IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. DECEMBER 10, 1857.-Received. DECEMBER 18, 1857.-Referred to the Committee on Claims. The COURT OF CLAIMS submitted the following REPORT. To the Hon. the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled: The Court of Claims respectfully presents the following documents as the report in the case of CHRISTIANA DENER vs. THE UNITED STATES. 1. The petition of the claimant. 2. Documents received from the United States Pension Office, transmitted to House of Representatives. 3. Other documents offered by claimant, in evidence, transmitted to House of Representatives. 4. Claimant's brief. 5. United States Solicitor's brief. 6. Opinion of the Court adverse to the claim. By order of the Court of Claims. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of said Court at Washington, this seventh day of Decem[SEAL.] ber, A. D. 1857. SAM'L H. HUNTINGTON, To the honorable the Judges of the Court of Claims: Your petitioner, Christiana Dener, of Charleston, South Carolina, widow of George Frederick Dener, deceased, represents: That her said husband served as lieutenant of a corps of infantry, called 'German, Fusileers," in the war of the revolution, a period of one year previous to the taking of said city by the British, May 12, 1780, when he was taken prisoner by the British and detained in captivity twelve months; then escaped, and served under General Francis Marion in said war, and afterwards, upon the reorganization of said German Fusileer corps, again became lieutenant of the same, and served in said capacity with said corps from September, 1782, to September, 1783, being in all a period of more than two years active service in said capacity in said war, besides twelve months imprisonment in the hands of the enemy; and, that her marriage with said Geo. F. Dener "took place before the first day of January, 1794;" and that he departed this life in the year 1795, and that she has ever since been and still is a widow. 66 And your petitioner represents, that if the said George F. Dener had survived the passage of the act of Congress, approved June 7, 1832, entitled "An act supplementary to the Act for the relief of certain surviving officers and soldiers of the revolution," (Stat. at Large, vol. 4, p. 529, ch. 126,) he would have been "authorized," under the first section of said act, to receive," from the government of the United States, "the amount of his full pay in the said line, according to his rank,' as said lieutenant of said corps, for said services, "such pay to commence from the 4th day of March, 1831, and continue during his natural life ;" and your petitioner represents, that the amount of his said pay in said line, according to his said rank, was three hundred and twenty dollars per annum, as established by the resolutions of Congress of October 6, 1776, and May 27, 1778, fixing the arrange ment of the American army, rate of pay, rank, &c., and which rate of pay, rank, &c., continued to the end of the war.-(Vide Resolutions, laws," &c., published by Walter S. Franklin, Clerk of the House of Representatives, in compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the United States of April 11, 1836, page 9.) And your petitioner represents, that by the first section of an act of Congress, approved July 7, 1838, entitled "An act granting halfpay and pensions to certain widows," (Stat. at Large, vol. 5, p. 303, ch. 189,) she is "entitled to receive, for and during the term of five years, from the fourth day of March, 1836, the annuity or pension which might have been allowed to her husband in virtue of said act," of June 7, 1832, "if living at the time it was passed." And your petitioner represents, that by the first section of an act of Congress, approved March 3, 1843, entitled "An act granting a pension to certain revolutionary soldiers," (Stat. at Large, vol. 5, p. 647, ch. 102;) by the first section of an act of Congress, approved June 17, 1844, entitled "An act to continue the pensions of certain widows," (Stat. at Large, vol. 5, p. 680, ch. 102 ;) and by the first section of an act of Congress, approved February 2, 1848, entitled "An act making further provisions for surviving widows of the soldiers of the revolu tion," (Stat. at Large, vol. 9, p. 210, ch. 7,) she is "entitled to receive," from the government of the United States, "for and during her natural life, from and after the 4th day of March, 1843, the annuity or pension which might have been allowed to her husband in virtue of said act (of 7th June, 1832,) if living at the time it was passed." But your petitioner has, in fact, received but $236 65 per annum under said acts of July 7, 1838, March 3, 1843, June 17, 1844, and February 2, 1848, to wit: Under act of 7th July, 1838, five years' pension, at the rate of $236 65 per annum, from 4th March 3, 