List of documents received and distributed by the Department of Commerce and Labor for the calendar year 1909-Continued. Annual Report of the Commissioner of Fisheries, 1907, and special papers, bound Bulletin of the Bureau of Fisheries for 1907, bound 250 Pamphlets: 230 Aquatic Plants in Pond Culture Artificial Propagation of the Atlantic Salmon, Rainbow Trout, and Brook Artificial Propagation of the Black Bass, Crappies, and Rock Bass.. 655 1,000 Artificial Propagation of the Shad and Pike Perch.. 678 Artificial Propagation of Marine Species of Fishes.. Distribution of Fish and Fish Eggs During the Fiscal Year 1908 Fishes of Alaska....... Oysters and Methods of Oyster Culture, with Notes on Clam Culture. List of Publications of the Bureau of Fisheries available for distribution. Annual Report of the Commissioner-General of Immigration, 1908.. Treaty, Laws, and Regulations Governing the Admission of Chinese. 2d Session. 1 No. 620. BRIG KITTY. LETTER FROM THE ASSISTANT CLERK OF THE COURT OF CLAIMS TRANSMITTING A COPY OF THE CONCLUSIONS OF LAW AND OF FACT IN THE FRENCH SPOLIATION CASES RELATING TO THE VESSEL BRIG KITTY, WILLIAM WATERS, MASTER. JANUARY 31, 1910.-Referred to the Committee on Claims and ordered to be printed. COURT OF CLAIMS, Washington, D. C., January 29, 1910. SIR: Pursuant to the order of the Court of Claims, I transmit herewith the findings of fact and conclusions of law filed under the act of January 20, 1885, in the French spoliation claims set out in the annexed findings by the court relating to the vessel brig Kitty, William Waters, master. I am, very respectfully, yours, etc., Hon. JOSEPH G. CANNON, JOHN RANDOLPH, Assistant Clerk Court of Claims. Speaker of the House of Representatives. [Court of Claims. French spoliation. Act of January 20, 1885; 23 Stat. L., 283; vol. 1, Supplement to R. S., 2d ed., 471. Vessel brig Kitty, William Waters, master.] No. of case. Claimant. 401. The City of Philadelphia, administrator of Stephen Girard, v. The United States. 835. The President and Directors of the Insurance Company of North America v. The United States. PRELIMINARY STATEMENT. These cases were tried before the Court of Claims on the 17th day of November, 1909. The claimants were represented by John A. McCarthy, William T. S. Curtis, Theodore J. Pickett, and Thomas Stokes, esqs., and the United States, defendants, by the Attorney-General, through his assistant in the Department of Justice, John W. Trainer, esq., with whom was Assistant Attorney-General John Q. Thompson. FINDINGS OF FACT. The court, upon the evidence and after hearing the arguments and considering the same, with the briefs of counsel on each side, determine the facts to be as follows: I. The brig Kitty, whereof William Waters was then master, sailed on a commercial voyage from Philadelphia August 9, 1793, laden with flour, wine, and provisions, bound for Jeremie (then in possession of the French), where she arrived September 13 following. The master then began the sale of his cargo to the French authorities and the citizens of that port; on the 20th of said month, while the Kitty was anchored in the harbor, Jeremie was captured by the English forces. The English demanded of Captain Waters the use of his boats to assist in the landing of the troops, which demand was refused; the boats, and likewise the Kitty's crew, were then taken by force. Not being allowed to proceed with the outward cargo to any other French port in the island, the master was obliged to remain there and sell the said cargo and purchase produce for the return voyage to Philadelphia; he then got permission to proceed to the port of Caymite for the safety of the vessel and cargo, at which place he arrived October 19; having completed his homeward cargo he set sail from Caymite November 3, 1793, bound for Philadelphia. On or about November 21, and between that date and December 14, the vessel met with severe gales and heavy seas, and, with the rigging damaged, part of the crew being sick, and being short of provisions, they were compelled to bear away in distress for Port a Pitre in Guadaloupe. On January 9, 1794, they made the island, but finding they could not reach said Point a Pitre they bore away for Basseterre, in the same island. The same day, w ile peacefully pursuing said voyage, they were seized by the French privateer L' Intrepide, Capt. Michel André, who took from the master all his papers, the master and two of the crew detained on board the privateer, and a prize crew put on board the Kitty, who conducted said vessel into Basseterre, where they arrived January 10, 1794. While at Basseterre the master and his men were confined on board their vessel and on shore by the French authorities and were frequently insulted and badly treated by the men of the privateer; the master was refused permission to make a protest; about January 24 the master obtained permission to take his men from confinement, but was obliged to pay the fees therefor; the master having heard that his vessel had been condemned, went ashore to protest against such action; upon again returning to his vessel he found every trunk and chest broken open and almost everything taken away, against which he lodged a complaint; February 5 he was able to get