Chap. 85.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act approved March 21, 1916,
relating to Confedernte pensions. {H B 97]

Approved February 28, 1918.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That an
act approved March twenty-first, nineteen hundred and sixteen, enti-
tled an act to consolidate into one act all acts relating to Confed-
erate pensions and to repeal all acts, and parts of acts, in conflict
herewith, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia—To
whom pensions paid; classification.—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, described 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 two years, and in the county or city from which such
application is certified for one year, and who shall make applica-
tion for such aid, and furnish the proofs and comply with the other
requirements of this act, as hereinafter specified and required, to-
Wit:

Class A. To every person who has lost two eyes, or two feet,
or {wo hands, or a hand and a foot, by reason of 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 war
between the States, and any such as have become totally blind, one
hundred and eighty 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 eighty-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 seventy-five dollars per annum, and if such disa-
bility be proven to be partial, the sum of fifty-five dollars.

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 earning a livelihood, if
such disability be proven to be total, the sum of seventy-five dollars
per annum, and if such disability be proven to be partial, the sum
of fifty-five dollars per annum.

Class E. To every widow, remaining unmarried, of any sol-
dier, sailor, or marine of the Confederate States, whose husband lost
his life while in the discharge of his duty in the military or naval
service of the Confederate States during the said war, who is now
2 widow, although she may have married again, the sum of fifty
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 fifty 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 fifty dol-
lars per annum. .

Class H. To personal representatives of deceased pensioners.
as provided in section five of this act, a sum not exceeding twenty-
five dollars for funeral expenses.

See, 9, Pensioners classed as partially disabled may be re-
rated.—Any old soldier now on the pension rolls, or who shall here-
after 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 dis-
abled pensioners, and receive the sum now or hereafter provided
by law to be paid to totally disabled pensioners. In ascertaining
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 pension.

Sec. 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 ordinary occupation, or any
other occupation, for a livelihood.

Sec. 4. Pensioning matrons who served in Confederate hospi-
tals—aAny woman who served as a matron in a Confederate hos-
pital for a period of twelve months during the war between the
States, shall be allowed the sum of fifty 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 husband 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 Confed-
erate soldier, or who shal] 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
fifty dollars, which shall be certified to the anditor of public
accounts for payment, endorsed by the chairman and clerk of said
board. |

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

Sec. 5. Funeral expenses of Confederate pensioners.—Upon the
certificate of the clerk of the circuit court of any county or the cor-
poration or hustings court of any city, that upon reliable informa-
tion under oath, of the death of any Confederate pensioner now on
the pension roll of this State, or who may hereafter be placed on
said roll, it shall be the duty of the auditor of public accounts to
issue his warrant for twenty-five dollars, in favor of the duly quali-
fied personal representative of such pensioner, payable within thirty
days after proof of death and claim duly certified to auditor of pub-
lic accounts.

Provided, that when a qualification of a personal representa-
tive of a Confederate pensioner is had for the sole purpose of obtain-
ing 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.

Sec. 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 ser-
vice, who have been bona fide and continuous actual residents of
Virginia, for two years next before the date of application for pen-
sion, and 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 three hundred dollars per annum
or whose income from any source whatever is three hundred dollars
per annum, or who receives from any source whatever money or
other means of support, amounting in value to three hundred dol-
lars 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 her benefit, estate or property, either
real, personal, or mixed, in fee or for life of the assessed value of
two thousand dollars, or who is in receipt of a pension from any
other State, or from the United States, or of necessary aid from
any source whatever, or who is an inmate of a soldiers’ 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 provided for him, unless he or his wife has
an estate of the assessed value of two thousand dollars, but also
that a soldier, sailor or marine who has reached the age of eighty

ears shall have the amount hereinbefore provided for him, unless

e or his wife shall have an estate of the assessed value of two
thousand 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 any 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 by gift
since April second, nineteen hundred and eleven, shall be consid-
ered as his or her estate, but no increase in the assessed value of real
estate or personal property hereafter made shall operate to prevent
any pensioner on the roll from receiving his or her pension pro-
vided for in this act, unless the value of the property so assessed
exceeds the sum of two thousand dollars.

Sec. 7. Requisites to entitle person to pension.—Before any per-
son shall be entitled to the benefits of this act, or receive the aid
hereby provided for, he or she shall file in the clerk's office of the
circuit court of the county, or in the clerk’s office of the corpora-
tion 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 Vir-
yinia to administer an oath, supported and accompanied by the
affidavits of at least two disinterested and reputable witnesses, resi-
dents of the city or county wherein the said applicant resides, and
to whom the said applicant is personally well known, as to the char-
acter and reputation of the said applicant for truth and honesty,
und in case of a soldier’s application, as to the nature of the disa-
bility; 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 applicant, 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, and upon such failure to obtain affidavits above
required, endorsement of the local Confederate camp to which the
applicant belongs or of a local Confederate camp as hereinafter pro-
vided shall be accepted in lieu thereof; also the certificate of some
reputable and practicing physician as to the nature and character
of the disability and the cause thereof; and in case of a widow's
‘pprication, 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 cer-
tificate 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 soldier:
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, per-
onal, or mixed estate or property with which the applicant or his
vife, or his or her trustee, Is assessed; provided, however, that on
pplications of widows whose husbands were on the pension roll
t 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
vritten by some one, who shall sign as a witness after the a phi-
‘ant has made his or her mark, and in the case of any applicant
who has not resided in the city or county where he or she resides
it the date of the passage of this act the period of time required
oy 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.

