New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-08-05
BY TELE GRAPH.


Death Of an Old Public Servant.
| WASHINGTON. August 4.-Rober, S. Chew
| Chief clerk of the State Department VIII,
| dled yesterday commenced his career il
that department under John Forsyth, O.
| Ala bama. Secretary OK State unCec Andrew
| ia ckson.
A Woman Killed by Indians.
Official dispatches from Washington Ter
ritory report that a white woman was
killed by Indians who were returning from
peace commission.
Southern Claims Commission.
All the claims presented to the Southern
claims commission, sitting at Nashin gtOn
under the act Of March ). 1871, have now
been numbered and registered, and theil
humber is found to be %, ,295, anG their ag
gregaJe amount as claimed some thing in
excess of $1,000, 600. In the last report to
Congress the commissioners estimated the
total number Of claims iiled under The act
at 1000 and the amount claimed @JU, coo, 600
in round numbers.
The extraordinary exertiors Of tie claim
agents. however. when they found the time
for fling the claim was no. likely to be ex-
tended beyond the two years originally fixed
by Congress, resulted in a considerable ad-
Cltlon to the estimated number and amount
Of claims to be filed. No less ,nan 1878
claims, representing in figures considerably
more than $3,OO0,000, were filed under the
act, on March 3. the last day allowed by
law for presentation. Many more were
put out from present consideration by
the somewhat unexpected termination
OF the right TO present. them and
there are believed to be several thousand
persons yet in the late insurrectionary
States who, despite the exert.ons of the
government agents and attorneys, have not
even heard of the act of Congress passed
tor the benefit OF those who were not at
herents OF the Confederacy. Claims are
presented daily to the Quartermaster Cen
erai and Commissary General by residents
of the better informed loyal States, who
have but just learned that Congress passed
special act nearly ten years ago to pay
for property taken for the use OF the gov
ern,nent in States not in rebellion.
General 1eigs, Quartermaster General,
will not recommend statute OF limitations
tor claims coming before him as in the
case of claims before the loyal claims COM
mission, and the Commlssary General be-
lieves, from his daily experience, that
such statute, whenever passed, will be
certain 10 exclude meritorious claims
against the government from Just settle
ment.
In the case of Southern claims. Congress
must either extend the time for fling them
before the commissioners or accept the
alternative of receiving and considering
them singly, under the constitutional right
Of petition; and small number of excluded
claimants have already signited their inten-
ton OF prosecuting their claims directly be-
fore the claims commission or Congress.
Under the settlements made by the COM
mission about $l,200,000 have been dis
tributef among some 400 claimants scat
tered all over the insurrectionary States,
the awards, except in a comparatively
slnal. number of cases, being for few hun
dred dollars each. At the coming session
Of Congress they expect to award about
Sl.00O,Q00 to be similarly distributed, and
they will then have disposed Of about
twenty-tour per cent of the number Of
claims fled and twenty per cent Of the
amount claimed.
Now that all the claims are Up that can
be presented under the original act of Con
gress, the commissioners have prepared
and have in press full digest Of tire
claims, giving the States and counties, the
names Of the claimants anG the amounts
claimed, accompanied by an explanatory
statement. The names are those of citi-
zens OF the Southern States who have.
within the past two years, declared them
selves 20 have been devoted adherents to the
Union cause throughout the late war, and
amounts are the value Sc. by claimants
upon supplies contributed. voluntarily or
otherwise, for the use Of .he Union fore. i.
operating in the South, and the damage.
loss, and destruction of real estate and pr.
sonal property suffered through casualtl. :
or the unauthorized spoliacions and depu..
dations OF the troops and Camp followers
This list Of claims and claimants has been
prepared chiefly to meet the applications ot
former officials and soldiers of the Unio'
army curious to know whO among theu
Southern acquaintances OF war are no's
claiming to have been !oya! ten or twelvc
years ago. The commissioners, tor IT,.
sake Of the information to be obtained, in
tend 20 send pamphlets, tree OF charge. 10
al who apply IN person or by letter.
Congressman Young, ofGeorgia.
General P. NJ. b. Young. ii Georgia, .r.
rived here tonight on business tor the Co.
ernor OF :ha: State with :ie War Depar.-
MeL..