Case ID: us-ct-cl_17/html/0012-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "Bichardson, J.,", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Daniel McClure v. The United States.
    
      On the Proofs.
    
    
      Congress pass a special act referring a paymaster’s claim for relief from liability ■for missing funds. It provides that if the court “shall he satisfied from the evidence that any of the moneys charged to him were not in fact received by him, or that other just and equitable grounds exist for credits claimed by him, it shall make a decree ” requiring the accounting officers to credit him, 4'c. The court finds from the evidence that as to cei'tain. moneys charged to him and for which he receipted the court is not satisfied, $-c.
    
    Whore a statute refers a claim to this court and provides that if the court “shall be satisfied from the evidencethat certain moneys charged to himxoere notin factreeeired by him, or thatother just and equitable grounds exist for certain credits claimed by him,” it shall make a decree accordingly, and the court finds as a fact that it is not satisfied, &c., no question of law is raised by the findings.
    
      The Reporters'1 statement of the case:
    The special act by which this case was referred to the Court of Claims will be found in the opinion ofthe court. The following are the facts of the case as found by the court:
    I. In February, 1861, at the time of the surrender of San Antonio by General Twiggs to tbe insurgent forces, claimant was stationed at that city as iiaymaster United States Army, with the rank of major. On the 25th or 26th February, an armed force in charge of one of the commissioners of the State of Texas took possession of his office, and forcibly took from his safe $289.05 of government funds, which sum is still charged to claimant.
    On the 30th of March, 1861, the claimant had on deposit with the assistant treasurer of New Orleans, in government funds, $1,183.13, which was turned over to the Confederacy by A. J. Guirot, who, from being assistant treasurer of the United States, became an assistant treasurer of the Confederate States, and said sum is charged to the claimant.
    II. On the 31st May, 1861, claimant stated an account in which he claimed credit for $84,415.88 for money expended in paying troops, and accompanied the same with vouchers. Voucher No. 65, roll Company D, Third Infantry, was overadded- $1,000 and he claimed credit for the overaddition as for money paid out.
    III. On the 30th of April, 1862, while the claimant was stationed at Washington, D. O., Maj. Ira L. Hewitt, also a paymaster, obtained the following receipt, which wgs signed by the claimant; said receipt was credited by said Hewitt to himself in his returns to the War Department, and was allowed to him on settlement by the accounting officers of the Treasury, to the amount thereof, and the same was charged to the claimant as money received by him :
    “ Pay DepaetmeNt, U. S.' Army,
    “ Wash’n, D. O., Afl 30, 1862.
    “ Eeceived of Maj. Ira L. Hewitt fourteen hundred and thirty-two dollars and forty-eight cents,-being on account of pay of troops, which sum I have passed to the credit of the United States, and hold myself accountable at the Treasury ou the following appropriations, viz:
    “ Total amount... $1,432 48
    “Dan*!, McClure,
    “P. ili., U. S. A ”
    
    IV. On the 9th of September, 1862, while the claimant was stationed at Indianapolis, Ind., Maj. S. O. Stevenson, a paymaster, obtained the following receipt, which was signed by the claimant; said receipt was credited by said Stevenson to himself in his returns to the War Department, and was allowed to him on settlement by the accounting officers of the Treasury, to the amount thereof, and the same was charged to the claimant as money received by him:
    “Pay Department, U. S. Army,
    “Indianapolis, Sept. 9, 1862.
    “Deceived of Maj. C. S. Stevenson, P.M., U. S. A., twenty-five thousand dollars and.-cents, being on account of pay of 2 & 3 yrs. vols., which sum I have passed to the credit of the United States, and hold myself accountable at the Treasury on the following appropriations, viz:
    “ Totai amount.$25, 000 00
    “Dan’l McClure,
    
      “Favm’r. U. S. A”
    
    
      V. On the 26th of September, 1862, Maj. V. O. Hanna, a paymaster at said Indianapolis, obtained the following receipt, which was signed by the claimant; said receipt was credited by said Hanna to himself in his returns to the War Department, and was allowed to him on settlement by the accounting officers of the Treasury, to the amount thereof, and the same was charged to the claimant as money received by him :
    “Pat DepaktmeNT, U. S. Army,
    “Indianapolis, Sept. 26, 1862.
    “Received of Maj. V. O. Hanna, P. M., U. S. A., four thousand nine hundred and ninety-three dollars and six cents, being on account of pay of vols., which sum I have passed to the credit of the United States, and hold myself accountable at the Treasury on the following appropriations, viz:
    “Total amount.■.$4,993 06
    “ Dan’l McClure,
    “ Paym’r, ü. S. A.”
    