Sec. 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 soldier, 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 given, nor any pension paid, to any widow of any sol-
dier, 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 seventy, 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. _

Sec. 9. Requisites after application has been once passed upon ;
auditor to mail forms, et cetera, to pensioners——That after an appli-
cation has been once passed, approved and allowed it shall only be
necessary for the applicant annually thereafter to file with the audi-
tor 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 provisions 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 pensioners as if they were
made out on original applications, or annual certificate, out of any
money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.

And the auditor shall strike from the pension roll the names
of all pensioners whose income amounts to three hundred dollars
per annum, or whose property amounts to, in assessed value, two
thousand 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 appli-
cation for, refusal or allowance of any pension under this act.

Sec. 10. Before whom affidavit may be taken; clerk to certify
officer’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 laws to administer an oath, and’if made beyond
the limits of this State, the official character of the officer before
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.

Sec. 11. Auditor of public accounts to prescribe forms, rules,
et cetera, 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 formulate 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, regulations, and instructions, to be
printed, and shall cause a sufficient number of the forms of each
class, together with the rules, regulations, and instructions afore-
said, to be distributed and furnished to the clerk of each of the
rourts hereinbefore mentioned.

Sec. 12. Auditor to examine applications; when to draw war-
rant; other duties of auditor.—That the auditor of public accounts
shall carefully examine such applications, and the affidavits and
certificates thereto, upon receipt thereof. And upon being satisfied
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 appli-
cant 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 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 audi-
tor of public accounts shall place any new applicant under this act
upon the pension roll, or pay any portion to any such new appli-
eant, he shall. if obtainable, 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 bv the
military records and rolls of the Confederate States, or of the State
of Virginia, and if the record of such applicant or deceased sol-
dier, sailor or marine be not good, he shall reject such application.

Sec. 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 coun-
ties or cities of their residence at the date such application is
allowed, the names of the applicants 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 corporation 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 pen-
sion year for examination and revision, 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, but no
pensioner, properly on said rolls, shall be erased therefrom for the
reason that the pensioner has become the resident of a State that
does not grant the pensioner moving from Virginia, a pension.

Sec. 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 anv such, whose applications have been hereto-
fore 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 pension 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 compry with the requirements
thereof. and no special act for the relief of any such soldier, sailor.
or marine, or the widow of any such, shall hereafter be passed by
the general assembly.

Sec, 15. Clerks to prepare lists of applications and endorse
same; other duties of clerks as to same.—That the clerks of each of
the courts hereinafter mentioned shall endorse upon each applica.
tion filed in his office the date of filing, and shall, at least fifteer
days before any regular term of the court, prepare a list, alpha.
betically arranged, of all applications filed in his office twenty day:

Go ogle
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 cer-
tified copies therof, and shall deliver one copy thereof to the chair-
man of the board of commissioners hereinafter 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.

Sec. 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 satisfied that the require-
ments of this act have been substantially complied with, and that
the application is supported by the affidavits 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 commissioners hereinafter named, or by
any other person, to the said application being certified, shall cer-
tify the same to the auditor of public accounts.

In case there shall be filed or offered by the said board of com-
missioners, or any other person, objection to the certifying of any
such application, the court sha]l cause the applicant and such other
persons as it may deem 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 mer-
its 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 clerk of said court shall enter
upon the minute book of the court an order showing all applica-
tions 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 disallowed, at any regular term of the court. _

Sec. 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 hust-
ings court of each city, or by the judge thereof in vacation, imme.
diately after the approval of this act, and in the month of Janu.
ary in each year thereafter, a board of thrve commissioners, resi-
dents 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 with:
out compensation, and to constitute a board, whose duty it shall be
to examine into the merits of the applications, a list of which shall
have been furnished them by the clerk of the said court, as herein-
before 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 objection, and
whose duty it shall be also, on or before the fifteenth day of Feb-
ruary in each year, to ineet in the clerk’s office of such court, and
examine the pension roll certified to the clerk by the auditor of pub-
lic accounts, under the provisions of this act, and report, in writ-
ing, 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 support 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 cer-
tify that fact to the auditor of public accounts, and shall also cer-
tify 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 here-
inbefore provided in the case of an original application. The said
board of commissioners shal] organize immediately after their
appointment 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.

Sec. 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, nor more than one hundred dollars, or imprisoned, or both,
at the discretion of the court. The provisions hereby made for dis-
abled 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.

Sec. 19. The superintendent of public printing shall, out of
the appropriation provided for public printing, furnish such blank
forms, books, papers, pamphlets, et cetera, and do such printing,
binding, ruling, et cetera, for the auditor of public accounts in
connection with pension matters, in the same manner as is now
required to be done respecting public printing. binding, ruling, et
cetera, for the auditor of public accounts in other matters pertain-
ing to his office.

Sec. 20. Perjury; penalty.—-That any person who shall wilfully
swear falsely as to any material fact stated in any application, or
as to anv material fact contained in any affidavit filed in support
of such application, or as to any material fact touching any appli-
cation filed under the provisions of this act, shall be deemed guilty
of perjury, and that any person who shall wilfully certify falsely
as to any material fact touching any application filed under the pro-
visions 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 discretion 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.

Sec. 21. Manner in which pensions to be paid.—The audi-
tor of public accounts shall pay semi-annually in equal installments,
at such dates as he may prescribe, the pensions authorized by this
act; said payments to be made out of the amount appropriated
annually for such purposes.

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

Sec. 23. An emergency existing in the needs of the proposed
beneficiaries, this act shall be in force from its passage.