The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-03-05
LATEST FROM WASHINGTON

| LATEST FROM WASHINGTON.
special kilograms to the Dispatch
WASHINGTON, March 4, 1870.
Decision Relative to the Payment Of
Fraudulent Claims.
| Second Comptroller Brodhead rendered
decision to-day in the case of demand
upon one Terry, IN attorney, to refund
money paid on fraudulent claim for prize
money. The Comptroller holds that it is
the attorney to use due diligence and care
that the rightful claimant be identified and
paid, and the omission in this case to refer
fraud, may be held to exoncrate Mr.. Terry
from liability. ......-.
Provision for Disabled Soldiers.
The Joint resolution passing to the credit
of the National Asylum for Disabled Vol
unteer Soldiers the funds belonging to it
for the relief of sick and wou uded soldiers
was approved and signed by the President
on the lst instant, and is now o law. The
joint resolution disposes of all claims Cor
moneys withheld from deserters or bounty
: jumpers, as payment to them is prohibited
except upon the one condition that the re-
cord of desertion had been enormously
made, and declared that the moneys thus
withheld shall be and remain the property
of the National Asylum.
\ This also deprives claim agents of con-
siderable business, and it. efectually dis
poses of thousands of claims now filed in
the Treasury Department, and relieves the
Fourth Auditors and Second Comptroller's
clerks of much labor.
The Execution Of American Citizens
i'm Cuba.
This morning Secretary Fish received q
tf,ispatch from the American Consul-Gene-
rsl at Havana announcing that the Spanish
: volunteers had executed a naturalized Ame-
, rican citizen named Portolondo. The Spanish
: officers claim that he was given a court
s martial before he was shot, and they also
claim that he was not naturalized Ameri-
= can.
i The dispatch states that Portolondo had
= been in Santiago for the. past FIVE years ;
e that he is Cuban by birth, and that his
1, family and friends claim that he became q
II citizen of this country in 1861. No men
ton is made by the Consul in his dispatch
|, of the execution Of n native American, rs
q stated some days since in the press dis
patches, and Secretary Fish does not think
it true. He, however, transmitted q tele-
graphic order to the Consul to insist upon
n thorough investigation Of the whole If
fair, and to ascertain beyond doubt the
= citizenship of Portolondo. The Secretary
Y also called at noon in person upon
= tie Spanish Minister, and read to
: him the dispatch, and requested full
: statement through him, OF the matter
: The Spanish Minister informed Secretary
n Fish that he had no information on the
= subject as yet, but would transmit, as soon
n as obtained, all the facts received. lie
5 said that such execution may have beer
Il made. but lie felt sure that it was not au'
= tborize j, and that his Government would
= make tn most searching inquiry in refer
L encc to the matter. Subsequently, at the
). Cabinet meeting, Secretary Fish read the
5 disnatcb. related his interview with the
8 Spanish Minister, and stated the tenor o.
n the instructions lie had sent the American
b.. Consul on the subj Get; oil Of which were
n approved by the President.
The Oneida.
No disratches were received to-day, either
E at the Navy or State Department, in REFER
s ence to the lost vessel Oneida.
. The Fall In Gold.
A dispatch was received by the President
! nj noon to-day, from Assistant Treasurer
Folrer, at New York, announcing gold al
1874. The President read the dispatch tc
o the Secretaries during Cabinet session.
+ The Fifteenth Amendment.
8 The question of issuing the fifteenth
t amendment proclamation was discussed at
e the Cabinet session to-day, and the course
n to be pursued decided upon.
y Secretary Fish stated that there were
G twenty-seyen States officially certified as
e having adopted the amendment besides
It New York and Indiana. Some slight in
3 formaIities in some Of the certificates OF
these twenty-seven were in process of. ar
n ranrement. He read the seventh section OF
the reconstruction acts, passed April 10,
1867, as follows "That the proceedings in
any of said States shall not be deemed final
or operate as q complete restoration thereof
: until their actions respectively shall be ap-
. proved by Congress-" He argued that
y, Texas and Georgia could not be counted
i until Congress approved their acts and adj
:, mitted them as States. He stated that the
-. certificate from Texas had not been re-
v ceived.
Z The President stated that he would not
"a issue the proclamation until Texas or
= Georgia was admitted, so the twenty eight
States would be named without counting
New York or Indiana.
Producers of Grape-yines to be Take
81 According TO the thirty-second section OF
Is the seyenty-ninth chapter, act Of June
o 3Oth, 1864, as amended, of the internal re-
Q venue laws, producers Of fruit and orna,
Y mental trees who sell at wholesale for
# themselves or as agents are not required tc
# pay special tax. To-day Commissioner
Delano ruled that o proper Interpretation OF
this paragraph includes the producers OF
;. grape-vines.
: The Increase of Currency.
= The Senate bill to redistribute the circu-
r lation of the national banks, and the reso-
= luton of Representative Loughridge in
creasine the volume of circulation fifty mil
lions, was discussed to-day by the House
Banking and Currency Committee, who are
: much divided as to the mode of increasing
8 the circulation which the resolution calls
for. Some favor an increase of national
Y bank notes to that amount, others favor the
: increasing of greenbacks, and it IS doubt
full whether they will be able to get ma
. jority to favor either plan.
The Pacific Railroads.
Z The House Pacific Railroad Committee to-
day authorized bill to be reported grant
ing the right of way and lands to the Kan
: sss Pacific Railroad Company to aid in the
extension of its roads from O point south
wardly via the Arkansas and Rio Grande
to Ell Paso, Mexico. The bill allows twenty