STH CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. J DOCUMENT 2d Session. No. 577.

SCHOONER LUCRETIA.

LETTER FROM THE ASSISTANT CLERK OF THE COURT OF CLAIMS TRANSMITTING A COPY OF THE CONCLUSIONS OF LAW AND OF FACT IN THE FRENCH SPOLIATION CASES RELATING TO THE VESSEL SCHOONER LUCRETIA, WILLIAM YOUNG, MASTER.

MARCH 2, 1904.—Referred to the Committee on Claims and ordered to be printed.

COURT OF CLAIMS,

Washington, D. C., March 2, 1904.

SIR: Pursuant to the order of the Court of Claims, I transmit herewith the conclusions of fact and of law filed under the act of January 20, 1885, in the French spoliation claims set out in the annexed findings by the court relating to the vessel schooner Lucretia, William Young, master.

I am, very respectfully, yours, etc.,

Hon. JOSEPH G. CANNON,

JOHN RANDOLPH, Assistant Clerk Court of Claims.

Speaker House of Representatives.

[Court of Claims. French spoliations. (Act of January 20, 1885; 23 Stat. L., 283.) Schooner Lucretia,

No. of case.

William Young, master.]

Claimant.

2615. Stuyvesant T. B. Jackson, administrator of Levi Cutter, deceased, v. The United States.

2615. Mabel Sargent, administratrix of Jacob Mitchell, deceased, surviving partner of William Buxton and Jacob Mitchell, deceased, late trading as Buxton & Mitchell, v. The United States.

3121. Harry R. Virgin, administrator of Arthur McLellan, e. The United States. 5499. Harry R. Virgin, administrator of Hugh McLellan, . The United States. 4537. John P. T. Ingraham, administrator of Joseph H. Ingraham, deceased, v. The United States.

5406. Emily Augusta Heath r. The United States.

PRELIMINARY STATEMENT.

These cases were tried before the Court of Claims on the 26th day of January, 1904. The claimants were represented by Edward Lander, Charles W. Clagett, George A. King, and John St. Clair Brookes, esqs., and the United States, defendants, by the Attorney-General, through his assistant in the Department of Justice, John W. Trainer, esq., with whom was Assistant Attorney-General Louis A. Pradt.

CONCLUSIONS OF FACT.

The court, upon the evidence and after hearing the arguments and considering the same with the briefs of counsel on each side, determine the facts to be as follows: I. The schooner Lucretia, William Young, master, sailed in the year 1798 on a commercial voyage from North Yarmouth in the State of Maine to the island of Tobago in the West Indies. On the 20th of March, 1798, the said schooner sailed from Tobago on her homeward voyage to North Yarmouth in the State of Maine. While peacefully pursuing said voyage she was captured on the high seas on the 24th day of March, 1798, by the French privateer L'Amour de la Patrie, and carried into Porto Rico. The papers were sent to Guadeloupe and on the 18th of April, 1798, the Lucretia, together with her cargo, was condemned by the tribunal of commerce and prizes, sitting at Basse Terre in the island of Guadeloupe whereby the same became a total loss to the owners.

The grounds of condemnation were as follows:

That the Lucretia was bound for Surinam when she had been to Tobago, and that she had consequently changed her course, and that “applying article 7 of the Regulation of the 21st of October, 1744, in these terms: 'No regard shall be paid to the passports of neutral princes which those who shall have obtained them are found to have violated, and the vessels which shall navigate under such passports shall be declared good prize;' and article 1 of the particular agents of the Executive directory of the 13th of Pluvios, year 5, the French vessels of war and privateers are authorized to capture and conduct to the ports of the Republic neutral vessels bound for the Windward and Leeward islands of America, which have been surrendered to the English and are occupied and defended by the emigrants. These ports are Martinique, St. Lucia, Tobago, Demerarra, Barbados, Essequibo."

II. The schooner Lucretia was a duly registered vessel of the United States of about one hundred and two tons burden and was owned by the following persons, all of whom are citizens of the United States, in the following proportions:

Levi Cutter, one-fourth; Jacob Mitchell, one-sixth; Ammi R. Mitchell, one-eighth; William Buxton, one-sixth; Jeremiah Buxton, one-sixth; William Hubbs, oneeighth.

III. The return cargo of the Lucretia consisted of rum and sugar, one-half thereof being owned by Levi Cutter and one-half by the firm of Buxton & Mitchell, all of whom were citizens of the United States.

IV. The losses by reason of the capture and condemnation of the Lucretia and cargo were as follows:

V. Case No. 2615, Levi Cutter was the owner of one-fourth of the vessel and freight and one-half of the cargo.

VI. Case No. 2615, William Buxton and Jacob Mitchell, trading as Buxton & Mitchell, were the owners of one-third the vessel and freight and one-half the cargo, upon which there was no insurance. Jacob Mitchell was the surviving member of this firm.

