LOST REGISTERED BONDS. In case of the loss of registered bonds, the Secretary of the Treasury should be promptly notified, in order that a caveat may be entered against the transfer of the missing bonds, on the books of the Depart ment. FORM OF REQUEST FOR CAVEAT. 18-. Hon. SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, Washington, D. C. SIR: The registered bonds described below, standing in my name, were stolen from the undersigned on or about the Please enter a caveat against their transfer: No. for $ of last. for $- act of, 18—, per cent., and No. LOST COUPON BONDS, NOTES AND COUPONS. In consequence of the increasing trouble, wholly without practical benefit, arising from notices which are constantly received at the Department, respecting the loss of coupon bonds, which are payable to bearer, and of Treasury notes issued and remaining in blank at the time of loss, it becomes necessary to give this public notice, that the Government cannot protect, and will not undertake to protect, the owners of such bonds and notes against the consequences of their own fault or misfortune. Hereafter all bonds, notes, and coupons, payable to bearer, and Treasury notes issued and remaining in blank, will be paid to the . party presenting them in pursuance of the regulations of the Department, in the course of regular business; and no attention will be paid to caveats which may be filed for the purpose of preventing such pay ment. (Department Circular of April 27, 1867.) RELIEF IN CASES OF DESTROYED AND DEFACED BONDS AND LOST REGISTERED BONDS OF THE UNITED STATES. The following are the provisions of the Revised Statutes of the United States, and the regulations thereunder, concerning relief in cases of bonds of the United States which have been defaced, destroyed, or lost: DUPLICATES FOR DESTROYED OR DEFACED BONDS. SEC. 3702. Whenever it appears to the Secretary of the Treasury, by clear and unequivocal proof, that any interest-bearing bond of the United States has, without bad faith upon the part of the owner, been destroyed, wholly or in part, or so defaced as to impair its value to the owner, and such bond is identified by number and description, the Secretary of the Treasury shall, under such regulations and with such restrictions as to time and retention for security or otherwise as he may prescribe, issue a duplicate thereof, having the same time to run, bearing like interest as the bond so proved to have been destroyed or defaced, and so marked as to show the original number of the bond destroyed and the date thereof. But when such destroyed or defaced bonds appear to have been of such a class or series as has been or may, before such application, be called in for redemption, instead of issuing duplicates thereof, they shall be paid, with such interest only as would have been paid if they had been presented in accordance with such call. SEC. 3703. The owner of such destroyed or defaced bond shall surrender the same, or so much thereof as may remain, and shall file in the Treasury a bond in a penal sum of double the amount of the destroyed or defaced bond, and the interest which would accrue thereon until the principal becomes due and payable, with two good and suffi cient sureties, residents of the United States, to be approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, with condition to indemnify and save harmless the United States from any claim upon such destroyed or defaced bond. DUPLICATES FOR LOST REGISTERED BONDS. SEC. 3704. Whenever it is proved to the Secretary of the Treasury, by clear and satisfactory evidence, that any duly registered bond of the United States, bearing interest, issued for valuable consideration in pursuance of law, has been lost or destroyed, so that the same is not held by any person as his own property, the Secretary shall issue a duplicate of such registered bond, of like amount, and bearing like interest and marked in the like manner as the bond so proved to be lost or destroyed. SEC. 3705. The owner of such missing bond shall first file in the Treasury a bond in the penal sum equal to the amount of such missing bond, and the interest which would accrue thereon, until the principal thereof becomes due and payable, with two good and sufficient sureties, residents of the United States, to be approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, with condition to indemnify and save harmless the United States from any claim because of the lost or destroyed bond. Parties presenting claims on account of a coupon or registered bond of the United States which has been destroyed, wholly or in part, or on account of a registered bond which has been lost, will be required to present evidence showing 1st. The number, denomination, date of authorizing act, and rate of interest of such bond, whether coupon or registered; and, if registered, the name of the payee. In the case of a registered bond, it should also be stated whether it had been assigned or not previous to, or since, the alleged loss or destruction, and, if assigned, by whom, and whether assigned in blank or to some person specifically by name; and if assigned in the latter manner, the name of the assignee should be given. 2d. The time and place of purchase, of whom purchased, and the consideration paid. 3d. The place of deposit of the missing bond; whether or not any person or persons, other than the owner, had access thereto; and in the event of its having been accessible to other parties, their affidavits, in addition to that of the owner, should be furnished, showing their knowledge of the existence of the bond, and of the fact of its loss or destruction. 4th. The material facts and circumstances connected with the loss or destruction of the bond. 5th. It should be shown by the affidavits of credible persons, if practi cable by United States officers, that the statements of the claimant as set forth in his affidavit are worthy of the confidence of this Department; and that he is the identical person named in the application. In all cases, the evidence should be as full and clear as possible, that there may be no doubt of the good faith of the claimant. Proofs may be made by affidavits duly authenticated, and by such other competent evidence as may be in the possession of the claimant. GENERAL FORM OF AFFIDAVIT. Personally appeared before me, a notary public in and for the city of ——, county of and State of the subscriber, and State of of 9 county of who, being duly sworn according to law, deposes and says, that is the lawful owner of the following-described registered bonds of the United States, viz : No. for $ for act of , 9 18-, -, 18-, 9 per cent.; and No. per cent., registered in 18-; that no assignment or transfer of said bonds [or either of them] has been made or authorized by - or attorney, either in blank or by a specific assignment, or in any manner whatever; that said bonds have not, nor has either of them, by hypothecation, pledge, loan, or otherwise, passed from the custody