Case ID: us-ct-cl_32/html/0617-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "Mr. Justice White", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

THE NORTHWESTERN EXPRESS, STAGE AND TRANSPORTATION COMPANY v. THE UNITED STATES ET AL.
    [Not reported in C. Cls. R.;
    164 U. S., 686.]
    
      On the defendants’ Appeal.
    
    This appeal was taken from a judgment of the Conrt of Claims awarding to the appellees the sum of seven hundred and fifty dollars upon the following state of facts found hy the court, to wit:
    The claimant is and was at the time of the depredation hereinafter mentioned a corporation created under and hy virtue of the laws of the State of Minnesota, and was transacting the business of a common carrier in conveying passengers and freight at the time referred to. The claimant during the year 1879 was engaged in carrying the mails and doing the business of a common carrier from Bismarck, Dak., to Deadwood and the Black Hills upon the Territorial road from Bismarck to Cook Station, in part through the Great Sioux Reservation. On the 5th of February, 1879, near Cedar Canyon, property belonging to the claimant, consisting of four horses and their harness, was taken or destroyed by Indians of the defendant's tribe, the same being of the value of $750. The defendant Indians were at the time in amity with the United States, and the depredation was committed without just cause or provocation outlie part-of the claimant or its agents, and the property has not been returned or paid for. The claim has not been approved or allowed by the Secretary of the Interior.
    The Court of Claims decided on the facts so found as a conclusion of law, that the claimant, by reason of its incorporation by a State of the Union, must be conclusively presumed to be a citizen of the United States for the purposes of this action.
    The decision of the court below is affirmed.
   Mr. Justice White

delivered the opinion of the Supreme Court, January 4, 1897.