Chap. 465.—An ACT to amend and re-enact chapter 85, of the acts of 1918,
approved February 28, 1918, as amended by chapter 188, of the acts of 1924,
approved March 14, 1924, as amended by chapter 490, of the acts of 1926,
approved March 25, 1926, as amended by chapters 100 and 101 of the acts of
1927, entitled an act relating to Confederate pensions. [H B 347]

Approved March 26, 1928

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That chapter
eighty-five, of the acts of nineteen hundred and eighteen, as amended
by chapter one hundred and eighty-eight of the acts of nineteen hundred
and twenty-four, as amended by chapter four hundred and ninety of
the acts of nineteen hundred and twenty-six, as amended by chapters
one hundred and one hundred and one of the acts of nineteen hundred
and twenty-seven, relating to Confederate pensions, be amended and
re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 1. To whom pensions paid; classification—There shall be
paid out of the treasury of Virginia, upon the warrants of the State
comptroller, annually the amounts provided by law to the persons here-
inafter 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
proofs and comply with the other requirements of this act, as here-
inafter specified and required, in classifications as follows:

Class A.—To every person who has lost two eves, or two feet, or
two 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, or totally deaf.

Class B.—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.

Class C.—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, and to each widow of a Confederate soldier married on or after
January 1, 1890, who is over 75 years of age.

Class D.—To every widow of any soldier, sailor, or marine of the
Confederate States who has become totally blind and 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 E.—To every matron who served in a Confederate hospital.
as hereinafter provided in this act.

Class F.—To any person who rendered service for the Confederacy
hereinafter described and classed as servant.

Section 2. Any Confederate pensioner now on the pension roll or
who shall hereafter be placed thereon, who becomes totally blind, may
make application to be rerated and placed on said roll under the class
of pensioners totally blind. Such applicant applying to be rerated
must obtain a certificate from a practicing physician, who after examin-
ing the applicant for blindness, if the case be total, shall certify that
fact on a form provided by the State comptroller. Such certificate
shall also be supported by affidavits from two resident witnesses
acquainted with the applicant showing that to the best of their know!l-
edge and belief, said applicant is totally blind. This section does not
apply to servants hereinbefore mentioned; total blindness within the
meaning of this act shall be proven to be permanent and total loss of
sight.

Section 3. Pensioning matrons who served in Confederate hos-
pitals——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 Confederate widows
per annum; when she shall have produced proof sufficient to satisty
the pension board of her county or city of the justice of her claim
under this act, after which said board shall certify the claim for
pension to the comptroller for enrollment and payment as the law
provides. Applicants under this section shall be subject to the pension
law with respect to residence and income.

Section 4. 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 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 State comptroller to issue his warrant
for twenty-five dollars as an allowance for funeral expenses, in favor
of the duly qualified personal representative of such pensioner, payable
within thirty days after the proof of death and claim duly certified to
the State comptroller.

Provided that the said sum of twenty-five dollars may be paid, with-
out the qualification of a personal representative, to the undertaker,
when such undertaker shall file with the State comptroller 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 ior the funeral expense allowance pro-
vided 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
obtaining from the State treasury the sum allowed to apply to 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 laws.

Section 5. This act shall apply to citizens of Virginia who were
Confederate soldiers, sailors or marines, and who entered from this
State or any other State in the military or naval service of the Con-
federate States, and to widows of such, and to Confederate soldiers,
sailors and marines, and widows of such of other States composing
the Confederate States, that allow pensions to former citizens of
Virginia, who were in said service and who at the daté of making
applications have been bona fide and continuous actual residents of
Virginia for at least two years next before date of such applications
for pensions; but no person holding a national, State, city or county
office, which pays a salary or fees exceeding four hundred dollars per
annum, or whose income from any and all sources whatever exceeding
four hundred dollars per annum, other than board and clothing given
to such applicant, or who owns in his or her own right, or where 1s
held in trust for his or her own benefit, estate or property either real,
personal or mixed, in fee or for life, yielding an income exceeding
four 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
necessary aid 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 Wash-
ington, District of Columbia, immediately following a residence in this
State of at least two continuous years, shall also have the benefits of
this act.