or control of said name on the books of the Treasury Department at on the with [his or her knowledge or consent; that the said bonds were stolen from —, the said by some person or persons unknown to ; and that due diligence has been exercised in endeavoring to recover the said bonds, without success. [State what has been done.] of A. Sworn to and subscribed before me, this the day of D. 18-; and I certify that said is personally well known to me to be the identical person mentioned in the foregoing affidavit. [Notarial seal.] Notary Public. Affidavits and other evidence pertaining to the claim should be transmitted to the SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. Upon receipt of such documentary evidence it will be referred to the First Comptroller of the Treasury for his opinion as to its sufficiency. The applicant will be advised of the decision as soon as it is reached; IF IT BE FAVORABLE TO SUCH APPLICANT, a blank indemnity-bond will be forwarded to him for execution; and when this indemnity-bond shall have been duly executed, returned to the Department, and approved by the First Comptroller and the Secretary, the relief desired will be granted. A duplicate in lieu of a lost registered bond will not be issued within six months from the time of the alleged loss. The interest on an uncalled registered bond will be paid to the payee thereof, even though the bond has been lost or destroyed. These regulations do not apply in any way to coupon bonds which have been lost, or to coupons lost or destroyed which have been detached from the bonds to which they belonged, as no relief, in such cases, can be granted under existing laws. DESTROYED COUPONS. In reply to an inquiry whether section 3702 of the Revised Statutes, above cited, authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to give relief in cases where coupons previously detached from bonds have been destroyed, the Attorney-General of the United States has given the following opinion: Hon. JOHN SHERMAN, Secretary of the Treasury. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, SIR Referring to your letter of the 1st ultimo, in which is presented for my consideration the question whether section 3702 of the Revised Statutes authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to give relief in cases where coupons, previously detached from the bonds, have been destroyed, I have the honor to reply: The provisions of that section do not, in my opinion, extend to coupons which have been destroyed or defaced after their separation from the bonds to which they were attached. By the first clause of the section, in case of the total or partial destruction of an interest-bearing bond of the United States, or in case such a bond has been so defaced as to impair its value to the owner, the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized, under certain conditions, to "issue a duplicate thereof," &c. The language of this clause limits the authority thereby conferred to the mere issuing of duplicate bonds in the cases mentioned. So long as coupons remain attached to the bonds with which they were issued, they must be deemed to constitute parts thereof; and, therefore, if one or more coupons, whilst attached to a bond of the above description, become destroyed or defaced, this would be a case of partial destruction or defacement of the bond, and fall within the statute. But after the severance of the coupons from the bonds, they can no longer be regarded as forming parts thereof. They then cease to be incidents even of the bonds, and become, in fact, independent claims, possessing the essential attributes of commercial paper. (Clark vs. Iowa City, 20 Wall., 589.) Accordingly, should coupons, after having been detached by the holder of the bonds, be transferred to another person, in whose hands they afterwards become destroyed or defaced, the latter would clearly * See page 326, "Destroyed and Defaced Bonds," &c. have no right to any relief which the Secretary is by the said clause authorized to give, since the authority of the Secretary, except in cases falling within the second or last clause of section 3702, is confined to the issuing of duplicate bonds, which the detached coupons thus destroyed or defaced are not. Yet the result would be the same should such detached coupons not be transferred by the holder of the bonds, but become destroyed or defaced while both they and the bonds are still owned by him; as it is by the severance of the coupons from the bonds that the former cease to be parts of the latter, not by any change of ownership which may subsequently ensue. By the second or last clause, to which I have above adverted, when any such destroyed or defaced bond belongs to a class or series that has been or may, before the application, be called in for redemption, in this case the Secretary is authorized, instead of issuing a duplicate thereof, to pay the bond, with such interest as would have been paid if it had been presented in accordance with the call. This clause is not more comprehensive than the other, but has precisely the same scope in respect to the subject-matter of relief; in other words, it extends solely to destroyed or defaced interest bearing bonds. The mode of relief only is varied thereby in cases where such bonds are of a class or series already called in for redemption. While the provisions of section 3702 were enacted with a view to enable persons who may sustain loss by the destruction or damage of Government securities to obtain relief without resorting to Congress for special legislation, the authority conferred upon the Secretary of the Treasury by that section to afford relief must, nevertheless, be exercised in strict conformity with those provisions. He is not at liberty to give relief, in either of the modes provided, in cases which do not fairly come within the terms of the statute. I am, sir, very respectfully, CALLED BONDS. CHAS. DEVENS, All United States called bonds, forwarded for redemption, should be addressed to the SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, Division of Loans and Currency. When registered bonds are so forwarded, they should be assigned to "the SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, for redemption." Assignments must be dated and properly acknowledged as prescribed in the note printed on the back of each bond. Where checks in payment of registered bonds are desired in favor of any one but the payee, the bonds should be assigned to the "Secretary of the Treasury for redemption for account of"-(here insert the name of the person or persons to whose order the check should be made payable.) REGULATIONS IN REGARD TO COUPONS DETACHED FROM CALLED BONDS. When coupons, detached from bonds that have been called in for redemption, are presented for payment, the Department will pay such portion of the interest specified in such coupons as had accrued at the day fixed in the call for the redemption of the bonds, and no more, un |