Their losses were as follows:

One-third value of the vessel..

One-third freight earnings

One-half value of cargo

Amounting in all to...

$1,166.66 566.66 1,200.00

2,933. 32

VII. Nos. 3121 and 4537. Levi Cutter insured his interest in the vessel in the sum of $700, at a premium of 25 per cent. The policy was underwritten by the following persons, citizen of the United States, among others:

Arthur McLellan........

Joseph H. Ingraham

$300 200

Thereafter said Arthur McLellan and Joseph H. Ingraham paid to said Levi Cutter the respective sums of $300 and $200 as and for a total loss by reason of the premises. VIII. No. 5499. Joseph McLellan & Son insured William Hubbs, a citizen of the United States, in the sum of $333.53 on his interest in the vessel, but whether said insurance was ever paid to said Hubbs does not appear.

IX. The claimants herein have produced letters of administration upon the estates of the parties for whom they appear, and have otherwise proved to the satisfaction of the court that the persons for whose estates they have filed claims are in fact the same persons who suffered loss by the seizure and condemnation of the schooner Lucretia, as set forth in the preceding findings.

Said claims were not embraced in the convention between the United States and the Republic of France concluded on the 30th of April, 1803. They were not claims growing out of the acts of France allowed and paid in whole or in part under the provisions of the treaty between the United States and Spain concluded on the 22d of February, 1819, and were not allowed in whole or in part under the provisions of the treaty between the United States and France of the 4th of July, 1831.

The claimants in their representative capacity are the owners of said claims, which have never been assigned except as aforesaid.

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW.

The court decides as conclusions of law that said seizure and condemnation were illegal and the owners and insurers had valid claims of indemnity therefor upon the French Government prior to the ratification of the convention between the United States and the French Republic, concluded on the 30th day of September, 1800; that said claims were relinquished to France by the Government of the United States by said treaty in part consideration of the relinquishment of certain national claims of France against the United States, and that the claimants are entitled to the following sums from the United States:

Stuyvesant T. B. Jackson, administrator of Levi Cutter, deceased, nineteen hundred and seventy-five dollars..

Mabel Sargent, administratrix of Jacob Mitchell, deceased, surviving partner of William Buxton and Jacob Mitchell, deceased, trading as Buxton & Mitchell, two thousand nine hundred and thirty-three dollars and thirty-two cents...

Harry R. Virgin, administrator of Arthur McLellan, three hundred dollars

John P. T. Ingraham, administrator of Joseph H. Ingraham, two hundred dollars

$1, 975.00

2,933. 32

300.00

200.00

Total, five thousand four hundred and eight dollars and thirty-two cents. 5, 408. 32 Emily Augusta Heath has proved no claim.

BY THE COURT.

[SEAL.]

HD-58-2-Vol 50-12

MAHLON HAMILTON, ADMINISTRATOR.

LETTER FROM THE ASSISTANT CLERK OF THE COURT OF CLAIMS TRANSMITTING A COPY OF THE FINDINGS FILED BY THE COURT IN THE CASE OF MAHLON HAMILTON, ADMINISTRATOR DE BONIS NON OF JOHN HAMILTON, DECEASED, v. THE UNITED STATES.

MARCH 3, 1904.-Referred to the Committee on War Claims and ordered to be printed.

COURT OF CLAIMS, CLERK'S OFFICE,

Washington, March 2, 1904.

SIR: Pursuant to the order of the court I transmit herewith a certified copy of the findings of fact filed by the court in the aforesaid cause, which case was referred to this court by the Committee on War Claims, House of Representatives, under the act of March 3, 1883, known as the Bowman Act.

I am, very respectfully, yours,

Hon. JOSEPH G. CANNON,

JOHN RANDOLPH, Assistant Clerk Court of Claims.

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

[Court of Claims, Congressional, No. 10944. Estate of John Hamilton, deceased, v. The United States.]

This case being a claim for supplies or stores alleged to have been taken by or furnished to the military forces of the United States for their use during the late war for the suppression of the rebellion, the court, on a preliminary inquiry, finds that John Hamilton, deceased, the person alleged to have furnished such supplies or stores, or from whom the same are alleged to have been taken, was loyal to the Government of the United States throughout said war.

Filed May 25, 1903.

BY THE COURT.

[Court of Claims. Congressional case No. 10944. Mahlon Hamilton, administrator de bonis non of John Hamilton, deceased, v. The United States.

STATEMENT OF CASE.

The claim in the above-entitled case, for supplies or stores alleged to have been taken by or furnished to the military forces of the United States for their use during the late war for the suppression of the rebellion, was transmitted to the court by the Committee on War Claims of the House of Representatives on the 16th day of December, 1902.

On a preliminary inquiry the court, on the 25th day of May, 1903, found that the person alleged to have furnished the supplies or stores, or from whom they were