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tain classes of private land claims in the Bastrop grant. Your memorialists have understood that by the rule of construction of the said act, adopted by the commissioners appointed by law to carry the same into effect, the claim of Mr. John Ervin would not be embraced.

"Your memorialists knowing the claim of Mr. Ervin to be meritorious; that he has, from the best information in their possession, actually resided upon and cultivated the tract of land where he now resides for upwards of twenty years; that he has in all respects fulfilled the provisions of the act of third March, 1851, where the same has been in his power, and that the only deficiency which exists in his claim is the absence of a chain of proper title from the Baron de Bastrop or his vendees, which, from the absence of Joseph Ballinger and all his representatives from the country, and the total abandonment of the land by him and them, without the existence of any agent for near thirty years, from whom the same could be obtained; joined to the fact that, by the existing laws of the State of Louisiana, Mr. Ervin has acquired a title by prescription, perfect against the said Ballinger and his heirs, and which in a legal contest with any, save only the government of the United States, would be held paramount, presents, in the opinion of your memorialists, a case for the liberal exercise of the power of Congress in the furtherance of his wishes. Your memorialists believing that the act of the third of March was intended to be liberal in effect, and to provide a home, by donation, to the respectable and hard-working pioneers of the country, and believing also that, under so general an act, cases of merit must necessarily occur which are not embraced in its provisions, respectfully recommend the passage of an act to enable Mr. John Ervin to be admitted to make proof of occupation and cultivation of the tract of land on which he lives, before the register and recorder of the land office at Monroe, Louisiana, for twenty years preceding the date of the said act of Congress of March 3, 1851, and that the production of paper title be dispensed with upon proof of a title by prescription against all other claimants than the government of the United States, and for such and further relief as your honorable bodies may deem proper and just.

"EDW. R. PARKER,

DANIEL NEWTON,
SYL. G. PARROUTZ,
JOHN V. ROBERTSON,
JAMES W. BOATNER,
M. L. GUILE,
A. J. BOBO,
A. McIVER,
JOHN BOYD,
H. FAULK."

2d Session.

No. 71.

WILLIS BENEFIEL.

[To accompany bill H. R. No. 725.]

FEBRUARY 2, 1855.

Mr. HENN, from the Committee on Public Lands, made the following

REPORT.

The Committee on Public Lands, to whom was referred the petition of Willis Benefiel, asking relief on account of the failure of title to a certain tract of land located by him, ask leave to report:

That they have examined the papers filed in this case, and find the facts to be as follows: that said Benefiel served for the term of one year as a soldier in Captain Briggs' company, 2d regiment Indiana volunteers, during the war with Mexico; that for said service. there was granted to him a land warrant (No. 5202) for 160 acres of land, under the act of 11th of February, 1847; that on the 31st day of December, 1847, he located said land warrant on the northwest quarter of section 21, township 9 north, of range 9 west, in the district of lands subject to sale at the land office at Vincennes, Indiana; that on the 10th day of June, 1849, a patent was issued in his favor for said land; that said Benefiel settled upon said land and improved the same by fencing and cultivating between sixty and seventy acres, and by erecting buildings thereon-all of which improvements are estimated to be worth $1,200. That said quarter-section has since been claimed by the State of Indiana as a part of the lands granted to said State for the construction of the Wabash and Erie canal, under the act of March 3, 1845, and the same was confirmed to said State under said act by decision of the Secretary of the Interior, dated March 24, 1852; whereby, notwithstanding the issue of said patent to said Benefiel, his title has wholly failed.

The committee are of the opinion that Mr. Benefiel has been seriously damaged by the failure of title as before related, and that the injury he has sustained has been occasioned wholly by the fault of the United States, and not on account of any laches or fault of his own, and therefore he ought to have relief. The committee have had some doubt as to the measure of damages that ought to be allowed, but are of the opinion that at least six hundred and forty acres of land ought to be granted to said Benefiel, in lieu of the 160 acres to which title has failed; and therefore they report a bill authorizing him to enter that quantity free of cost, the passage of which they respectfully recommend.

2d Session.

No. 72.

RICHARD FITZPATRICK.
[To accompany Senate bill No. 141.]

FEBRUARY 2, 1855.

Mr. FAULKNER, from the Committee on Military Affairs, made the

following REPORT.

The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred Senate bill No. 141, for the relief of Richard Fitzpatrick, with accompanying papers, report:

That Colonel Richard Fitzpatrick, a citizen of Florida, was compelled by the Seminole Indians, upon the breaking out of hostilities in that State, in 1836, to abandon his plantation at the mouth of the Miami river; whereupon the Indians destroyed a large amount of his property, consisting of houses, crops, stock, &c. The military and naval forces of the United States took possession soon after its abandonment, and established upon it a military post, known as Fort Dallas, and they continued to occupy it until some time in the year 1842. During the time it was thus occupied by the United States for military purposes, a large quantity of wood, which had been cut and colleeted by the claimant for sale to steamboats, was used by the goverament steamboats, by order of the officers in command, and large quantities of wood used from time to time, also cut from the lands of claimant, for the same purpose and under the same authority.

The testimony of persons familiar with the facts, living near the plantation at the time, and whose respectability is sufficiently sustained, was regularly taken before the county court of the adjoining county, in 1842, and sustains the estimate which the claimant gives of his losses, sixty thousand dollars.

Your committee, however, are not prepared to admit the liability of the federal government for losses occasioned by Indian depredations in Florida; and the major part of the claimant's losses were of this character. But, for the use and occupation of his land, and for the timber, &c., taken from it for public service, and by order of United States officers, he is clearly and justly entitled to remuneration.

Colonel Harney, U. S. A., certifies as follows, viz: "I certify that I was in command of the troops of the United States in the south of Florida for a considerable time during the Seminole war, and had my headquarters at Fort Dallas, which is located upon the property of Richard Fitzpatrick, who is a citizen of Florida, and that whatever

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