Chap. 167.—An ACT to consolidate into one act, all acts relating to Con-
federate pensions, and to repeal all acts and parts of acts in conflict
herewith.

Approved March 12, 1912.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
there shall be paid out of the treasury of Virginia upon the
warrants of the auditor of public accounts, annually, the amounts
hereinafter specified to the persons hereinafter designated, de-
scribed and classified, who, at the time application is made for
aid under this act, shall be citizens and bona fide residents of
Virginia, and shall have actually resided in this State for five
years, and in the county or city from which such application is
certified for one year, and who shall make application for such
aid, and furnish the proofs and comply with the other require-
ments of this act, as hereinafter specified and required, to-wit:

Class A. To every person who has lost two eyes, or two feet,
or two hands, or a hand and a foot, by reason of wounds re-
ceived, or surgical operation therefor, while in the discharge of
his duty as a soldier, sailor or marine of the Confederate States
in the war between the States, and any such as have become to-
tally blind, the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars per annum.

Class B. To every person who has lost a foot, or a hand,
while in the discharge of his duty as a soldier, sailor or marine
of the Confederate States, in the said war, the sum of sixty-five
dollars per annum.

Class C. To every person who is disabled by wounds received,
or surgical operation therefor, while in the discharge of his duty
as a soldier, sailor, or marine of the Confederate States in the
said war, or is disabled by disease, if such disability be proven
to be total, the sum of thirty-six dollars per annum, and if such
disability be proven to be partial, the sum of twenty-four dollars
per annum.

Class D. To every person over the age of sixty-five years
who was loyal and true as a soldier, sailor, or marine of the
Confederate States during the said war, and who by reason of
the infirmities of age has become disabled and incapable of earn-
ing a livelihood, if such disability be proven to be total, the sum
of thirty-six dollars per annum, and if such disability be proven
to be partial, the sum of twenty-four dollars per annum.

Class E. To every widow, remaining unmarried, of any
soldier, sailor, or marine of the Confederate States, whose hus-
band lost his life while in the discharge of his duty in the mili-
tary or naval service of the Confederate States during the said
war, who is now a widow, although she may have married again,
the sum of forty dollars per annum.

Class F. To every widow of any soldier, sailor or marine
of the Confederate States, whose husband was loyal and true in
the military or naval service of the Confederate States during
the said war and has since died, who is now a widow, although
she may have married again, the sum of twenty-five dollars per
annum.

Class G. To every matron who served in a Confederate hos-
pital as provided in section four of this act, the sum of forty
dollars per annum.

Class H. To personal representatives of deceased pension-
ers, as provided in section five of this act, a sum not exceeding
twenty-five dollars.

2. Pensioners classed as partially disabled may be re-rated.—
Any soldier now on the pension rolls, or who shall hereafter
be placed thereon, and classed as partially disabled may, if such
pensioner shall thereafter become totally disabled, make appli-
cation to be re-rated and placed on said rolls under the class of
totally disabled pensioners. If said application be approved,
the applicant shall be placed on the rolls under the class of totally
disabled pensioners, and receive the sum now or hereafter pro-
vided by law to be paid to totally disabled pensioners. In as-
certaining whether such applicant has become totally disabled,
the same proof and certificates concerning such disability shall
be required as is required for an original application for a pen-
sion.

3. Construction of total and partial disability—That total
disability within the meaning of this act shall be proved to
be such as wholly incapacitates the applicant for following his
usual and ordinary occupation, or any other occupation, for a
livelihood, and partial disability, within the meaning of this act,
shall be proved to be such as seriously and materially impairs
the capacity of the applicant for following his usual and ordi-
nary occupation, or any other occupation, for a livelihood.
4. Pensioning matrons who served in Confederate hospitals.
—Any woman who served as a matron in a Confederate hospital
for a period of twelve months during the war between the States,
shall be allowed the sum of forty dollars per annum. But if
the said person has real estate, the assessed value of which is
seven hundred and fifty dollars, or an income of two hundred
dollars per annum, or if she be a married woman and her hus-
band has real estate of that value or an income of that amount,
the said person shall not have the benefit of this act.

