‘Chap. 188.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act approved February 28, 1918,
entitled an act to amend and re-en:ct an act approved March 21, 1916, relatin
to Confederate pensions. [H B 364

Approved March 14, 1624.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That an act
ypproved February twenty-cight, nineteen hundred and eighteen, en-
titled an act to amend and re-enact an act approved March twenty-first,
nineteen hundred and sixteen, relating to Confederate pensions, be
amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 1. To whom pension paid; classification—There shall be
paid out of the treasury of Virginia, upon the warrants of the auditor
of public accounts, annually the amounts provided by law to the per-
sons 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 application for such aid, and
furnish the proofs and comply with the other requirements of this act,
as hereinafter specified and required, in classifications as follows:

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 received, or surgi-
cal 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.

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 Con-
federate States in the said war.

Class C. To every person who is 3 disabled by wounds received, or
surgical operations 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, or if such
disability be proven to be partial.

Class D. To every person 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 in-
capable of earning a livelihood, if such disability be proven to be total,
or if such disability be proven to be partial.

Class E. To every widow, remaining unmarried, of any soldier,
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 a widow, although
she may have married again.

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.

Class G. To every matron who served in a Confederate hospital,
as provided in section four of this act.

Section 2. 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 application 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 provided by law to be paid to totally
disabled pensioners. In ascertaining whether such applicant has be-
come totally disabled, the same proof and certificates concerning such
disability shall be required of a practicing physician and of the pension
board of the county or city in which pensioner resides.

Section 3. Construction of total and partial disability.—The 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 dis-
ability, within the meaning of this act, shall be proved to be such as
seriously and materially impairs the capacity of the applicant for fol-
lowing his usual and ordinary occupation, or any other occupation, for a
livelihood. '

Section 4. 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 same amount as provided by law for Con-
federate widows, per annum, but if the said matron has an income of
three hundred dollars per annum, or if she be a married woman and her
husband has an income of that amount, she shall not have the benefit
of this act.

No person shall become or continue a beneficiary under this act as a
matron, who is already receiving a pension as the widow of a Con-
federate soldier, or who shall 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 sufficient to
satisfy the said board that she comes within the requirements of this
act, the said board shall allow her the sum provided by law per annum,
which shall be certified to the auditor 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 corpora-
tion court in which the said pensioner resides, or some other person
qualified to administer an oath, and make affidavit that she is entitled
to a pension under the requirements of this act.

Section 5. Funeral expenses of Confederate pensioners.—Upon the
certificate of the clerk of the circuit court of any county or the corpora-
tion or hustings court of any city that upon reliable information under
oath, of the death of any Confederate pensioner now on the pension
rolls 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 qualified personal representa-
tive of such pensioner, payable within thirty days after proof of death
and claim duly certified to auditor of public accounts.

Provided, that the said sum of twenty-five dollars mav be paid,
without the qualification of a personal representative, to the under-
taker, when such undertaker shall file with the auditor of public accounts
his bill verified by proper affidavit, which affidavit must also show that
such undertaker buried the pensioner, for which service the funeral
expense allowance is claimed. A copy of the death certificate shall
accompany any such undertaker’s claim for the funeral expense allow-
ance provided under this section.

Provided, further, that when a qualification of a personal repre-
sentative of a Confederate pensioner is had for the sole purpose of ob-
taining 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 im-
posed thereon by section twelve of the tax law.

Section 6. Application of act.—This act shall apply to every
citizen of Virginia, 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 two years next before the date of application for pension 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 and all
sources whatever is three hundred dollars per annum, other than board
and clothing given to such applicant, 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, yielding an income of
three hundred dollars per annum, or who is in receipt of a pension from
this State or any other State, or from the United States, or of neces-
sary ald from any source or who is an inmate of a soldiers home, shall
be entitled to the benefits of this act. —

Provided, that ex-Confederate soldiers, or widows of such who have
become, or who hereafter become residents of the city of Washington,
District of Columbia, immediately following a residence in this State
of at least two continuous years, shall also have the benefit of this act.

Under the provisions of this act any person who actually accompanied
a soldier in the service and remained faithful and loyal as the body ser-
vant of such soldier, or who served as cook, hostler or teamster or who
worked on breastworks under any command of the army and thereby
rendered service to the Confederacy, shall be entitled to receive an
annual pension of twenty-five dollars, proof of service and right to be
enrolled to be prescribed by auditor of public accounts.