copies of the trial and condemnation, which together with the fees aforesaid amounted to 682 livres 16 sols, for which he was obliged to draw on his owner; on the 7th of February he took passage for Philadelphia, where he duly arrived March 27 following. January 18, 1794, the Kitty and cargo were released by decree of the district court at Basseterre, Guadaloupe, said court having found that the Kitty was the property of Stephen Girard, an American citizen; that the cargo was sold at Jeremie partly to the British Government and partly to private individuals; that from the proceeds of the sale the homeward cargo was purchased for the account of said Stephen Girard, and that consequently vessel and cargo were American property; that the master had sailed for Jeremie, which was then a French port, and was engaged in selling his cargo to the French citizens when the city was taken by the English; that therefore Captain Waters is not to blame for the occurrences that took place at Jeremie after his arrival; that he did not violate any blockade; consequently orders released the brig Kitty, together with everything appertaining thereto, and condemns the captors to the payment only of all damages. Notwithstanding this order of release, the captors still retained possession of the vessel, and on January 28 the governor of Guadaloupe pronounced the confiscation of the brig Kitty and all that pertains to her for the benefit of the captors on the grounds that the vessel carried a safe-conduct from the English Government with injunction to all ships or English privateers; that the first supplies furnished were to the English Government, and that the first casks of wine of the cargo served to refresh the English troops, whereby the brig Kitty and cargo became a total loss to the owner thereof. II. The Kitty was a duly registered vessel of the United States of 116 tons burthen, built in Philadelphia in the year 1793, and owned solely by Stephen Girard, a citizen of the United States residing in Philadelphia. III. The cargo of the Kitty at the time of seizure consisted of 139 barrels, 3 hogsheads, 3 tierces, 12 barrels, and 1,019 sacks of coffee, and 70 sacks of cocoa, all of which was the property of Stephen Girard, the owner of the vessel. The above cargo in English weight amounted to 118,265 pounds of fine green coffee, 21,700 pounds of good merchantable coffee, and 3,254 pounds of cocoa. In addition to the above, there was also on board at the time 1,043 empty sacks, $50 in cash, and an iron chest, also the property of said Stephen Girard. The value of the goods so enumerated, the property of Stephen Girard, was the sum of $14,300. There was also on board 7,600 pounds of coffee belonging to the master, 2,300 pounds of coffee belonging to the supercargo, and 400 pounds of coffee belonging to different seamen on board, for which no claims have been filed herein. IV. The losses to said Stephen Girard by reason of the confiscation of the Kitty and cargo were as follows: V. On November 12, 1793, insurance was effected on account of Stephen Girard on the vessel in the sum of $2,000, he paying a premium therefor in the sum of $90, and on the cargo on board in the sum of $5,000, he paying a premium therefor, in the sum of $225, with the Insurance Company of North America. Thereafter said insurance company duly paid the said insured the sum of $6,860, being in full as for a total loss, less the customary abatement. The claimant has produced letters of administration on the estate of the party for whom it appears, and has otherwise proved to the satisfaction of the court that the person for whose estate it has filed claim is in fact the same person who suffered loss by reason of the seizure and confiscation of the brig Kitty and cargo as set forth in the preceding findings. Said claims were not embraced in the convention between the United States and the Republic of France concluded on the 30th of April, 1803. They were not claims growing out of the acts of France allowed and paid in whole or in part under the provisions of the treaty between the United States and Spain concluded on the 22d of February, 1819, and were not allowed in whole or in part under the provisions of the treaty between the United States and France of the 4th of July, 1831. The claimants, in their respective capacity, are the owners of said claims which have never been assigned except as aforesaid. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW. The court decides as conclusions of law that said seizure and confiscation were illegal, and the owners and insurers had valid claims of indemnity therefor upon the French Government prior to the ratification of the convention between the United States and the French Republic, concluded on the 30th day of September, 1800; that said claims were relinquished to France by the Government of the United States by said treaty in part consideration of the relinquishment of certain national claims of France against the United States; and that the claimants are entitled to the following sums from the United States: The city of Philadelphia, administrator of Stephen Girard, fourteen thou- Amounting in all to twenty-one thousand one hundred and eighty- $14,328 6,860 21, 188 BY THE COURT. |