Case Name: LEWIS M. STONE v. THE UNITED STATES
Court: Supreme Court of the United States
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1896-11-30
Citations: 32 Ct. Cl. 619
Docket Number: 
Parties: LEWIS M. STONE v. THE UNITED STATES.
Judges: 
Reporter: United States Court of Claims Reports
Volume: 32
Pages: 619–619

Head Matter:
LEWIS M. STONE v. THE UNITED STATES.
[29 C. Cls. R., 111; 164 U. S., 380.]
On the claimants Appeal.
The depredation is committed in November, 1867. The claimant never presents the claim to the Department of the Interior or to Congress or to any officer or agent of the Government. It is supported only by the testimony of himself and one witness. His cx parte affidavit is filed, stating that the witness referred to is the only person with whom he is acquainted who is familiar with the theft, and that of thirteen persons who followed the Indians at the time he does not know the whereabouts of any and can secure no information. The depredation was the taking, it is alleged, of a herd of ninety-three horses.
The court below decides:
1. Though no statute of limitations may attach to an Indian depredation case, the fact that the Government has again and again notified claimants hy statutes to present their claims for the scrutiny and investigation of the Interior Department, and the fact that the claimant has wholly neglected to do so, suggest moral presumptions against the claim.
2. When the ownership of the property, the possession of it, the quantity of it, the value of it, and the fact of the depredation depend exclusively upon the testimony of the party in interest and a single witness, a court should proceed with great caution, and should not allow such testimony, wholly unsupported, to control a decision, though the witnesses he neither contradicted nor impeached.
3. Though a case he not barred by a statute of limitations, the presumptions of fact growing out of lapse of time and neglect to file the claim must be overcome by satisfactory evidence.
Tbe decision of tbe court below is affirmed on tbe same grounds.

Opinion:
Mr. Justice Beewbe
delivered tbe opinion of tbe Supreme Court, November 30, 1896.