No person shall become nor continue a beneficiary under this
act who is already receiving a pension as the widow of a Con-
federate soldier, or who shall hereafter secure a pension as
such.

The said person shall make application for a pension before
the pension board; and when she shall have produced proof suffi-
cient to satisfy the said board that she comes within the require-
ments of this act, the said board shall allow her the said sum of
forty dollars, which shall be certified to the auditor of public
accounts for payment, endorsed by the chairman and clerk of
sald board.

That after the pension has once been allowed the pensioner
may annually thereafter appear before the clerk of the county
or corporation court in which the said pensioner resides, or some
other person qualified to administer an oath, and make affida-
vit that she is still entitled to a pension under the requirements
of this act.

5. Funeral expenses of Confederate pensioners.—Upon the
certificate of the clerk of the circuit court of any county or the
corporation or hustings court of any city that upon reliable
information under oath, of the death of any Confederate pen-
sioner now on the pension roll of this State, or who may here-
after be placed on said roll, it shall be the duty of the auditor
of public accounts, to issue his warrant for actual funeral ex-
penses of deceased in favor of the duly qualified personal repre-
sentative of such pensioner, payable at the time the next ensuing
pension instalment would have been due said pensioner had he
or she lived. The amount paid for funeral expenses shall not
exceed the annual pension to which said pensioner was entitled
at the time of his or her death, and in no case shall the said
payment exceed twenty-five dollars.

Provided, that when a qualification of a personal represen-
tative of a Confederate pensioner is had for the sole purpose of
obtaining from the State treasury the sum allowed to defray the
funeral expenses of such deceased Confederate pensioner, then,
and in that event, such grant of administration shall be exempt
from the tax imposed thereon by section twelve of the tax law.

6. Application of act.—This act shall apply to every citizen
of Virginia who was a resident thereof April first, eighteen
hundred and sixty-one, and to widows of such, and to the soldiers,
sailors, and marines of other States composing the Confederate
States, that allow pensions to former citizens of Virginia who
were in said service, who have been bona fide and continuous
actual residents of Virginia, for five years next before the
passage of this act, as hereinbefore classified, who entered from
this or any other State, in the military or naval service of the
Confederate States, and who is or shall be at the date of his
or her application, for the benefits of this act, a citizen and
actual resident of Virginia, as hereinbefore provided, but no
person holding a national, State, city or county office, which pays
a salary or fees amounting to two hundred dollars per annum or
whose income from any source whatever is two hundred dollars
per annum, or who receives from any source whatever money
or other means of support, amounting in value to two hundred
dollars per annum, or who owns in his or her own right, or where
there is held in trust for his or her own benefit, or where the
wife owns, or there is held in trust for the benefit, estate or
property, either real, personal, or mixed, in fee or for life of
the assessed value of seven hundred and fifty dollars, or who
is in receipt of aid or a pension from any other State, or from
the United States, or from any source whatever, or who is an
inmate of soldier’s home, shall be entitled to the benefits of
this act. But a soldier, sailor, or marine who is entitled to be
placed in class A or B, shall have the amount hereinbefore pro-
vided for him, unless he or his wife has an estate of the assessed
value of one thousand dollars, but also that a soldier, sailor or
marine who has reached the age of eighty years shall have the
amount hereinbefore provided for him, unless he or his wife
shall have an estate of the assessed value of fifteen hundred
dollars, provided, that the actual amount due or unpaid upon
any deed of trust or mortgage to secure the payment of a debt
shall be deducted from the assessed value of the property of
claimants under this act.

In computing the value of the estate held by anv person or
for his-or her benefit under this section, all property conveyed
by deed, for consideration not deemed valuable in law, or parted
with it by gift since April second, nineteen hundred and eleven,
shall be considered as his or her estate.

