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Pension
Committee – April 20, 1922
Calendar
No. 760, 67th Congress, 2nd
Session, Senate Report No. 771
H.R.
7530
Mortimer S.
Martin, Grangeville, Idaho, served during certain Indian campaigns
in Capt. James Cearley’s company, Idaho Volunteers, from June 13, 1877
to December 31, 1878. (Indian
War Sur. 10688)
He filed a claim
for pension under the act of March 4, 1917, as an Indian war survivor.
It was rejected on the ground that the records of the United
States afford no evidence of the alleged service and his name is not
borne on the muster-out rolls of the company which are on file at the
capitol of Idaho. However, those records do show his name on the informal roll
or list of the members of the company.
It appears certain that he had the service claimed from the
evidence filed, as follows:
State
of Idaho, County of Idaho, ss:
On
this 23d day of April, 1921 at Grangeville, Idaho County, Idaho, before
me, A.W. Talkington, a notary public in and for said county and State,
personally appeared Mortimer S. Martin, whose post-office address is
Grangeville, Idaho County, Idaho, who, being by me first duly sworn, on
oath says:
My age is 73 years; I
was resident of Idaho County, Idaho, in 1877, at the time of the Nez
Perce Indian war and took part in said war as a volunteer in the company
commanded by Capt. D.B. Randall and subsequent to his death commanded by
Capt. James Cearley; I performed service as a member of said company
during the whole campaign in Idaho in 1877.
I am informed and
believe that my name does not appear upon the muster roll of said
company and that because of this fact I am not entitled to a pension
under the provisions of the act of March 4, 1917; I make this affidavit
in support of my claim for pension by special act of Congress for
service as a volunteer in the Nez Perce Indian war of 1877.
Mortimer S. Martin
Subscribed
and sworn to before me this 23d day of April, 1921
A.W.
Talkington, Notary Public
I,
Luther P. Wilmot, of 1056 Gladys Avenue, Long Beach, Calif., first being
duly sworn, saith that I am personally acquainted with Mortimer S.
Martin, of Grangeville, Idaho County, Idaho; that Mortimer is about 72
years old, and further that the said Mortimer S. Martin was a member of
Capt. D.B. Randall’s Company B, Second Regiment of Idaho Volunteers
during the Nez Perce Indian war of 1877, and further that the said
Mortimer S. Martin was called out in 1878, when it was reported the
Bannock Indians were coming through the Camas Prairie country, and
further that the said Mortimer S. Martin was a brave, good, and faithful
soldier. Furthermore
deponent saith not.
Luther P. Wilmot,
First Lieutenant,
Company B, Second Regiment Idaho Volunteers
State
of Washington, County of Asotin,
ss:
On
this 22d day of April, 1921, at Clarkston, Asotin County, Wash., before
me, Henry Elliott, a notary in and for said county and State, personally
appeared John T. Riggins, whose post-office address is Clarkston, Wash.,
who, being duly sworn, on oath says:
My age is 76 years; I am
a pensioner (pension certificate No. 10303) under the act of March 4,
1917, for services in the Nez Perce Indian war of 1877; I am personally
well acquainted with the claimant, Mortimer S. Martin, and have known
him for 45 years and am in no wise related to him or pecuniarily
interested in his claim for pension by special act of Congress.
I personally know that
the claimant, Mortimer S. Martin, was a volunteer member of Capt. D.B.
Randall’s company of volunteers and rendered service as such in the
Nez Perce Indian war in 1877; the claimant, Mortimer S. Martin, and I
served in said company at the same time, both while it was commanded by
Capt. Randall and when it was commanded by Capt. James Cearley after the
death of Capt. Randall, who was killed in action at the engagement of
Cottonwood, Idaho.
I am informed and
believe that the name of the claimant, Mortimer S. Martin, does not
appear on the muster roll of said company and that for this reason he
can not obtain a pension under existing law for his service in said Nez
Perce Indian war of 1877; and I therefore make this affidavit to assist
and claimant, Mortimer S. Martin, in securing a pension for such service
by special act of Congress.
John T. Riggins
Subscribed and sworn to before me this 22d day of April, 1921
Henry
Elliott, Notary Public
State
of Idaho, County of Idaho,ss:
On
this 16th day of April, 1921, at Kooskia, Idaho County,
Idaho, before me Lloyd A. Fenn, a notary public in and for said county,
personally appeared Cassius M. Day, whose post-office address is Kooskia,
Idaho, who, being by me first duly sworn, says:
My age is 69 years; I have known the claimant, Mortimer S.
Martin, for 64 years last past, and that I am in no wise related to him
or pecuniarily interested in his claim for pension by special act of
Congress.
I am a pensioner under
the act of March 4, 1917, for services as a volunteer in the Nez Perce
war of 1877. I personally
know that the claimant, Mortimer S. Martin, rendered service as a
volunteer in said Nez Perce Indian war in 1877 and that said claimant,
Mortimer S. Martin, was a member of the same company that I was a member
of that year.
I am not sure whether
said claimant’s name was on the muster roll of that company, but I
positively know that he belonged to the said company, which was at first
commanded by Capt. D. B. Randall and subsequently to the death of Capt.
Randall by Capt. James Cearley, and rendered efficient service as a
member of said company during the continuance of hostilities in Idaho
County in said year 1877.
Cassius M. Day
Subscribed
and sworn to before me this April 16, 1921
Lloyd
A. Fenn, Notary Public
It is believed by
the committee that the facts presented justify the pensioning of
claimant as an Indian war survivor at the rate of $20 per month, and it
is so recommended. |