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57th Congress 1st Session |
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
REPORT NO. 2142 |
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HELENA SUDSBURG. _______________ May 20, 1902 - Committed to the Committee of the White House and ordered to be printed. _______________________ Mr. Miers, from the Committee on Invalid Pensions, submitted the following REPORT. [To Accompany S.4638} This bill proposes to grant a pension of $25 per month to Helena Sudsburg, widow of Joseph M. Sudsburg, late colonel Third Regiment Maryland Volunteer Infantry. The Military records show that Joseph M. Sudsburg served as captain Company K, Second Maryland Volunteer Infantry, from September 18, 1861 to May 6, 1862. He was mustered in as lieutenant colonel Third Maryland Volunteer Infantry, May 7, 1862; promoted colonel October 28, 1862, and honorably discharged June 24, 1864. Colonel Sudsburg filed and established a claim under the general law and was pensioned at the rate of $30 per month for rheumatism and total deafness of the right ear. He died April 8, 1901. Helena Sudsburg, the claimant under this bill, is 74 years of age. She was married to the officer March 19, 1893. She made claim under the general law, but the same was rejected November 2, 1901, on the ground that the officer's death from paralysis (senile) was not the result of rheumatism and total deafness of right ear for which he was pensioned and was in no other way the result of his military service. Colonel Sudsburg died at the age of 74 years. The death records of the city of baltimore show the following: Cause of death, general bad health, rheumatoidal and paralytic; duration of last sickness, running over several years. Dr. W. H. Crim testified August 16, 1901, as follows: I attended Col. Joseph M. Sudsburg for the past thirty years and find his health was broken from exposure in the Army. First, a rheumatic or bad condition of nutrition, chronic in form, but mild with subacute manifestation, recurring at intervals of from four to six months, and as he grew older the arteries took an a degenerate condition, firest slight, but afterwards permanent; a general senile decay, finally becoming helpless physically and without sufficient means to support himself; this was about the year 1886. His habits were beyond reproach, and he in no way contributed to his condition which was undoubtedly caused by exposure in the Army. His death occurred April 8, 1901, caused by chronic rheumantism. His only complication was general breakdown and rheumatoid condition. Dr. Crim again testified, October 19, 1901, that -- I think that the soldier's death from paralysis was the result of rheumatism, independant of senlity. Dr. George C. Wegefarth testified December 26, 1901, as follows: I attended Joseph M. Sudsburg during the last week of his life; he was suffering with a stroke of apoplexy, which was the seventh attack; he also had organic heart disease (mitral murmur) and arterio-sclerosis; the arteries was very much hardened. his urine on chemical analysis contained albumen, microscopically hyaline casts. He was very deaf. His physical appearance was that of a man who had suffered for a long time, and the marked general decay was no doubt caused by the frequent attacks of rheumatism and previous exposure in his younger years. From my observation I am convinced the diseases had been gradually coming on for years and that the arterio-sclerosis and organic heart disease were the result of the frequent recurrent attacks of rheumantism and that his death was due to these causes. From, what I have learned he had always led a moral life had regular habits, but during the past seven years he has not been able to earn a livelihood owing to his infirmities. The conclusion that the officer's fatal paralysis was due to senile causes seems to be based on the theory that the paralysis was coexistent with his advanced age. The evidence of his family physicans, however, shows that the paralysis was induced by a broken-down constitution growing out of diseases originating during his army service, and for which he was pensioned. Age no doubt was a factor, in that it rendered him more prone to disease and his recovery less probable. Suffering as he had been for thirty years or more from rheumatism contracted in the Army, it is not unreasonable to conclude that the results of that trouble were factors in his demise. Mrs Sudsburg in her old age is without means of support. She carefully nursed her husband in the last years of his life until her own health broke down under the strain. She is needy and worthy, and your committee report the bill favorably with a recommendation that it pass when amended as follows: That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to place on the pension roll, subject to the provisions and limitations of the pension laws, the name of Helena Sudsburg, widow of Joseph M. Sudsburg, late colonel Third Regiment of Maryland Volunteer Infantry, and pay her a pension at the rate of twenty-five dollars per month. Also amend the title so as to read" "A bill granting a pension to Helena Sudsburg" |