7. Requisites to entitle person to pension.—Before any
person shall be entitled to the benefits of this act, or receive the
aid hereby provided for, he or she shall file in the elerk’s office of
the circuit court of the county, or in the clerk’s office of the cor-
poration or hustings court of the city wherein he or she may
reside, at least twenty days before any regular term of the said
court, an application for relief under this act, subscribed and
sworn to by such applicant before some officer authorized by the
laws of Virginia to administer an oath, supported and accom-
panied by the affidavits of at least two disinterested and repu-
table witnesses, residents of the city or county wherein the said
applicant resides, and to whom the said applicant is personally
well known, as to the character and reputation of the said apoli-
eant for truth and honesty, and in case of a soldier’s application,
as to the nature of the disability; also by the affidavits of at
least two of the comrades in arms of the applicant, or of the
deceased soldier, sailor, or marine, if two such be living, and if
not, then one of such comrades, if one be living, and if no such
comrades be living, the address of whom is known to the appli-
cant, then of one or more reputable persons who have personal
knowledge of the service of any such soldier, sailor, or marine,
and of the cause of disability or death, as the case may be, if
any. such person or persons be living, the address of whom is
known to the applicant; and if there be no such comrade or
comrades, person or persons living, the address of whom is
known to the applicant, this fact must be specifically set forth
in the application; also the certificate of some reputable and
practicing physician as to the nature and character of the dis-
ability and the cause thereof; and in case of a widow’s appli-
cation, the certificate of the attending physician at the time of
the death of her husband as to his death, if such physician be
living, the address of whom is known to the applicant, and if
such physician be dead, or his address unknown to the applicant,
this fact must also specifically appear in the application, also the
certificate of some camp of Confederate veterans of the city or
county wherein the applicant resides, and if there be no such
camp in said city or county; then the certificate of two ex-
Confederate soldiers well known and of good reputation residing
in said city or county; that, after examination into the merits
of the application, the said camp, or the said ex-Confederate
soldiers, are satisfied as to the truth of the statements therein
contained, and that the applicant is entitled to relief under this
act, and if there be no such camp in the city or county where
the applicant resides, this fact must also specifically appear in
the application; and also the certificate of the commissioner of
the revenue of the city or county wherein the applicant resides
showing the assessed value of all real, personal, or mixed estate
or property with which the applicant, or his wife, or his or her
trustees, is assessed; provided, however, that on applications
of widows whose husbands were on the pension roll at the time
of death, the affidavit of comrades is not necessary.

If any applicant is unable to write his or her name, it shall
be written by some one, who shall sign as a witness after the ap-
plicant has made his or her mark, and in the case of any ap-
plicant who has not resided in the city or county where he or
she resides at the date of the passage of this act the period of
time required by this act to entitle him or her to file his or her
application before the court of the said city or county, it shall
be lawful for any such applicant to file his or her application in
the city or county of his or her former residence.

8. To whom pensions not to be paid.—That no application
shall be allowed, nor shall any aid be given or pension paid, in
any case, to any soldicr, sailor, or marine, or to the widow of any
soldier, sailor, or marine under the provisions of this act where
it shall appear that any such soldier, sailor, or marine deserted
his command, or voluntarily abandoned his post of duty, or the
said service, during the said war; nor shall any application be
allowed, nor any aid be given, nor any pension paid, to any
widow of any soldier, sailor, or marine aforesaid who shall have
been married to any such soldier, sailor, or marine after the
first day of May, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, nor to any
widow, if she have a husband living at the time of filing her
application for a pension under this act, or who shall hereafter
marry; nor to any such widow who was or has been divorced
from any such soldier, sailor, or marine, being her husband; nor
to any widow who voluntarily abandoned, and without cause, any
such soldier, sailor, or marine, being her husband, and continued
to live separately from him up to the date of his death; nor to
any such soldier, sailor, or marine who served as a substitute for
another, nor to the widow of such substitute; nor to any person
who served only in the militia of the State.

9. Requisites after application has been once passed upon;
auditor to mail forms, etc., to pensioners.—That after an ap-
plication has been once passed, approved and allowed, it shall
only be necessary for the applicant annually thereafter to file
with the auditor of public accounts a certificate sworn to before
some Officer in this State authorized by its laws to administer an
oath, and the certificate of the commissioner of the revenue.

And it shall be the duty of the auditor of public accounts
each year to mail to each pensioner upon the roll, the forms
prescribed in this section, with instructions how the same shall
be executed and returned to his office, and he shall not pay to
any pensioner upon the roll, the amount allowed under the pro-
visions of this act until the provisions of this section have been
complied with.