1836..... One year's pension, under act of March 3, 1843, from 4th Four years' pension, at the same rate per annum, under $1,183 25 236 65 946 63 1,893 20 4,259 70 which leaves a balance of fifteen hundred dollars and thirty cents, which your petitioner is entitled to receive from the government of the United States for the said services of the said George F. Dener, under the said acts of Congress of 1838, 1843, 1844, and 1848, and for the payment of which balance your petitioner prays your honorable Court to report a bill to Congress. No action has been had in Congress upon said claim, nor none in any of the departments, except that in the Department of the Interior, and which resulted in the allowance and receipt of the amount of pension as above stated, and the refusal of the government to allow more. Your petitioner represents, that all the papers and evidence in the case upon which the above pension was granted, and upon which she confidently relies for the favorable judgment of this honorable Court, are upon file in the Pension Office and Department of the Interior, and that she is not permitted by said office or department to withdraw said papers or evidence therefrom, and she, therefore, prays this honorable Court to "make a special order, calling upon" said office or department for said papers and evidence, to be delivered to the Clerk of this Court, to be used upon the hearing and determination of this case. Your petitioner is the sole owner and only person interested in said claim. Respectfully submitted, CHRISTIANA DENER. STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA, } SS. On this third day of March, A. D. 1856, before me, G. W. Dingle, a justice of the peace within aud for the district and State aforesaid, personally appears the above named Christiana Dener, and makes oath on the Holy Evangely of Almighty God that the facts set forth in the above petition are true, according to the best of her knowledge and belief. M. THOMPSON, Attorney for Petitioner. G. W. DINGLE, J. P., [L. s.] OFFICE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS AND GENERAL SESSIONS. THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA, Charleston District. I, Daniel Horlbeck, clerk of said court, do hereby certify that G. W. Dingle, whose genuine signature appears above, is and was at the time of signing the same, a magistrate duly authorized and qualified to administer oaths and take acknowledgments; that his attestation is in due form of law; that full faith and credit are to be given thereunto; that said court is a court of record, having general jurisdiction and seal. [SEAL.] Witness my hand and seal of court, at Charleston, this third day of March, A. D. 1856. DANIEL HORLBECK, WASHINGTON, December 15, 1851. SIR: I have the honor of your official communication of 25th ult., "in the case of Catharine Dener, widow of George Frederick," in which you say: "I find among them (the papers) no power of attorney appointing you to act in the matter," &c. I stand prepared to prove that I exhibited an ample power of attorney from the claimant, executed substantially in the forms prescribed by your office, and which was duly filed therein, upon which I was permitted by the proper functionaries to make a thorough examination of all the papers on file in this case, and to take a complete substantial synopsis of the evidence on file in the case, which I now have; and if that power of attorney has been mislaid in your office, and is not to be found where it perhaps should be, in juxtaposition with the papers in the case, the fault is certainly not mine; nor can I conceive with what propriety, reason, or justice, I, or the claimant, should be subjected to any delay, trouble, or inconvenience in consequence of any official mismanagement or dereliction; nor do I suppose for a moment that any will ensue. In your letter above referred to, you also say: "The papers transmitted to this office by you in the case of Catharine Dener," &c. It is not very likely that I would be entrusted with the transmission of papers in the case if I were not clothed with the authority to act "in the matter, "and as an evidence (if it were wanting) of my continued sufficiently authorized agency "in the matter," and that I am not a usurper, assuming the exercise of power not properly conferred upon me, I am instructed to present herewith important additional evidence in support of the claim of Mrs. Dener. Upon an examination of the papers on file in this case, I considered the claim clearly established by the evidence originally deduced, and found it impossible to imagine upon what ground the claim had been suspended by your predecessor; therefore, in the letter I had the honor to address you upon the subject, under date of 7th October last, I deemed it quite sufficient, at the request of the claimant, respectfully |