Beckwith v. Bean

• Decision Date: 01 October 1878
• Citation: 98 U.S. 266,25 L.Ed. 124
• Parties: BECKWITH v. BEAN
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

98 U.S. 266

25 L.Ed. 124

BECKWITH v. BEAN.

October Term, 1878

ERROR to the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Vermont.

The case was argued by The Attorney-General and The Solicitor-General for the plaintiffs in error, and by Mr. E. J. Phelps for the defendant in error.

MR. JUSTICE HARLAN delivered the opinion of the court.

This is an action by Andrew J. Bean against Beckwith and Henry, plaintiffs in error, for assault and battery and false imprisonment. It was commenced in the year 1865, in the County Court of Orange County, Vermont, and was thence removed for trial into the Circuit Court of the United States for that district. The defendants pleaded not guilty, and also filed several special pleas. At a former term, the case was brought to this court upon a certificate of division in opinion between the circuit and the district judge as to the sufficiency of some of those special pleas. We adjudged them to be defective. 18 Wall. 515. Upon a return of the case to the court below, a trial under the plea of not guilty resulted in a verdict in Bean's favor for $15,000. Judgment having been rendered thereon against the defendants, this writ of error is prosecuted.

Before entering upon the discussion of the legal propositions presented for our determination, it is necessary to state the leading facts out of which this litigation arose, and which the evidence before the jury tended to establish.

Bean, the defendant in error, was, in June, 1864, a resident of Coaticoke, in the Dominion of Canada. His ordinary business was that of a harness-maker, but during the period hereinafter referred to he was, to some extent, engaged in the business of substitute brokerage, or in furnishing substitutes for our army. Henry and Beckwith, plaintiffs in error, were officers of the Union army, the former being provost-marshal and the latter assistant provost-marshal of the second congressional district of Vermont. They were appointed, commissioned, and sworn, as required by the statute popularly known as the Conscription Act of Congress, and were subordinates of General Pitcher, who was acting assistant provost-marshal-general for Vermont until October, 1864, when he was succeeded by Major William Austine. All of said officers and subordinates were subject to the authority of Major-General Dix, commanding, by appointment of President Lincoln, the department of the East, which embraced the State of Vermont.

On the 14th of June, 1864, Bean, accompanied by one Jewell and one Buckland, came from Canada to the headquarters of Captains Henry and Beckwith at Woodstock, Vt. They were accompanied by Eldon Brown and John Guptil. Before leaving Canada, Bean had a contract with Brown that the latter should come to the United States and enlist in our army as a substitute for persons drafted under the Conscription Act. In that contract Buckland had an interest, by stipulation with Bean. While at Woodstock, these five persons occupied the same room. Bean, Buckland, and Jewell proposed to, or through, one J. C. Stevens to enlist Brown and Guptil as substitutes; and thereupon an agreement was made, whereby Stevens was to pay Bean and his associates $600 for Brown and Guptil each, the proposed substitutes to receive out of that sum $200 each. Brown and Guptil, upon examination, were accepted and clothed in the uniform of soldiers, receiving $200 each from Stevens, while Bean, Jewell, and Buckland received $800 between them, and returned the same day to Canada. For the purpose, doubtless, of guarding against immediate desertion, Brown and Guptil were required by the provost-marshal to deposit their bounty with a clerk in the office, as security for their departure, on the following evening, to the recruiting rendezvous at New Haven, Conn. During the next day, each obtained five dollars of their bounty-money, and the same day deserted. On the 23d of June, 1864, all the facts and circumstances connected with the enlistment and desertion of Brown and Guptil were verbally communicated by Captain Henry in person to General Pitcher, who directed that transportation to the northern border of Vermont be furnished to Captain Beckwith, with instructions to arrest the deserters, as well as Bean, Jewell, and Buckland, and bring them to headquarters. Transportation being furnished to Beckwith in pursuance of that order, he endeavored, under written instructions from Captain Henry, to effect the arrest of the parties; but his efforts in that direction were fruitless, until Nov. 11, 1864, when, meeting Bean upon the cars, he arrested him, using no more force than necessary. He informed him at the time that he had no warrant, but was acting under military order, and that the charge against him was that of aiding and abetting Brown and Guptil to desert. Upon the succeeding day, Bean was taken to Captain Henry's headquarters, and by his order was placed in the State prison at Windsor,—that being the usual place for confinement of persons charged with offences against military law,—and he remained there in custody until April, 1865, when he was discharged, under the circumstances hereafter detailed.