Whenever it shall appear that the original application or
annual certificate, for any year has been lost or destroyed, or if,
from any cause, the pension list or the name of any pensioner
thereon for any year for any cause has not been certified to the
auditor of public accounts for payment, it shall be lawful for such
pensioner or pensioners to make out new application for such
year and have the same certified as provided in this act, and
the auditor of public accounts shall pay such pensioner or pen-
sioners as if they were made out on original applications, or
annual certificate, out of any money in the treasury not other-
wise appropriated.

And the auditor shall strike from the pension roll the names
of all pensioners whose income amounts to two hundred dollars
per annum, or whose property amounts to, in assessed value,
seven hundred and fifty dollars, as hereinbefore provided.

It shall further be the duty of the auditor of public accounts
to answer promptly in writing all inquiries by mail made of him
by any resident of Virginia relative to pension matters in this
State, and to furnish all information requested relative to the
application for, refusal or allowance of any pension under this
act.

10. ERefore whom affidavit may be taken; clerk to certify offi-
cer’s authority.—Any affidavit required to be made under the
provisions of this act may be made before any officer of this State
authorized by its law to administer an oath, and if made beyond
the limits of this State, the official character of the officer be-
fore whom such affidavit is so made shall be certified by the
clerk of some court of record, and that the said officer before
whom such affidavit was so made is authorized under the laws
of the State to administer an oath.

11. Auditor of public accounts to prescribe forms, rules, &c.,
and to have printed and furnish clerks sufficient number of
copies.—That the auditor of public accounts shall prescribe such
forms as he may deem necessary to fully test and establish the
merit and justice of the claims under this act, and he shall formu-
late such rules, regulations, and instructions as he may deem
proper for the preparation, filing, execution, and certifying of
all applications, and the documentary proofs in support thereof,
and shall cause all such forms, together with such rules, regula-
tions, and instructions, to be printed, and shall cause a sufficient
number of the forms of each class, together with the rules, regu-
lations, and instructions aforesaid, to be distributed and fur-
nished to the clerk of each of the courts hereinbefore mentioned.

12. Auditor to examine applications; when to draw warrant;
other duties of auditor.—That the auditor of public accounts
shall earefully examine such applications, and the affidavits and
certificates thereto, upon receipt thereof. And upon being satis-
fied that all the requirements of this act have been complied
with in all particulars, and that the applicant is entitled to the
aid as herein provided, he shall at such times as he may deem
proper draw his warrant upon the State treasurer in favor of
the applicant for the amount authorized by this act to be paid
him or her for the current year, within which such application
shall be finally approved by the auditor, and annually thereafter
so long as the said applicant shall remain upon the pension roll
hereinafter required to be kept. The said auditor shall reject
all applications in which the proofs and facts certified do not
show the applicant entitled to the benefits of this act: provided
however, that before the auditor of public accounts shall place
any new applicant under this act upon the pension roll, or
pay any portion to any such new applicant, he shall, if obtain-
able, secure from the war department of the United States or
the secretary of Virginia military records, the record of such
applicant or deceased soldier, as shown by the military records
and rolls of the Confederate States, or of the State of Virginia,
and if the record of such applicant or deceased soldier, sailor,
or marine be not good, he shall reject such application.
13. Pension roll, how kept; certified copies to clerks; names
to be erased.—The auditor of public accounts shall keep in his
office a roll, to be-known as the pension roll of Virginia, in a
book to be provided by him for the purpose, in which the names
of all applicants whose applications have been finally approved
by him shall be entered, the applicants to be grouped together in
the counties or cities of their residence at the date such appli-
cation is allowed, the names of the applicants and of the cities
and counties to be alphabetically arranged. And the auditor
shall annually, on or before January first in each year, certify
to the clerk of the circuit court of each county, and to the cor-
poration or hustings court of each city, a copy of the roll of the
pensioners for any such city or county, whose claims have been
paid for the preceding pension year, for examination and re-
vision as hereinafter provided, and he shall cause to be erased
from said pension roll the names of all applicants who shall be
certified under the provisions of this act as having died, or as
being improperly placed thereon.

