The following plan for paying to the families of officers and soldiers in the service of the
United States, who are or may become prisoners of war, sums due them by the
Government, having been approved by the
President, it is published for the information of all concerned:
Payment will be made to persons presenting a written authority from a prisoner to draw his pay; or, without such authority, to his wife, the guardian of his minor children, or his widowed mother, in the order named.
Application for such pay must be made to the
senior paymaster of the district in which the regiment of the prisoner is serving, and must be accompanied by the certificate of a Judge of a Court of the
United States, of a
District-Attorney of the
United States, or of some other party, under the seal of a Court of Record of the
State in which the applicant is a resident, setting forth that the said applicant is the wife of the prisoner, the guardian of his children, or his widowed mother, and if occupying either of the two last relationships toward him, that there is no one in existence who is more nearly related according to the above classification.
Payments will be made to parties thus authorized and identified, on their receipts made out in the manner that would be required of the prisoner himself, at least one month's pay in all cases being retained by the
United States.
The officer making the payment will see that it is entered on the last previous muster-roll for the payment of the prisoner's company, or will report it, if those rolls are not in his possession, to the
senior paymaster of the district, who will either attend to the entry or give notice of the payment to the
Paymaster-General, if the rolls have been forwarded to his office.
By order.
