Daily Kennebec journal., 1898-01-17
Daily kennebec 3ournal.
City and County.
the GRANT CLAIM.
Som, Of the Moe Important Facts in lis
History.
the GRANT clAIm.

is heard on the street over the sue
cess &c Hon. Herbert NJ Heath j.,
prosecuting the war claim of Wm
,;lant Of Gardiner, for $1,000, before
Congress Friday the House and
committee Of the whole acted favor
a6ly upon the claim. thus indicating
that when the case comes up for final
disposition it will be ordered paid.
Mr Heath has tele2raphed friends in
the city that the case comes up for
the decision. next Friday.
From Mr. Andrews. of the firm of
Heath & Andrews. a journal reporter
was able To get history of this
famous claim.
on March :. 1860. William : Grant
and one other person. who a little later
withdrew. proposed to the secretary Of
war to furnish all the supplies needed
until March .6, 1852, at certain posts
in Arizona. at prices - per cent he
low the then ruling rates, Four days
later an order authorizing the sup
plies was issued Grant gave bond
and to insure prompt work moved 20
Arizona, where he invested large sums
in Hour mills. etc I'm September Of
that year an order was issued To haN,.
the goods examined hefore shipment.
Sept. - 1860 Grants Eastern agents
had goods to meet the acquisitions and
requested a speedy inspection, as tho
goods were TO hc sent by water to u
port in Texas and thence shipped over
land in wagons. Grants trains were
at this port waiting by Nov. 10. OW-
ing t. inoXcusahc delays ana despite
numerous prntcsts III" goods were not
inspected until Dee ,, t and J. They
arrived at Port Savaca. Jan. H. 1861
possible, only about 60 miles. hcfor"
the latencSs of tn" season prevented
further progress. 1t has been shown
that this delay was not due to any
negligence on the part Of the con-
tractor. April 20 the entire train was
captured by order of the Governor Of
Texas. that state having seeded from
the Union.
Application for relief was made to
the 37th Congress- but without action
by the committee; the papers were
withdrawn ana suit brought in the
Court Of Claims. in this suit claim
was made for unearned profits and
other things since abandoned. TIL
court decided that it was not within
its province to determine the equitie-
in the case: that Congress must de-
termine that
All efforts To get the matter through
Congress proved unavaiing until Mr.
Heath took hold of it. on March 10
1896, the Senate committee on claims
reported it favorahly basing the re-
port on the equities of the case. The
report states that 1t was strongly
The committee that since the ahoVe
decisions Cby the courD the modern
doctrine Of equitable cstoppel has
been engrafted upon the common law
and that the application of that prin-
ciple to the facts of this case was not
considered by the court in its decision.
Equitable estoppels prevent a party
from invoking his strict rights at law.
when by his own conduct he has
TO change his course for the worse, or
ny such conduct has materially
changed his situation for the worse
Under this doctrine ii was contendPd
that the government is estopped from
denying that the claimant had failed
to deliver the goods according to th,'
Terms of his contract"
The committee stated it's recon-
mondation rested upon other grounds
hut it is not TO be denied that tn
admitted facts of the case, upon Whicn
lhis claim of equitable estoppel -
based furnish most material featurH
in the equities which control the jud :
mrnt of the committee.
1t appears from the papers in tin
case that Mr.. Grant who was pos
sesscd of property valued at $l23.ooo IN
1860 was rendered pennilcss in lSd
through no fault of his own. liit
property in Arizona was destroyed,
when the troops abandoned the pest.
Three lines before Mr. Heath took
hold of the case the claim had passed
one branch of Congress only to fail IN
the other The claim has now heeH
cut down to 81 ,3S9.7S
Lung Kuro cures that hacking cough.
Martin Hetherston and John Martin