14. Applications heretofore allowed to remain on roll until
removed for cause; others to comply with requirements; no
special act for relief to be passed.—That all soldiers, sailors,
or marines, and the widows of any such, whose applications have
been heretofore allowed and whose names have been enrolled as
required by the several pension acts heretofore passed by the
general assembly of Virginia shall remain upon the said pen-
sion rolls until their names are removed therefrom for the causes
provided by this act. And that all others, before they shall be
entitled to any relief under the provisions of this act, shall com-
ply with the requirements thereof, and no special act for the re-
lief of any such soldiers, sailor, or marine, or the widow of any
such, shall hereafter be passed by the general assembly of Vir-
ginia. :

15. Clerks to prepare lists of applications and endorse same;
other duties of clerk as to same.—That the clerks of each of the
courts hereinafter mentioned shall endorse upon each application
filed in his office the date of filing, and shall, at least fifteen
days before any regular term of the court, prepare a list, alpha-
betically arranged, of all applications filed in his office twenty
days before any regular term of the court, which list shall set
forth the full name of the applicant, and whether the claim be
of a soldier, sailor, or marine or widow, the cause of disability
or death, the date of death, and the name of the command of the
soldier, sailor or marine, or of the deceased, and said clerk shall
make three certified copies thereof, and shall deliver one copy
thereof to the chairman of the board of commissioners herein-
after provided for, and post one copy thereof at the front door
of the courthouse of the city or county, and, on the first day of
the next regular term of the court, shall deliver one copy thereof
to the court, together with the applications therein listed.
16. Courts to examine and consider applications; certifi-
cate of court; hearing in case of objection; duties of clerk.—
That the circuit court of each county, and the corporation or
hustings court of each city shall, at each regular term of the
court, take up, examine and consider all applications certified by
the clerk thereof, as aforesaid, and if such court shall be satis-
fied that the requirements of this act have been substantially
complied with, and that the application is supported by the affi-
davits and certificates herein required, or by oral testimony in
open court (if the court shall require oral testimony) of persons
of well-known reputation for truth, honesty and integrity, and
satisfied as well of the justice of the claim of the said applicant
if there be no objections filed or offered by the board of com-
missioners hereinafter named, or by any other person, to the

said application being certified, shall certify the same to the

auditor of public accounts.

In case there shall be filed or offered by the said board of
commissioners, or any other person, objection to the certifying
of any such application, the court shall cause the applicant and
such other persons as it may deen necessary, or which either
party may require, to appear before the court at such time as
the court may fix, and after a full hearing shall determine the
case according to its merits and justice, and if such application
shall be disallowed, shall endorse, or cause to be endorsed, upon
the application the reasons for disallowing the same. And the
elerk of the said court shall enter upon the minute book of the
court an order showing all applications allowed or disallowed,
and shall certify a copy of the said order, under the seal of the
court, to the auditor of public accounts, and forward the same
to the said auditor, with all applications either allowed or disal-
lowed at any regular term of the court.

17. Court to appoint board of pension commissioners; their
duties.—That there shall be appointed by the circuit court of
each county in term time, or vacation, and by the corporation
or hustings court of each city, or by the judge thereof in vaca-
tion, immediately after the approval of this act, and in the month
of January in each year thereafter, a board of three commis-
sioners, residents of such county or city, none of whom shall be
either State, city, or county officers, and any two of whom may
act, and two of whom shall be ex-Confederate soldiers, and all
of whom shall be freeholders and persons of good reputation,
who are to serve without compensation, and to constitute a board,
whose duty it shall be to examine into the merits of the appli-
cations, a list of which shall have been furnished them by the
clerk of the said court, as hereinbefore provided, and who shall,
if there be any just cause against the allowance of any claim,
on the first day of the next succeeding regular term of any such
court, make a report in writing to the said court, setting forth
the objections to the allowance of any claim so referred to them,
and furnish to the said court such information or testimony
as they may have in support of any such objection, and whose
duty it shall be also, on or before the fifteenth day of February
in each year, to meet in the clerk’s office of such court, and ex-
amine the pension roll certified to the clerk by the auditor of
public accounts, under the provisions of this act, and report, in
writing, to the said court, or the judge thereof in vacation, the
names of such pensioners as have died during the preceding year,
as also the names of such pensioners as should be dropped from
the said roll because improperly placed thereon, and the reasons
why such pensioners should be dropped and the evidence in sup-
port of the same. And the said court, or the judge thereof in
vacation, shall forthwith cause, by rule or other process, any
pensioner, who is so reported to be improperly placed upon the
pension roll to appear before the said court, or the judge thereof
in vacation, to show cause why his or her name should not be
stricken off, and further aid to him or her discontinued, under
the provisions of this act, and if, after a full hearing, the said
court, or the judge thereof, be satisfied that the said applicant
is improperly on the pension roll, shall certify that fact to the
auditor of public accounts, and shall also certify a list of those
who have been reported as having died during the preceding
year. Any pensioner whose name shall be so dropped from the
pension roll may apply to be restored to said roll, as hereinbefore
provided in the case of an original application. The said board
of commissioners shall organize immediately after their appoint-
ment by the election of one of their number as chairman, who
shall preside over the meetings of the board, and perform such
other duties as the board may prescribe; and the members of
said board are hereby authorized and empowered to administer
any oath required under this act.

