After their return, M. Jeff. Thompson corresponded with the association, and stated that he was of the opinion that when the receiver and register closed an office contrary to law, military bounty land warrants could be entered at the General Land Office. With this conviction he forwarded to us a map of Noddaway county, showing by red the lands which were vacant in Ñoddaway and part of Gentry counties. Which map, he stated, was corrected from the plats at the office at Plattsburg, after the closing of the same, on the 15th of November. Upon these representations, Peter McLaughlin and Henry F. Felix were appointed a committee to proceed to Washington and apply at the General Land Office, and, if possible and legal, to enter the same. On the 4th of February the said Peter McLaughlin and Henry F. Felix applied at the General Land Office, and, on the 5th of the same month, entered one hundred and fifty-two military bounty land warrants, according to the directions of the Commissioner of the General Land Office. We are informed, through the General Land Office, that on the 6th of February these warrants, with the proper instructions, were forwarded to the office at Platsburg. We are also informed, by a letter of M. Jeff. Thompson, that they arrived too late; that on or about the 2d of March the office was opened again, and that all the lands in the district were sold before our warrants arrived. One of the committee, viz: Henry F. Felix, after our return from Washington, wrote to the receiver, and also to M. Jeff. Thompson, informing them of the fact. And the said Henry F. Felix forwarded also a copy of the instructions, which the Commissioner forwarded with the warrants to the receiver and register, to the said M. Jeff. Thompson. Now, from the letters in the possession of the Commissioner, we believe that the receiver and register knew that those warrants were on the way, and, we have no doubt, M. Jeff. Thompson could have pointed out the lands we entered, as he was at Plattsburg at the time of the sale. In testimony whereof, we have hereunto set our hands and seals this 8th day of April, A. D. 1857. JAMES POWERS, [SEAL.] SEAL. PETER MCLAUGHLIN, [SEAL. [SEAL Before me, Wm. B. Schoener, one of the aldermen of the said city of Reading, personally appeared James Power, Anthony S. Felix, and Owen O'Reilly, who, upon oath, stated that they are the committee named in the foregoing instrument of writing, who were appointed to proceed to the west to carry out the instructions therein named, and that they believe the foregoing statement to be correct to the best of their knowledge and belief; and also personally appeared Peter McLaughlin and Henry F. Felix, who, upon oath, did declare that they are the committee named in the foregoing instrument of writing to go to Washington to enter land warrants, and that they believe the foregoing statement to be correct to the best of their knowledge and belief. Witness my hand and seal this 8th day of April, 1857. [SEAL.] STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA, } 88. County of Berks, Alderman. I, Josiah Hearing, prothonotary of the court of common pleas of said county, do certify that William B. Schoener, before whom the annexed affidavits were made, is an acting alderman and ex-officio justice of the peace of the city of Reading, county of Berks, duly commissioned and qualified to administer oaths and affirmations, and to take acknowledgments, &c., and to all whose acts, as such, full faith and credit are and ought to be given, as well in courts of judicature as elsewhere, and that his signature thereto is genuine. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the [L. s.] seal of this court, this 8th day of April, A. D. 1857. JOSIAH HEARING, Prothonotary. Inasmuch as the Plattsburg office had not been closed during the month of November, 1856, in obedience to any law or instruction from the General Land Office, the Commissioner rightly deemed it his duty to inquire into the circumstances, and cause justice to be done towards the parties who thus complained. Accordingly, April 11, he required the register and receiver to make "a thorough and complete investigation" of the case, upon a day to be appointed; and after notice to all the parties in interest, as well the alleged purchasers, on the 2d of March, 1857, as the complainants above named. Previous to this, however, James H. Birch was removed by the President from the registership of the Plattsburg office. Subsequently, and before the day assigned for the investigation, the abstract of sales and entries at the Plattsburg office, during the month of March, 1857, was received at the General Land Office, a return made in obedience to the regulations of the department, and certified as true by the register (Birch) and the receiver (Whittington) by whom the sales and entries had been admitted. From this abstract it appears that none of the lands claimed by Messrs. McLaughlin and Felix had been sold or entered at the time (March 7,) of Mr. Birch's letter of acknowledgment. The entries are therein set forth as of these dates: March 13, 1857, James H. Birch, jr. The applications of Messrs. Birch, Biggerstaff, and others, attached to the bounty land warrants, by which they made their entries, were next examined, and the dates of those applications correspond exactly with the dates reported in the official abstract from Plattsburg for March, 1857. An example is here quoted: A. MILITARY BOUNTY LAND ACT OF MARCH 3, 1855. Land warrant No. 20,089.-Register and Receiver's No. 6,634. LAND OFFICE, Plattsburg, Mo., March 13, 1857. We hereby certify that the attached military bounty land warrant No. 20,089, was on this day received at this office, from James H. Birch, jr., of Clinton county, State of Missouri. JAS. H. BIRCH, Register. H. WHITTINGTON, Receiver. I, James H. Birch, jr., of Clinton county, State of Missouri, hereby apply to locate and do locate the east half of lot one of northeast quarter, and east half of southeast quarter of section No. 4, in township number sixty-three, of range number thirty-three, in the district of lands subject to sale at the land office at .Plattsburg, Missouri, containing 120 acres, in satisfaction of the attached warrant numbered 20,089, issued under the act of March 3, 1855. Witness my hand, this 13th day of March, A. D. 1857. Attest: JAS. H. BIRCH, Register, H. WHITTINGTON, Receiver. I request the patent to be sent to J. H. BIRCH, JR. LAND OFFICE, PLATTSBURG, Mo., March 31, 1857. We hereby certify that the above location is correct, being in accordance with law and instructions. H. WHITTINGTON, Receiver, Such testimony, in the Commissioner's opinion, rendered immaterial the proposed investigation at Plattsburg, as to an alleged attempt of Messrs. Felix and O'Reilly (for their