Case: FRANK H. CHURCH, Administrator, v. THE UNITED STATES
Abbreviation: Church v. United States
Decision Date: 1913-04-07
Docket Number: Congressional, 13741
Citation: 48 Ct. Cl. 262
Volume: 48
Reporter: United States Court of Claims Reports
Court: United States Court of Claims
Jurisdiction: United States
Parties: FRANK H. CHURCH, Administrator, v. THE UNITED STATES.
Judges: 
Pages: 262–274

Head Matter:
FRANK H. CHURCH, Administrator, v. THE UNITED STATES.
[Congressional, 13741.
Decided April 7, 1913.]
On the defendants' Motion.
The bill referred by the Senate is to pay for the loss of 200 head of cattle captured or stolen by the Sioux Indians in 1872 near the Red Cloud Agency, “ the cattle being intended for supplying said agency with beef in fulfilment of a contract with the United States.”
I. Where cattle were captured or stolen by tbe Sioux Indians in 1872, the liability was, primarily, that of the Indians. The United States were liable, if at all, only as guarantors.
II. The jurisdiction conferred on the court by the Tucker Act (sec. 14) is that of bills for the payment of claims “ against the United States." This jurisdiction does not extend to Indian depredations which are liabilities, primarily, of the4 Indian tribe.
The Reporter's statement of the case:
The following is the bill referred to the court by the «Senate. The facts relating to the motion and the history of the claim will be found in the opinion of the court.
“A bill for the relief of Frank H. Church, administrator of the estate of Cornelius Clay Cox.
“Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That-the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to pay to Frank IT. Church, administrator of Cornelius Clay Cox, of Live Oak, Live Oak County, Texas, the sum of six thousand and eighty-eight dollars and fifty cents, being the value of and in full and complete settlement for two hundred head of cattle killed, run off, or otherwise destroyed by Spotted Tail’s and Ned Gloud’s Bands of Sioux Indians between April twentieth and May sixth, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, said cattle being the property of the said Cornelius Clay Cox, and being herded at the time near the Bed Cloud Agency, Wyoming Territory, and intended for supplying said agency with beef in fulfillment of a contract therefor between said Cornelius Clay Cox and the United States, no part of said two hundred head of cattle ever having been subsequently recovered, and no settlement for which ever having been made by the United States.”
Mr. George M. Anderson (with whom was Mr. Assistant Attorney Generad John Q. Thompson) for the motion.
Mr. Charles IF. Clagett opposed.

Opinion:
Atkinson, J.,
delivered the opinion of the court:
The facts, or rather a brief history, of the case are as follows:
A claim for the loss of 200 head of cattle captured or stolen by the Sioux Indians in 1872 was filed in this court March 1, 1894, under the Indian depredation act of 1891, by Thomas J. Seehorn, as administrator of Cornelius C. Cox, deceased. Defendants' attorney, on January 3, 1895, reported to the court that the said Cox, from whom the stock was alleged to have been taken, was still alive, and thereupon filed a motion to dismiss the petition. On February 26 of that year claimant's counsel presented a motion to substitute said Cox as the proper party plaintiff, which motion was overruled, for the reasons (1) that the suit had been improvidently brought, and (2) as the jurisdictional limitation of three years had expired in which a suit could be brought under the Indian depredation act, the petition could not be* entertained for want of jurisdiction by the court. Shortly thereafter the case was referred to the court by Congress for findings of fact under the Tucker Act (24 Stat., 505) in the name of Frank H. Church, administrator of the said C. C. Cox, who in the meantime had in reality departed-this life. On December 12, 1906, the defendants' counsel filed a motion to dismiss the case, because the court could not take jurisdiction of an Indian depredation submitted under the Tucker Act, for the reason that the liability, if any existed, is primarily against the Indians and not against the United States, except as guarantors, and also that said act does not extend to Indian depredations. This motion was sustained by the court, and was certified to the Congress December 18, 1907. Again, on March 8, 1908, the case was once more referred to ' the court by a resolution of the United States Senate under said Tucker Act',1 and was docketed as No. 13741, Congressional. Again, on April 2, 1909, defendants' counsel moved to dismiss the petition on the, ground that it had been previously dismissed under a former calendar number, and on December 1, 1909, the motion was overruled, with leave to renew the same on the trial of the case, if it should thereafter be considered upon the merits.
On the 2d day of April, 1912, the case came on to be heard, and was duly argued by counsel, and after mature consideration in conference it was held by a majority of the court that it was without jurisdiction to hear the same, and that the petition should be dismissed, which action of the majority of the court was never reported. It is now ordered that the petition be dismissed and a copy of this opinion be certified to the Congress.