Case Name: Ernest Waltjen v. The United States
Court: United States Court of Claims
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1867-12
Citations: 3 Ct. Cl. 238
Docket Number: 
Parties: Ernest Waltjen v. The United States.
Judges: 
Reporter: United States Court of Claims Reports
Volume: 3
Pages: 238–239

Head Matter:
Ernest Waltjen v. The United States.
On the Proofs.
A foreign neutral, professing no loyally or sympathy for the United, States, buys cotton in Charleston during the rebellion, He shows that he gave no aid or comfort to the rebellion, and that the proceeds of his cotton are in the treasury.
An alien resident who proves to the satisfaction of the court his complete neutrality during the rebellion will recover for cotton captured, if he shows himself to be within the predicament for which the statute provides protection. (12 Stat. L., p. 820.)
Mr. A. L. MerrimaN for claimant.
The Solicitor for defendants :
This suit is for the recovery of the proceeds of 22 bales of cotton taken from petitioner at Charleston, South Carolina, in January, 1865.
The petitioner was a foreign subject; did not serve in the confederate service, being exempted therefrom by reason of his foreign papers ; he never rendered aid nor did he abet in the rebellion.
Wehrmann states: He is a citizen of the free city of Bremen, and to my knowledge took no part in the late war on either side, and to the best of my knowledge he remained neutral during the entire war; he has been with me all the time, and is still with me, and I have seen his consular papers.
This cotton was seized by the order of Captain Sturdivant, who was detailed by the War Department for the purpose of collecting and taking charge of captured and abandoned'property at Charleston. The seizure is detailed by Wehrmann and in his cross-examination, in which he states that, after the cotton had been taken in account by a lieutenant, witness requested Captain Sturdivant to take the cotton away through fear that it might be stolen, and to relieve him from responsibility; and that, in compliance with such request, Captain Sturdivant sent an officer and drays and hauled the same away.
This cotton being traced into the hands of‘Captain Sturdivant, an officer of the government for the purpose of receiving and having-charge of captured and abandoned property, it is a legal presumption that he performed his duty in that respect, and when he swears that he received four thousand and some hundred bales, and turned over all that he received to Colonel Hansom, whose reports show that he received 4,454 bales, it is to be presumed that such was the quantity of cotton that he received.

Opinion:
Beck, J.,
delivered the opinion of the court:
Ernest Waltjen, a native of Germany, resident of Charleston, South Carolina, not naturalized, claims the proceeds of 22 bales of upland cotton, which he alleges belonged to him, and which were taken at Charleston by the forces of the United States, converted into money, and paid into the national treasury.
The allegations of the petition are sustained by the testimony in the case.
Waltjen was neutral during the rebellion, not giving aid or comfort to it, probably not caring whether it should or should not be successful ; but he is within the predicament for which the statute provides protection.
The cotton belonging to him was purchased early in December, before the capture of Charleston, and there is nothing in the record to impugn the fairness of the purchase.
The claimant is entitled to an order upon the treasury for the proceeds of 22 bales of upland cotton, which it is reported to us by that department to amount to the sum of $2,886 40, and we so direct.