associates and themselves) to enter the lands in November, 1856; inasmuch as they were entitled to the lands under their actual application to enter them at the General Land Office, February 5, 1857. The investigation was therefore dispensed with, by letter dated July 10, 1857, and the officers at Plattsburg were thus instructed: GENERAL LAND OFFICE, July 10, 1857. GENTLEMEN: On the 11th of April last a letter was addressed by this office to the register and receiver at Plattsburg, Missouri, enclosing a copy of a statement, made under oath by Messrs. McLaughlin and Felix, of Reading, Pennsylvania, in relation to their application to locate one hundred and fifty-two military bounty land warrants on certain tracts of lands in that district, and directing the land officers to give notice to Messrs. McLaughlin & Felix, through the Hon. J. Glancy Jones, and to all adverse claimants, that on a certain day and hour, to be named in said notice, they would be prepared to take testimony in the case. Since then Mr. Birch has made communications to the department, presenting his side of the case, and designed as exculpatory of the proceedings had at the local land office in regard to the withholding of land, without authority of law or instructions, when applications were made, and afterwards opening them to sale to other persons, in disregard of the previous applications. The case thus presented by Mr. Birch has been fully considered in connexion with the official abstract or returns by the register and receiver, and record evidence is there exhibited in connexion with the matter, by which the erroneousness and illegality of the subsequent entries, in disregard of the previous application of Messrs. McLaughlin and Felix, is fully established, thereby rendering any further proceedings for the purpose of a hearing and decision, as advised on the 11th of April last, unnecessary. You will, therefore, upon being furnished by Messrs. McLaughlin and Felix, or their attorney, with a descriptive list of the tracts applied for by them on the 26th of November, 1856, permit them to locate the 152 warrants above mentioned thereon, provided they furnish you with such list, and appear, either in person or by attorney, fully prepared to consummate such locations within one month from the receipt by you of these instructions. You will then notify the adverse claimants that their locations will be cancelled by this office, and the warrants will be returned to them upon the surrender of the outstanding duplicate certificates of location. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, REGISTER and RECEIVER, Plattsburg, Missouri. THOMAS A. HENDRICKS, Commissioner. Messrs. McLaughlin and Felix complied with the conditions here imposed, and became entitled to patents from the United States for the lands so entered. The adverse parties, Messrs. Birch, Biggerstaff, Turney, Yonley, Parsons, and Bassett, now appeal to Congress to prevent the issuing of such patents, and claim the lands as having been actually entered by themselves at Plattsburg, on the second of March, 1857. Clearly, if this were the whole case, the memorialists would not be entitled to serious consideration; and no doubt could arise as to the propriety of the decision made by the Commissioner of the General Land Office. The warrants of Messrs. McLaughlin and Felix were received at Plattsburg on the seventh of March, 1857, as appears by the letter of Messrs. Birch and Whittington, (register and receiver,) already quoted. The applications of Messrs. Yonley, Biggerstaff, and the other memorialists, were dated, and (as proven by the monthly abstract) were received, on the 13th, 14th, 17th, 18th, 24th, 25th, and 31st of March. So that, without regard to the attempted entry of November 26, 1856, Messrs. McLaughlin and Felix were the first applicants. It has been suggested by one of the memorialists that, inasmuch as the fees of the register and receiver (although transmitted from Washington, by express, on the 6th of February) did not reach Plattsburg until the 16th of March, the application of Messrs. McLaughlin and Felix could take no effect before that period. If the question were as to the purchase money due the United States for the lands, it might be worth while to consider this; but, inasmuch as the application to enter the lands was made at the General Land Office, in Washington, by means of bounty land warrants, and the money sent by express (an acknowledgment for which from the Adams' Express Company was filed with the Commissioner, and a copy transmitted to and received at Plattsburg, March 7, 1857,) only covered the fees of the register and receiver, those officers could, as they did, treat the transaction as equivalent to an actual payment. In their letter of March 7, 1857, Messrs. Birch and Whittington said: "The money has not yet come to hand; but that would have been immaterial had we received your letter in time to locate the warrants as therein directed." It appears to the committee, in such circumstances, that the memorialists, as adverse claimants, have no concern with this part of the case. Upon the record, therefore, every element of decision is clear and certain-Messrs. McLaughlin and Felix being entitled to the lands under their application for entry at the General Land Office, as of March 7, 1857, and the memorialists to a return of their warrants for relocation. At this point, nevertheless, an unusual controversy has been opened, in which, by the aid of parol testimony, informal papers, and ill defined usages of the local office, the memorialists endeavor to contradict or explain, and thus invalidate the monthly abstract of sales and entries at Plattsburg for March, 1857, as well as their own applications to enter the lands. The claim appears to be substantially this: That in consequence of the closing of the land offices in the State of Iowa, by reason of the act approved May 15, 1856, granting lands to that State for the construction of railroads, the number of purchasers and other applicants at the land offices in Missouri, and particularly at Plattsburg, became greater than could be accommodated; that, to meet such an emergency, the register at Plattsburg recorded the name of each applicant in order, upon a list, and appointed a day for the consideration of his case; that this system, having been found liable to abuse, was abandoned in June, 1856, and another established, namely, that of closing the land office until all the applications received had been examined and finally settled, and then opening it for new applications, closing it again, &c. Thus, the land office at Plattsburg was closed from the 1st of July to the 1st of September, 1856, and then opened for one day; was again closed until the 1st of November, and then opened for one day; |