Section 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 clerk’s office of the cir-
cuit court of the county, or in the clerk’s office of the corporation or
hustings court of the city wherein he or she may reside, 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 accompanied by the affidavits of at least two dis-
interested and reputable 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
applicant 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 com-
rades, 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 Con-
federate camp as hereinafter provided 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 application, 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-Con-
federate 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
equnty 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 trustee, 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 writ-
ten by some one, who shall sign as a witness, after the applicant 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 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.

Section 8. To whom pensions not to be paid.—That no applica-
tion 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 volun-
tarily 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 soldier, sailor, or marine, who shall
have been married to any such soldier, sailor, or marine after the thirty-
first day of December, eighteen hundred and eighty-two, 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 aban-
doned 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 only 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.

Section 9. Requisites after application has been once passed upon;
auditor to mail forms, et cetera, to pensioners.—That after an applica-
tion has been once passed, approved and allowed it shall only be neces-
sary 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 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 certificate for any vear 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 certificates 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 out of any money in the treasury not
otherwise appropriated, but the auditor shall strike from the pension
roll the names of all pensioners whose income amount to three hundred
dollars per annum, 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.

Section 10. Before whom affidavit may be taken; clerk to certify
officer’s authority.— Any affidavit required to be made under the pro-
visions of this act may be made before any officer of this State author-
ized 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.

Section 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 jus-
tice of the claims under this act, and he shall formulate such rules,
regulations, and instructions, as he may deem proper for the prepara-
tion, filing, execution, and certifying of all applications and the docu:
mentary proofs in support thereof, and shall cause all such forms, to-
gether 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 aforesaid, to be distributed and
furnished to the clerk of each of the courts hereinbefore mentioned.

Section 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 cer-
tificates thereto, upon receipt thereof. And upon being satisfied that
all the requirements of this act have been complied with in all particu-
lars, 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 said applicant shall remain upon the pension roll
hereinafter required to be kept. The said auditor shall reject all ap-
plications in which the proofs and facts certified do not show the ap-
plicant 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 obtainable, secure from the war department
of the United States or the Virginia military records in Richmond, 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.

Section 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 appli-
cants 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 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 pension year for examination and revision, as herein-
after 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.

Section 14. Applicants heretofore allowed to remain on roll until
‘emoved for cause; others to comply with requirements; no special act
or 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 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 comply
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 here-
after be passed by the general assembly.

Section 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 application filed
in his office the date of filing, and shall promptly prepare a list, alpha-
betically arranged, of all applications filed in his office, 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 pension commissioners hereinafter provided for and post one
copy thereof at the front door of the court house of the city or county
and on the first day of the next regular term of court, shall deliver one
copy thereof to the court or judge thereof in vacation together with the
application therein listed.

Section 16. Courts to examine and consider applications, certi-
ficate 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, or judge thereof in
vacation take up, examine and consider all applications certified by
the clerk thereof, as aforesaid, and if such court or judge thereof in
vacation shall be satisfied that the requirements 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 (if
the court or judge 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 objection
filed or offered by the board of pension commissioners 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 pension
commissioners, or any other person, objection to the certifying of any
such application, the court or judge in vacation shall cause the appli-
cant and any 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 merits and justice, and if such application shall be dis-
allowed, 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, or before the judge in
vacation. |

Section 17. Court to appoint board of pension commissioners;
their duty.— 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 vacation, immediately
after the approval of this act, and in the month of January in each
year thereafter, a board of three commissioners, residents of such
county or city, none of whom shall be either State, city, or county of-
ficers, and any two of whom may act and two of whom shall be ex-Con-
federate soldiers, or sons of ex-Confederate soldiers, and all of whom
shall be free-holders 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 applications, alist 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 allow-
ance, 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, before
the fifteenth day of February in each year to meet in the clerk’s office
of such court, and examine 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 be-
cause 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 ts 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 mectings 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.

Section 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, at-
torney, 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 imprisonment, 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, gar-
nishment, or attachment, for any debt or pecuniary demand.

Section 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 pertaining to his office.

Section 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 support 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 wilfully certify falsely as to any material fact
touching any application 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 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. .

Section 21. Manner in which pensions to be paid.—The auditor
of public accounts shall pay quarterly 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

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

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