Provided further that ex-Confederate soldiers on the pension roll,
or who hereafter become pensioners, proven to have become totally
deaf by certificate of a reputable practicing physician and affhdavits by
three reputable unrelated and disinterested citizens, who are fully
acquainted with the applicant, shall be paid the amount of ‘pension
allowed by law.

Under the provisions of this act, any person who actually accom-
panied a Confederate soldier in service and remained faithful and
loyal as body servant to such soldier, or who was detailed to and per-
formed guard duty for the Confederacy, or who served as cook, hostler
or teamster, or who worked on Confederate breastworks, or who was
detailed to bury the Confederate dead, or who worked in the railroad
shops or blacksmith shops, or in Confederate hospitals during the
war between the States, under the direction and for the Confederate
government, shall be classed as servant and entitled to receive the
pension provided by law; proof of service and right to be enrolled to
be prescribed by the State comptroller.

Section 6. 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 corporation or hustings
court of the city wherein he or she may reside, an application for relict
under this act, subscribed and sworn to by such applicant before some
ofhcer authorized by the laws of Virginia to administer an oath, sup-
ported and accompanied by the affidavit of at least two disinterested
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 reputation of said applicant for truth and honesty
and justice of the claim; also by affidavit of a comrade-in-arms with
the applicant or of the deceased soldier, sailor or marine, if such be
living, but if no such comrade be living, the address of whom is known
to the applicant, then of one or more reputable persons who have per-
sonal knowledge of the service of any such soldier, sailor, or marine,
if any such person or persons be living, the address of whom is known
to the applicant; and if there be no such comrade 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
as hereinafter provided, shall be accepted in lieu thereof certifving
that after examination into the merits of the application, the said camp
is 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; provided that on ap-
plications of widows whose husbands were on the pension roll at the
time of death, the affidavit of a comrade or others or official certificate
made from military or naval records, bearing upon such husband’s
service, are not required.

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 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 applica-
tion 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 7. That no applicant shall be allowed, nor shall anv 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 of
the said service during the said war, and who did not later return
to the Confederate States army or navy, or who took the oath of
allegiance to the United States government before the end of the 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-nine, nor to any
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, or in home guard organizations; 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; provided that a widow of any Confederate soldier, who
has married again and been abandoned or deserted by her husband,
who in no wise contributes to her support, or any widow of a Con-
federate soldier married on or after January 1, 1890, who is over 75
years of age, may receive a pension, provided by the law of this State,
if she be otherwise eligible to be placed on the pension roll.

Section 8. Requisites after application has been once passed upon;
comptroller to mail forms, et cetera, to pensioners.—That after an
application has been once passed, approved and allowed it shall only
be necessary for the applicant annually thereafter to file with the State
comptroller 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 State comptroller 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 destroved, or 1f from any cause
the pension certificate for any year has not been certified to the State
comptroller for payment, it shall be lawful for such pensioner or pen-
sioners to make out new certificates for such year and have the
same certified as provided in this act, and the State comptroller shall
pay such pensioner or pensioners out of any money in the treasury not
otherwise appropriated; but the comptroller shall strike from the
pension roll the names of all pensioners whose income exceeds four
hundred dollars per annum, as hereinbefore provided.

It shall further be the duty of the State comptroller to answer
promptly in writing all inquiries by mail made of him by any resi-
dent 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 9. Before whom affidavit may be taken; clerk to certify
officer’s authority——Any afhdavit required to be made under the pro-
visions 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.

Section 10. State comptroller to prescribe forms and regulations
and to have printed and furnish clerks sufficient number of copies.—
That the State comptroller 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, execu-
tion 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 suffi-
cient 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 11. Comptroller to examine applications; when to draw
warrant; other duties of comptroller—That the State comptroller 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, and that the app‘i-
cant 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 law, so long as
said applicant shall remain upon the pension roll hereinafter required
to be kept. The said comptroller 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 State comp-
troller 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
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 oi
such applicant or deceased soldier, sailor or marine be not good, he
shall reject such application, unless it can be proven beyond reasonable
doubt by affidavits from authentic and reliable sources, or by any
record or official papers in possession of applicant, or by any entry
of the Confederate war or naval records, that after such report of
desertion, such soldier, sailor or marine was reunited with his command
or was enlisted in or transferred to some other command of the Con-
federate States army or navy and was loyal to the end of the war,
then in such case the application of the soldier, or widow of such sol-
dier, shall receive favorable consideration if other requirements of
the pension law have been complied with.

