disabled in any engagement with the enemy, or in the line of their duty as officers, seamen, or marines of such private armed vessel; allowing to the captain a sum not exceeding twenty dollars per month; to lieutenants and sailing-master a sum not exceeding twelve dollars each per month; to marine officer, boatswain, gunner, carpenter, master's mate, and prize masters a sum not exceeding ten dollars each per month; to all other officers a sum not exceeding eight dollars each per month, for the highest rate of disability, and so in proportion; and to a seaman, or acting as a marine, the sum of six dollars per month, for the highest rate of disability, and so in proportion; which several pensions shall be paid from moneys appropriated for the payment of pensions. NOTES. The pension laws relating to service subsequent to March 4, 1861, apply equally to service in the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps. The law provides that Navy pensions shall be paid from the income of the Navy pension fund so far as the same shall be sufficient for that purpose (38 Stat. L., 387). For the fiscal year ended June 30, 1915, $5,810,475.39, was disbursed for Navy pensions, of which $353,848.66 was paid from the Navy pension fund. 1 Secs. 4756 and 4757, R. S., as amended by act Dec. 23, 1886 (24 Stat. L., 353, as construed by Secretary of the Interior, 12 P. D., 166), grant money benefits over the allowance of which the Commissioner of Pensions has no jurisdiction, and are intended to be a further provision for the support of the beneficiaries thereunder in addition to the pension granted by the pension laws. Sec. 4715, R. S., and proviso of second section of act June 27, 1890, have no application to this class of cases. 12089°-16- -5 |