File No. 174/1–3.
The facts are set forth in considerable detail. The authorities of
the War Department, as will be seen, have not been able to satisfy
themselves that the losses which the claimants sustained were caused
by American troops, but even if such were the case, the
Judge-Advocate-General of the Army is of the opinion that the acts
could only be considered as those of soldiers in their personal
capacity, to which no responsibility attaches on the part of their
Government.
[Inclosure.]
File No. 174/4.
Report and Opinion of the
Judge-Advocate-General.
War Department,
Washington, April 25, 1907.
Respectfully returned to the Adjutant-General.
The honorable the Acting Secretary of State incloses to the
honorable the Secretary of War certain papers relating to the
claim of Messrs. Laurent and Joseph Lambert for compensation for
damage done to their property situated in the neighborhood of
Santiago de Cuba, by the American Army, and asks that in view of
the papers submitted a further investigation of the case be
had.
The claimants would appear to be French citizens, and the papers
in the case are transmitted to the Department of State by the
French ambassador.
The papers undertake to show, in the form of affidavits, the
following facts:
The claimants owned a “finca “(country estate) on which was
situated a house with a French tile roof, another with a tin
roof, and a third with a thatch roof. About the end of July,
1898, American troops pitched their tents on the “finca,” and
the buildings were observed to be gradually demolished and
gutted and finally to have disappeared.
Upon the destruction of the property the owners, now the
claimants, advised the French consul at Santiago and requested
him to file a claim with the American authorities. This led to
the claimants being summoned to appear before a board of
officers on April 15, 1899. On their appearing before the board,
Lieut. George R. Armstrong, Fifth Infantry, was delegated to
investigate on the spot, and was accompanied by the claimants to
the estate, where Lieutenant Armstrong was enabled to verify the
facts on which this claim rests.
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His excellency the French ambassador states in his letter to the
honorable the Secretary of State that the above data are
submitted in answer to the request made by the Department of
State on May 25, 1905, that additional evidence in the case be
furnished. It will be observed that what has been furnished is
not evidence bearing on the facts to be determined. It will
probably not be denied that the claimants were the owners of the
“finca” San Pedro; that there were three houses on the estate of
a total value of $1,750; and that the claimants advanced a claim
for compensation due to the alleged desruction of the
property.
In an earlier report made on this case by the office of The
Military Secretary, it appears to have been said that the report
of the board of officers showed that the claimants were
repeatedly cited to appear before the board and prosecute their
claim, but failed to do so.
The present presentation of this case has been referred to
various officers who might be supposed to have a knowledge of
the facts, with the following results:
Lieut. George R. Armstrong states that he was directed to get
some data for a board of claims; that he obtained the data and
made report to the local adjutant-general, but not to the board,
as the latter never reconvened. He further states in detail that
in May, 1900, he made an official examination of the San Pedro
estate, accompanied by disinterested persons, with a view to
furnishing testimony to a board of claims of which Maj. George
K. McGunnegle was president. Yellow fever prevented a
reconvening of the board and the testimony of Lieutenant
Armstrong was never taken. A report was made to the
adjutant-general (at Santiago), but Lieutenant Armstrong was
directed to retain it with a view to presenting it to the board
of claims. The facts, as ascertained by Lieutenant Armstrong,
were in substance as follows:
The claimants owned two houses and an outhouse, of which they
filed an inventory with the French consul in 1895, placing a
valuation of $1,750 upon them. The claim for the loss of the
said houses made to the military authorities at Santiago
amounted to $2,000. An examination of the site showed but little
left of the houses, even the French tiling of the roof being
gone. There was nothing to show that American troops had
destroyed the property. None of the witnesses knew just what
troops had been camped on the estate; inquiry from other
sources, however, would appear to show that certain troops of
General Chaffee’s brigade (the Seventeenth Infantry) had been
encamped there.
Lieutenant Armstrong caused the property to be valued by “safe,
reputable citizens,” who were well acquainted with its character
and construction, and the valuation so obtained ranged from $700
to $1,400. Members of the board of claims were individually of
the opinion that the loss sustained by the Messrs. Laurent &
Lambert amounted to $900, but that there was insufficient
evidence to attach the blame for the loss to American troops.
Lieutenant Armstrong further traverses the statements of the
claimants in so far as they concern himself, in regard to the
summons of April 15, 1899, of which he knew nothing, as to his
finding the facts as alleged or being accompanied to San Pedro
by one of the claimants.
It has been impossible to locate Mr. Louis A. Sholars, late first
lieutenant Company A, Second U. S. Volunteers, who is believed
to be the person who is alleged to have signed the summons of
April 15, 1899.
Col. George K. McGunnegle, First Infantry, has no recollection of
the case.
Capt. S. M. Hackney, Twenty-first Infantry, states that he was
recorder of a board of claims convened at Santiago de Cuba early
in 1900. Colonel McGunnegle and Lieutenant-Colonel Dunn,
judge-advocate, were the other members of the board. Captain
Hackney does not remember this specific case, among the many
presented to the board, but states that in nearly all the cases
investigated it was found that the damage was done by Spanish
troops prior to the American occupation. Captain Hackney left
Cuba in July, 1900, and turned the records and unfinished cases
over to Lieutenant-Colonel Dunn, judge-advocate.
Lieutenant-Colonel Dunn, judge-advocate, states that he has no
recollection of this case. In May, 1900, the time at which
Lieutenant Armstrong appears to have made his investigation,
Lieutenant-Colonel Dunn believes he was not in Santiago, having
left that city, he thinks, in the latter part of April for the
United States. All the records of the board of which he was a
member he turned over to the adjutant-general of the department
before he left. Any private memoranda he may have had were
burned in the San Francisco fire.
From the foregoing it seems clear that no additional information
can now be obtained by the War Department which will shed light
on the case.
[Page 395]
It is well settled that for the wanton or wrongful acts of
soldiers in their person character the Government can not be
held responsible; in the absence, therefore, of evidence that
the houses belonging to the claimants were destroyed by proper
authority under circumstances which would warrant payment by the
department, it is not seen how any but an unfavorable report can
be made in this case.
George B. Davis, Judge-Advocate-General.