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Tyler
County
West Virginia Genealogy
Trails
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Tyler County Civil
War
Findings of Court of Claims in Case of John C.
Way
SERIAL-SET-ID: 7102 H.doc.821: Feb 29, 1916,
Saml. A. Putman
Court of Claims, Clerk's
Office
Washington, February 29, 1916
To the
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Sir: Pursuant to
the order of the court, I transmit herewith a certified copy of the
findings of fact and conclusion filed by the court in the afroresaid
cause, which case was referred to this court by resolution of the
House of Representatives under the act of March 3, 1911, known as
the Judicial Code.
I am, very respectfully, yours,
Saml.
A. Putnam
Chief of Court of Claims
Statement of
Case
This is a claim for three months' extra pay for military
service during the late Civil War.
On July 17, 1914, House
bill 14528 was referred to this court by resolution of the United
States House of Representatives under the provisions of section 151
of the Judicial Code. The section of the bill which relates to
this case reads as follows:
"That the Secretary of the
Treasury be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed, out of any
money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to pay to each of
the persons hereinafter in this section named, or, if deceased, to
the party entitled thereto, the sum of $300, or so much thereof as
may be necessary, being for three months' pay proper of the grade
held by each of them when honorably discharged from the volunteer
service of the United States after March third, eighteen hundred and
sixty-five, namely, * * * John C. Way * * *"
The claimant
thereafter appeared in this court and filed a position, in which it
is alleged, in substance:
That he is a citizen of the United
States, resident in the county of Tyler, State of West Virginia, and
that he is one of the proposed beneficiaries under said bill H. R.
14528 above set forth.
That he was enrolled in the military
service of the United States in the Seventh West Virginia
Volunteers, and was honorably discharged March 16, 1865, as
captain.
H D-64-1-vol 148-30
That the act of March 3,
1865 (13 Stats., 497), provides:
"Sec. 4. That all officers of
the Volunteers now in commission below the rank of brigadier general
who shall be entitled to receive upon being mustered out of said
service three months' pay proper."
That by the act of July
13, 1866 (14 Stats., 94), it was declared that this act should be
"so construed as to entitle to the three months' pay proper provided
for therein all officers of Volunteers below the rank of brigadier
general who were in service on the third day of March eighteen
hundred and sixty-five, and whose resignations were presented and
accepted, or who were mustered out at their own request, or
otherwise presented and accepted, or who were mustered out at their
own request, or otherwise honorably discharged from the service
after the ninth day of April, eighteen hundred and
sixty-five."
That by act of July 3, 1884 (23 Stats., 66), the
law was further extended "to entitle to the three months' pay
provided for therein the heirs or legal representative of all
officers of Volunteers specified therein who were killed or who died
in the service between the third day of March and the tenth day of
April, eighteen hundred and sixty-five."
That a claim for the
benefits of this law was duly presented to the accounting officers
of the Treasury and was disallowed upon the ground that it was not
embraced within the terms of the act of March 3, 1865, as
amended.
The amount claimed is $180.
The case was
brought to a hearing on its merits on the 10th day of February,
1916. C. D. Pennebaker, Esq., his assistant and under his
direction, appeared for the defense and protection of the interests
of the United States.
The court, upon the evidence and after
considering the briefs and arguments of counsel on both sides, makes
the following
Findings of Fact,
I. The claimant,
John C. Way, was enrolled in the military service of the United
States and was promoted to be captain, Company C, Seventh West
Virginia Infantry Volunteers, November 17, 1864. He was
discharged as captain March 16, 1865, on surgeon's certificate of
disability--wound received May 12, 1864.
II. A claim for
three months' extra pay proper under the act of March 3, 1865 (13
Stats., 497), as amended by the act of July 13, 1866 (14 Stats.,
94), was presented to the accounting officers of the Treasury and
disallowed February 27, 1907, they holding that claimant was "not
entitled to three months' extra pay proper, because he was not in
service as a commissioned officer from March 3, 1865, to April 10,
1865, inclusive."
Except as above stated, the claim was never
presented to any officer or department of the Government prior to
the presentation to Congress and reference to this court, as
hereinbefore set forth in the statement of the
case.
Conclusion
Upon the foregoing findings of fact
the court concludes that the claim herein is neither a legal nor an
equitable one against the United States, and any amount that may be
appropriated in payment of the demand rests in the judgment of
Congress.
By The Court.
Filed February 21, 1916
A
true copy
Test this 29th day of February, 1916
Saml. A.
Putnam,
Chief Clerk Court of
Claims
Transcribed by C. Anthony
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