18. No fee to be charged for services rendered applicant;
penalty; exempt from levy, garnishment or attachment.—That
no fees or other compensation shall be charged or received by any
clerk, attorney, officer, or other person for any service rendered
to any applicant under the provisions of this act; and any person
who shall purchase from a soldier, sailor, or marine, or from any
widow of any deceased soldier, sailor, or marine, any claim
allowed under the provisions of this act for a price or sum of
money less than the full amount thereof shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor, and upon indictment and conviction thereof shall
be fined not less than twenty-five, nor more than one hundred
dollars, or imprisoned, or both, at the discretion of the court.
The provisions hereby made for disabled soldiers, sailors, or
marines, and widows of deceased soldiers, sailors, or marines,
shall be exempt from levy, garnishment, or attachment for any
debt or pecuniary demand.

19. Auditor may employ necessary clerical help to carry
out provisions of act; expense.—That for the proper discharge
of his duties under this act the auditor of public accounts shall
employ, and fix the compensation of such clerical help as he
may need to carry out the provisions of this act. The cost of
such clerical help and the expense of printing, postage, books,
and advertisements provided by this act, and incidental and
contingent expenses in connection with the pension business as
set forth in this act, shall be paid out of the sum of money
heretofore or hereafter appropriated, not to exceed, however, the
sum of seven thousand five hundred dollars annually.

20. Perjury; penalty—That any person who shall wilfully
swear falsely as to any material fact stated in any application,
or as to any material fact contained in any affidavit filed in sup-
port of such application, or as to any material fact touching
any application filed under the provisions of this act shall be
deemed guilty of perjury, and that any person who shall wil-
fully certify falsely as to any material fact touching any ap-
plication filed under the provisions of this act shall be deemed
guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon indictment and conviction
thereof shall be confined in jail not exceeding one year, or be
fined not exceeding one hundred dollars, or both, in the discre-
tion of the court. Within the meaning of this act any fact shall
be deemed material which tends to show that the applicant is
entitled to relief under the provisions of this act.

21. Manner in which pensions to be paid.—Out of the
amount appropriated for the fiscal year ending February twenty-
eight, nineteen hundred and thirteen, and the fiscal year ending
February twenty-eight, nineteen hundred and fourteen, and out
of the amount that shall be appropriated for each and every
fiscal year thereafter, the auditor of public accounts shall first
pay in full the pensions of all persons whose names have been
placed on the pension rolls on or before the first day of August,
nineteen hundred and twelve, under and by virtue of every pen-
sion act, general or special, passed by the general assembly of
Virginia, whose names have not been stricken from said rolls.
Provided, however, that if the amount so appropriated be not
sufficient to pay in full all the pensioners, the auditor of public
accounts shall distribute any residue remaining after the pay-
ment of said pensioners whose names were placed on the rolls
prior to the first day of August, nineteen hundred and twelve,
pro rata among the new pensioners whose names shall have been
placed on the pension rolls after the first day of August, nine-
teen hundred and twelve. Provided, further, that the new pen-
sioners of one year shall be classed as old pensioners for each
succeeding year.

22. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act are
hereby repealed.

23. An emergency existing in the needs of the proposed bene-
ficiaries, this act shall be in force from its passage.