Section 12. Pension roll; how kept; certified copies to clerks ; names
to be erased.—The State comptroller 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 resi-
dence at the date such application is allowed, the names of the appli-
cants of the cities and counties to be alphabetically arranged. And he
shall cause to be dropped from said pension roll the names of all
pensioners who shall be certified 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 13. Applicants 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 pen-
sion acts heretofore passed by the general assembly of Virginia, shall
remain upon the said pension rolls until their names are removed there-
from 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 hereafter be passed by the general assembly.

Section 14. Clerks to prepare lists of applications; 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 ofhce the
date of filing, and shall promptly prepare a list, alphabetically 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 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 courthouse 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 15. Courts to examine and consider applications ; certificate
of court; hearing in case of objection; duties of clerk.—That the cir-
cuit court of each county, and the corporation or hustings court of
each city, shall, at each regular term of court, or judge thereof in
vacation, take up, examine and consider all applications certified by the
clerk thereof, as aforesaid, after such claims have been acted on hv
the board of pension commissioners ; 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 satished as
well of the justice of the claim of the said applicant, if there be no
objections filed or offered by the board of pension commissioners, or
by any other person, to the said application being certified, shall certity
the same to the State comptroller.

In case there shall be filed or offered by the said board of pension
commissioners, or any other person, objection to the certifying of anv
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 accord-
ing 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
applications allowed or disallowed, and shall certify a copy of the
said order, to the State comptroller, and forward the same to the said
comptroller, with all applications, either allowed or disallowed, at anv
regular term of the court, or before the judge in vacation.

Section 16. 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, in the month of January
in each year, a pension board of three commissioners, 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 at least two of whom shall
be ex-Confederate soldiers or sons or daughters of 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
applications, a list of which shall have heen furnished them by the
clerk of the said court, as hereinbefore provided, and shall certify its
approval of each claim in which it shall have been proven that the pro-
visions of the pension law respecting duties of applicants have been
complied with, but if there be any just cause against the allowance of
any claim, such board of pension commissioners shall, on the first dav
of the next succeeding regular term of any such court, make a report
in writing to the said court, or judge thereof in vacation, setting forth
the objections to the allowance of any claim before them and furnish
to the said court such information or testimony as they may have in
support of any objection. Said board shall also report the naines of
such pensioners as should be dropped from 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 certify that fact to the State comptroller. 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 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 oath required under this act.

Section 17. 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 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, garnishment or attachment for any debt or
pecuniary demand.

Section 18. Division of purchase and printing to furnish blank
forms, etc.—The division of purchase and 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 State comptroller 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 State comptroller in
other matters pertaining to his office.

Section 19. Perjury; penalty—That any person who shall wilfully
swear falsely as to any material fact stated in anv 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 convic-
tion 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 20. Manner in which pensions to be paid—The State
comptroller shall pay quarterly in equal installments, at such dates as
he may prescribe, the pensions authorized by law, but in the case of
new claims, pensions shall begin for the quarter within which such
claims are filed with and approved by the State comptroller, and all
pension payments shall be paid out of the amount appropriated annually
for such purposes; provided the estimated unexpended balance otf
appropriation for the payment of pensions on hand the first day of
December of each year, after deducting the amount of the quarterly
payment due that date and a sum sufficient in the judgment of the
State comptroller to pay approved pension and funeral expense claims
received between December Ist and March 1st next, shall be divided
prorata among pensioners on the roll living at the time said quarterly
payment on December Ist is made. Such prorated balance shall be
added to and become a part of the payment made on said December
Ist of each year.

Section 21. All acts or parts of acts in conflict with this act are
hereby repealed.

Section 22. That pensioners may receive, as soon as possible the
benefit provided by this act, this act shall be in force from its passage.