Mount Auburn Cemetery

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Boston January 12, 1867

Hon E. B. French.

Sir,

In the case of W^m Gallagher Co K. 59^th Mass. Vols. Died Aug. 13. 1864, allow

Allow me to state why the claim should be taken from the suspended list, and settled in behalf of the claimant.

1^st There is no real contradiction in the two deposition of witnesses Conolly and Delaney when understood -

2^d The claimant and the witnesses are both of the highest respectability, so far as I can learn -

3^r The necessities of claimant's family urges haste.

Under the first head there cannot have been the slightest intention to vary from the truth. The term "perjury" is a cruel word in this case. The claimant and witnesses told a fair story, with all the appearance of truthfulness. She stated that her brother John was in the army, and she was ashamed to say deserted, that he was a "bad behaved boy," that he went away, and neither she nor her friends had heard from him for years, or I understood them. That they had seen an account of a destructive explosion and his name was among the names of the killed, and they verily believed that he was the person felt satisfied that he was. They had no doubt of his death, and as they were

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so well satisfied of it, although the means of verification were not at hand, I wrote out the testimony of the witnesses, without thinking a more particular statement necessary; and it was signed and sworn to as a bona fide statement according to their best knowledge and belief. They still believe their first statement to be true.

When you asked for more particular proof as to what had become of other heirs, I made a more formal inquiry, and found that I could not substantiate John Gallagher's death from record evidence, and did not know of whom to inquire, as the alleged incident took place on the other side of the continent. It then occurred to me that I ought to have used the fact of his desertion, as that was positively stated. The claimant at first gave me the wrong regiment by mistake, and I could not find it for some time. But the moment she corrected the error, I found that John Gallagher stands upon the Massachusetts rolls as a deserter, as shown by the certificate sent. I accordingly prepared the last testimony to meet their fact.

It is no less true now than before that the claimant and the witnesses are satisfied of the death of said John, but as the means of proof were not at hand, I shaped the language so as to leave that a matter of belief rather than certainty. I sent the paper to Waltham, ten miles away, and the witness executed it there.

Under the 2^d suggestion - I have to say, that I have never had two witnesses appear more intelligent and