E.

FORT WASHITA, March 1, 1850.

MY DEAR SIR: I received, a few days since, a communication from Messrs. Mark and Richard Bean, of Washington county, Arkansas, appealing to me, as one among the very few living, having a knowledge of their improvements and salt-works in the old Lovely Purchase, (now Cherokee nation,) as to their estimated value-putting, themselves, a value of fifteen thousand dollars for improvements, location, loss of kettles, &c., &c. I deem this estimate just, and much more moderate than what I should have awarded, had I been called on to give a verdict in the case. As far as I can recollect, after the lapse of twenty-five years, Messrs. Bean's improvements consisted of a good double loghouse, negro quarters and stables, two drying-houses, and a large salthouse for deposite, with sheds over two rows of kettles, at two springs. The number of kettles I cannot remember, but judge there must have been about sixty at one spring, and from thirty to forty at the other. These kettles were brought into the country before steam navigation was deemed practicable on the Arkansas, and were transported at great expense over six hundred miles in keel-boats.

I am, sir, with very great respect, truly, your obedient servant,
D. S. MILES,
Brevet Lieutenant Colonel 5th Infantry.

Hon. SOLON BORLAND,

United States Senate, Washington city, D. C.

2

The Committee of Claims, to whom was referred the memorial of Andrew Hodge, jr., report :

It appears that in 1836, the memorialist and Levi Pierce became the sureties on the official bond of William H. Ker, then postmaster at New Orleans, in the sum of $25,000. In 1839, the Postmaster General, Mr. Kendall, dispatched a specific agent, Mr. Marron, to New Orleans, to look into the accounts of Mr. Ker, and to take measures, as it appears, to secure the funds of the department. Mr. Marron reports, under date August 15, 1839, that in looking into the accounts of Mr. Ker, he found them worse than he anticipated, the indebtedness to the department being $62,000. Mr. Marren proceeded to secure the department as far as practicable, by taking mortgages on Mr. Ker's property; this, he says, was all he could get, and "subject, of course, to previous incumbrances." He informs the Postmaster General in this report, that he made his movements as still as possible, for fear his (Mr. Ker's) sureties would push for a conveyance of the property to them.

It appears from a letter of the Postmaster General, that there was received from these mortgages the sum of 5,992 55, and that that is all that has been realized from any source.

In April, 1841, suit was brought on his official bond to recover the amount of the penalty, $25,000, and interest. The defendants admitted their signatures, but denied the indebtedness of Ker, and alleged that if Ker was indebted, then they could not be held responsible, because in August, 1839, the plaintiffs, without the knowledge or consent of the defendants, received from Ker an act of mortgage upon property to secure them against loss; and that in consideration of this mortgage security they granted Ker an extension of six months.

In April, 1843, the case was tried in the United States circuit court at New Orleans, and a verdict rendered for defendants. It was taken to the Supreme Court by writ of error, and in December, 1844, dismissed, the defendants not having been properly cited. It came up again in the Supreme Court on a transcript of the record, and in 1847 the judgment of the circuit court was reversed.

The case came up again in the circuit court in 1851, but the jury could not agree. In May, 1851, it was again tried in the same court, and the evidence offered by the government being ruled out, a verdict was given for defendants. A writ of error was again taken to the Supreme Court and the judgment of the court below was again reversed and the case remanded for a new trial, and now stands on the docket of the circuit court for a fourth trial.

The memorialist asks that Congress will pass an act for his relief, upon such terms as will, while it protects the government from total loss, save him from utter prostration. He states that his circumstances have become greatly embarrassed; that he has been and is compromising with his private creditors, and he asks from the government the same amount of grace he has received from them, as the only means of saving himself from pecuniary ruin.

In view of the embarrassing state of the pending suit, the uncertainty of recovering anything, and of all the circumstances of the case, the committee are of opinion, that the Postmaster General and the district attorney should be authorized to make such a compromise as they may deem just and equitable and conducive to the interests of the government, within the limits and according to the terms prescribed in the bill herewith submitted.

1st Session.

No. 160.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES.

MARCH 14, 1854.-Ordered to be printed.

Mr. JONES, of Iowa, made the following

REPORT.

[To accompany Bill S. 275.]

The Committee on Pensions, to whom was referred the petition of Andrew J. Dickerhoff, beg leave to report:

That the petitioner enlisted in Ohio, "for during the war" with Mexico; was assigned at Newport barracks to company G, 4th infantry, (the regiment then being at Puebla, Mexico, where he afterwards joined it,) and was at subsequent periods successively transferred to I and K companies of said regiment, as the first named two companies were each, in turn, broken up, and was honorably discharged from company K at the close of the war, at Pascagoula. At the time of his enlistment, petitioner was not 18 years old, and of rather delicate frame, and was severely attacked, while in the service, by fever and ague, mumps, and colds; but was, nevertheless, never placed on the sick list, from personal reluctance and aversion to hospital treatment. At the time of his discharge at Pascagoula, he was in a very feeble condition of health, owing to the hardships, exposures, and constant colds, but never having reported himself sick no mention of disability was made in his discharge. His debility and sickness greatly increased on the journey home, to Mt. Vernon, Ohio, from Pascagoula, as certified by Surgeon McGugin, of the 15th regiment United States army, in Mexico, who accompanied him a part of the journey. After reaching home in his feeble and jaded condition, Surgeon McGugin examined him, and found that he had contracted a disease of the spine, of so serious a nature as to result in curvature, contraction, and partial paralysis of the left side, shortening the left leg, and implicating the muscles to such an extent that involuntary and most distressing contortions of the face and other parts of the body became frequent. Surgeon McGugin certifies under oath that petitioner was at that time, and is now, in such a condition of bodily health as to render manual labor impossible, and mental exertion dangerous to reason and life. He further states, on his oath, that from his personal knowledge of the case, he is satisfied that the accumulated sufferings and unhappy disabilities of the petitioner resulted from his hardships and exposures in the army of the United States in the war with Mexico. Dr. Selman, of Bloomfield, Iowa, confirms the statement of petitioner's present condition, and concurs in the opinion as to its cause.