To the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Sir:  Pursuant to the order of the court, I transmit herewith a certified copy of the findings of fact and conclusion filed by the court in the afroresaid cause, which case was referred to this court by resolution of the House of Representatives under the act of March 3, 1911, known as the Judicial Code.
I am, very respectfully, yours,

Saml. A. Putnam
Chief of Court of Claims

Statement of Case

This is a claim for three months' extra pay for military service during the late Civil War.

On July 17, 1914, House bill 14528 was referred to this court by resolution of the United States House of Representatives under the provisions of section 151 of the Judicial Code.  The section of the bill which relates to this case reads as follows:

"That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to pay to each of the persons hereinafter in this section named, or, if deceased, to the party entitled thereto, the sum of $300, or so much thereof as may be necessary, being for three months' pay proper of the grade held by each of them when honorably discharged from the volunteer service of the United States after March third, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, namely, * * * John C. Way * * *"

The claimant thereafter appeared in this court and filed a position, in which it is alleged, in substance:

That he is a citizen of the United States, resident in the county of Tyler, State of West Virginia, and that he is one of the proposed beneficiaries under said bill H. R. 14528 above set forth.

That he was enrolled in the military service of the United States in the Seventh West Virginia Volunteers, and was honorably discharged March 16, 1865, as captain.

H D-64-1-vol 148-30

That the act of March 3, 1865 (13 Stats., 497), provides:
"Sec. 4. That all officers of the Volunteers now in commission below the rank of brigadier general who shall be entitled to receive upon being mustered out of said service three months' pay proper."

That by the act of July 13, 1866 (14 Stats., 94), it was declared that this act should be "so construed as to entitle to the three months' pay proper provided for therein all officers of Volunteers below the rank of brigadier general who were in service on the third day of March eighteen hundred and sixty-five, and whose resignations were presented and accepted, or who were mustered out at their own request, or otherwise presented and accepted, or who were mustered out at their own request, or otherwise honorably discharged from the service after the ninth day of April, eighteen hundred and sixty-five."

That by act of July 3, 1884 (23 Stats., 66), the law was further extended "to entitle to the three months' pay provided for therein the heirs or legal representative of all officers of Volunteers specified therein who were killed or who died in the service between the third day of March and the tenth day of April, eighteen hundred and sixty-five."

That a claim for the benefits of this law was duly presented to the accounting officers of the Treasury and was disallowed upon the ground that it was not embraced within the terms of the act of March 3, 1865, as amended.

The amount claimed is $180.

The case was brought to a hearing on its merits on the 10th day of February, 1916.  C. D. Pennebaker, Esq., his assistant and under his direction, appeared for the defense and protection of the interests of the United States.

The court, upon the evidence and after considering the briefs and arguments of counsel on both sides, makes the following

Findings of Fact,

I.  The claimant, John C. Way, was enrolled in the military service of the United States and was promoted to be captain, Company C, Seventh West Virginia Infantry Volunteers, November 17, 1864.  He was discharged as captain March 16, 1865, on surgeon's certificate of disability--wound received May 12, 1864.
II.  A claim for three months' extra pay proper under the act of March 3, 1865 (13 Stats., 497), as amended by the act of July 13, 1866 (14 Stats., 94), was presented to the accounting officers of the Treasury and disallowed February 27, 1907, they holding that claimant was "not entitled to three months' extra pay proper, because he was not in service as a commissioned officer from March 3, 1865, to April 10, 1865, inclusive."

Except as above stated, the claim was never presented to any officer or department of the Government prior to the presentation to Congress and reference to this court, as hereinbefore set forth in the statement of the case.

Conclusion

Upon the foregoing findings of fact the court concludes that the claim herein is neither a legal nor an equitable one against the United States, and any amount that may be appropriated in payment of the demand rests in the judgment of Congress.
By  The Court.

Filed February 21, 1916
A true copy
Test this 29th day of February, 1916

Saml. A. Putnam,
Chief Clerk  Court of Claims