Keown v. United States

JOHNSEN, Circuit Judge.

The executrix of the estate of a deceased soldier (who was also his mother and his sole testamentary beneficiary) sued to -recover from the United States the arrears of pay due him at the time of ’his death in the amount of $1374.62. The United States had previously made payment of the arrears to his widow, from whom he was personally estranged but not legally separated. The trial court entered a judgment of dismissal, 'and the executrix has appealed.

The question here is whether the payment made to the widow 'had effected a legal discharge of the Government’s debt,…