    VI. The court is satisfied from the evidence that just and equitable 'grounds exist for credit to him of the sum of $289.05 and the sum of $1,183.13, mentioned in the first finding as charged against him.
    As to the $1,000 overaddition hi the pay-roll, as set forth in the second finding, for which he claims credit, the court is not satisfied from the evidence that any just and equitable grounds exist for the credit thereof to the claimant in his accounts.
    As to the moneys charged to claimant as received by him from Maj. IraL. Hewitt ($1,432.48), from Maj. C. S. Stevenson ($25,000), and from Maj. V. O. Hanna ($4,993.06), according to the receipts obtained by them respectively, as set forth in the third, fourth, and fifth findings, the court is not satisfied from the evidence that the moneys so charged to him were not in fact received by him, or that other just and equitable grounds exist for credit of those'charges as claimed by him.
    And upon the foregoing findings of fact the court entered the following decree:
    It is hereby decreed that Daniel McClure, now an assistant paymaster-general of the United States Army, shall be entitled to receive credit in his accounts with the United States as paymaster for the sum of $289.05 taken from him by an armed force at San Antonio, Tex., in February, 1861, and the sum of 81,183.13 on deposit with tlie assistant treasurer at New Orleans, wbieb was turned over to tlie rebel Confederacy in March, 1861, by said assistant treasurer, and that this decree be certified to the accounting officers of the Treasury.
    
      Mr. Joseph JS. McDonald and Mr. Jeremiah M. Wilson for the claimant.
    
      Mr. John S. Blair (with whom was the Assistant Attorney - General) for the defendants.
   Bichardson, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court:

Jurisdiction of this case is conferred upon the court by a special act of Congress, which is as follows:

Chap. 38. — AN ACT for tlie relief of Col. Daniel McClure, assistant paymaster-general.
11 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled,
“ That the claims of Daniel McClure, assistant paymaster-general, for credits on differences in his accounts, as paymaster under his official bond, dated March second, eighteen hundred' and fifty-nine, shall be, and are hereby, referred to the Court of Claims, with jurisdiction to hear.and determine said claims.
“And if the said court shall fee satisfied from the evidence that any of the moneys charged to him were not in fact received by him, or that other just and equitable grounds exist for credits claimed by him, it shall make a.decree setting forth the amount to which the said McClure shall be entitled to receive credit; upon which the proper accounting officers of the Treasury shall allow him the amount so decreed as a credit in the settlement of his said accounts:
Provided, That the testimony of said McClure shall be received in his own behalf by said court; and until the determination of the said cause, the final adjustment of his said accounts is suspended: And provided further, That an appeal shall be allowed to either party as in other cases.
“Approved, February 24-, 1874.”

This act requires of the court duties different in some respects from those which apply to cases under its general jurisdiction and makes it necessary to present the findings in somewhat different form, which we have done.

The claimant seeks to obtain credit for $289.05, on account of money taken from him by the enemy in Texas in time of war, without his fault, and for $1,183.13 on deposit with an assistant treasurer of the United States, who deserted to the enemy and turned over the same with other public funds in his hands to tie rebel government in Texas in 1861.

Another item of credit claimed by him is for $1,000, which was an overaddition of payments made by his clerk on a payroll. By reason of this, he alleges that he in some way lost that amount of money, but the court does not find the fact so to be.

He also denies that he has received three several sums of money for which other paymasters had his receipts, returned them to the War Department, received credit therefor in their respective accounts, and were allowed the amounts thereof in settlement by the accounting officers of the Treasury, and which were charged to the claimant, viz: Major Hewitt, $1,432.48; Major Stevenson, $25,000 ; and Major Hanna, $4,993.06.

Upon these three allegations and claims the act requires that “ if the said court shall be satisfied from the evidence that any of the moneys charged to him were not in fact received by him, or that other just and equitable grounds exist for credits claimed by him, it shall make a decree setting forth the amount to which said McClure.shall be entitled to receive credit, upon which the proper accounting officers of the Treasury shall allow him the amount so decreed as a credit in the settlement of his accounts.”

No questions of law are raised $ and the court having found that it is not satisfied from the evidence that the moneys charged to him were not in fact received by him, or that other just and equitable grounds exist for the credits claimed, except for those of $289.05 and $1,183.13 for money taken from him by hostile forces in Texas, which the court allows, it only remains to enter a decree to that effect, and he will have credit for the two sums last mentioned and no more.