The testimony of Bean tended to show that his confinement was prolonged unnecessarily, not only under circumstances of humiliation and severity, but against his protestation of innocence and frequent demands to be tried, by the civil courts, for the offence imputed to him. It further tended to show that such confinement without trial was procured or caused by the plaintiffs in error, and that among the results of such imprisonment was the destruction of his business in Canada, the loss of property, and the expenditure of large sums of money.

Upon the part of the plaintiffs in error, the evidence tended to show that, from the circumstances and such information as they were able to obtain, they each believed, before and at the time of Bean's arrest, that the enlistment and desertion of Brown and Guptil were in pursuance of a previous plan for that purpose formed between the deserters and Bean, Jewell, and Buckland, and that Bean and his associates aided and abetted in such desertion and escape; that, on 20th November, 1864, Captain Henry embodied in his regular tri-monthly report to the provost-marshal-general at Washington a general statement of Bean's arrest upon the charge of 'taking part of the money paid for two substitutes,' and then 'being privy to their desertion,' and that he was held for the return of the $800; that, on the 8th of December, Bean wrote to Major Austine, inquiring whether report of his case had been made to him, which letter was referred to Captain Henry for 'report on the case;' that, on the 13th of December, Captain Henry made such report, and had delayed a report until that date by the request of Bean; that, on December 16, Captain Henry, by direction of Major Austine, furnished Bean a written statement of the charges against him, and saying, 'And it is claimed that you shall pay for the use of the government the $800, with the expense of your arrest;' that, on 20th December, he communicated to Major Austine other facts in the case; that, on 21st December, he again, by written communication, called the attention of Major Austine to the case, expressing the opinion that the evidence then in his possession was insufficient to convict Bean in the civil courts under the Enrolment Act, and suggesting that he be turned over to General Dix or the military authority, rather than to the district attorney; that, on 3d January 1865, Major Austine was officially advised, from department headquarters, that the case of Bean and his confederates was one of gross fraud upon the government, and authorizing him to collect from them, either individually or collectively, the amount received by them; to take all necessary steps for the arrest of the parties then at large, and keep them in custody until the money and expenses of their arrest were paid, and to discharge them when the money was paid over,—of which order Bean was advised on 6th January, 1865; that, on 21st January, Bean addressed, through Major Austine, a communication to General Dix, protesting his innocence, complaining of Major Austine, and demanding trial before the civil courts; that, on 24th January, an answer came from department headquarters, reiterating the condition of Bean's discharge as set forth in the order of January 3, and directing Major Austine 'to cause Bean to be distinctly informed that he was arrested by orders from these headquarters;' that, on 24th February, Major Austine sent all his papers to department headquarters, and they were transmitted to the adjutant-general of the army at Washington, with an indorsement by General Dix, that 'Bean was held by mine (his) orders for complicity in a gross fraud against the United States;' that the papers were returned to Major Austine in April, after passing through the offices of Secretary of War, adjutant-general, judge-advocate-general, provost-marshal, and inspector-general, with directions that Bean be turned over to the civil authorities for trial; that, upon receiving the order last mentioned, Captain Henry called the attention of the district attorney to its provisions, and invited his attention to the case; that, on 26th April, 1865, Bean was taken before a justice of the peace, who discharged him upon bond for his appearance before a United States commissioner when called upon; that, on 11th May, 1865, an examining trial was held, and Bean required to give bail for his appearance to answer any indictment before the grand jury, but that tribunal, upon investigation, failed to find an indictment against him.

It is stated in the bill of exceptions that the plaintiffs in error gave no other or further evidence, either oral or written, of any orders from the President of the United States, or their superior officers, than those just described; that the defendants and General Pitcher were examined as...