Hot Springs Cases Rector v. United States Hale v. United States Gaines Et Al v. United States Russell v. United States

• Decision Date: 01 October 1875
• Parties: HOT SPRINGS CASES. RECTOR v. UNITED STATES; HALE v. UNITED STATES; GAINES ET AL. v. UNITED STATES; RUSSELL v. UNITED STATES
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

92 U.S. 698

23 L.Ed. 690

HOT SPRINGS CASES.

RECTOR

v. UNITED STATES;

HALE

v. UNITED STATES;

GAINES ET AL.

v. UNITED STATES;

RUSSELL

v. UNITED STATES.

October Term, 1875

APPEALS from the Court of Claims.

These cases were argued by—— Mr. Matt. H. Carpenter and Mr. Albert Pike for Rector.

Mr. Frederick P. Stanton for Hale.

Mr. E. W. Munford for Gaines et al.

Mr. John A. Grow for Russell.

Mr. Attorney-General Pierrepont for the United States.

MR. JUSTICE BRADLEY delivered the opinion of the court.

The title to a well-known watering-place in the State of Arkansas, called the Hot Springs, now located in Hot Springs County, has been contested by a number of claimants for nearly half a century. These springs are situated in a narrow valley or ravine between two rocky ridges in one of the lateral ranges of the Ozark Mountains, about sixty miles to the westward of Little Rock. Though not easily accessible, and in a district of country claimed by h e Indians until after the treaty made with the Quapaws in 1818, they were considerably frequented by invalids and others as early as 1810 or 1812; but no permanent settlement was made at the place until a number of years afterwards. Temporary cabins were erected by visitors, and by those who resorted there to dispose of articles needed by visitors, but were only occupied during a portion of the year. The public surveys were not extended to that portion of the country until 1838.

In order to settle, if possible, the controversies which existed, and which seemed interminable, none of the parties having any regular government title, and it being doubtful whether any of them were entitled thereto, Congress, on the thirty-first day of May, 1870, passed the following act:——

'AN ACT in relation to the Hot Springs Reservation in Arkansas.

'Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any person claiming title, either legal or equitable, to the whole or any part of the four sections of land constituting what is known as the Hot Springs Reservation, in Hot Springs County, in the State of Arkansas, may institute against the United States in the Court of Claims, and prosecute to final decision, any suit that may be necessary to settle the same: Provided, that no such suits shall be brought at any time after the expiration of ninety days from the passage of this act, and all claims to any part of said reservation upon which suit shall not be brought under the provisions of this act within that time shall be for ever barred.

'SECT. 2. And be it further enacted, That all such suits shall be by petition in the nature of a bill in equity, and shall be conducted and determined in all respects, except as herein otherwise provided, according to the rules and principles of equity practice and jurisprudence in the other courts of the United States; and for the purposes of this act, the Court of Claims is hereby invested with the jurisdiction and powers exercised by courts of equity, so far as may be necessary to give full relief in any suit which may be instituted under the provisions of this act.

'SECT. 3. And be it further enacted, That notice of every suit authorized by this act shall be executed by the delivery of a true copy thereof, with a copy of the petition, to the Attorney-General, whose duty it shall be, for and in behalf of the United States, to demur to or answer the petition therein, within thirty days after the service of such process upon him, unless the court shall, for good cause shown, grant further time for filing the same.

'SECT. 4. And be it further enacted, That if two or more parties claiming the same lands under different titles shall institute separate suits under the provisions of this act, such suits shall be consolidated and tried together, and the court shall determine the question of title and grant all proper relief as between the respective claimants, as well as between each of them and the United States.

'SECT. 5. And be it further enacted, That if, upon the final hearing of any cause provided for in this act, the court shall decide in favor of the United States, it shall order such lands into the possession of a receiver to be appointed by the court, who shall take charge of and rent out the same for the United States, until Congress shall by law direct how the same shall be disposed of, which said receiver shall execute a sufficient bond to be approved by the court, conditioned for the faithful performance of his duties as such, render a strict account of the manner in which he shall have discharged said duties, and of all moneys received by him as a receiver as aforesaid, which shall be by said court approved or rejected accordingly as it may be found correct or not, and pay such moneys into the treasury of the United States; and he shall receive such reasonable compensation for his services as said court may allow; and in case of a failure of said receiver t discharge any duty devolving upon him as such, the court shall have power to enforce the performance of the same by rule and attachment. But if the court shall decide in favor of any claimant, both as against the United States and other claimants, it shall so decree, and proceed by proper process to put such successful claimant in possession of such portion thereof as he may be thus found to be entitled to; and upon the filing of a certified copy of such decree with the Secretary of the Interior, he shall cause a patent to be issued to the party in whose favor such decree shall be rendered for the lands therein adjudged to him: Provided, that either party may within ninety days after the rendition of any final judgment or decree in any suit authorized by this act, carry such suit by appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States, which court is hereby vested with full jurisdiction to hear and determine the same on such appeal, in the same manner and with the same effect as in cases of appeal in equity causes from the circuit courts of the United States: And provided further, that in case the judgment or decree of the Court of Claims in any such suit shall be adverse to the United States, the Attorney-General shall prosecute such appeal within the time above prescribed; and the taking of an appeal from any such judgment or decree shall operate as a supersedeas thereof until the final hearing and judgment of the Supreme Court thereon.

'J. G. BLAINE,

'Speaker of the House of Representatives.

'SCHUYLER COLFAX,

'Vice-President of the United States and President of the Senate.

'Received by the President May 31, 1870.

'[NOTE BY THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE.—The foregoing act having been presented to the President of the United States for his approval, and not having been returned by him to the House of Congress in which it originated within the time prescribed by the Constitution of the United States, has become a law without his approval.]'

The various parties setting up a claim to the property having, in pursuance of the act, filed their respective petitions in the Court of Claims; and the cases having been consolidated, the court, after a very full investigation, rendered a decree in favor of the United States, and adverse to all the claimants. That decree is brought here by appeal.

Three different titles are set up against the United States; two of them under claims of pre-emption, and one under a New-Madrid location.

1. John C. Hale claims the south-west quarter of section 33, township 2 south, range 19 west, of the fifth principal meridian in Hot Springs County, Ark., embracing the hot springs, which are the object of contention. He claims as representative of John Percifull by right of pre-emption under the fifth section of the act of Congress, passed April 12, 1814, entitled 'An Act for the final adjustment of land-titles in the State of Louisiana and Territory of Missouri.' By this section it was provided, amongst other things, that every person, and the legal representatives of every person, who had actually inhabited and cultivated a tract of land lying in the Territory of Missouri, not rightfully claimed by any other person, and who should not have removed from the Territory, should be entitled to the right of pre-emption in the purchase thereof, under the same restrictions and regulations as directed in a similar act passed Feb. 5, 1813, in relation to Illinois. Those restrictions and regulations were, that the price should be the same as that of other public lands in the Territory; that only one quarter-section should be thus sold to one individual; that it should be bounded by the sectional and divisional lines of the public survey; and that the sale should not embrace lands reserved from sale by former acts, or directed to be sold in town-lots, &c. It was further required by the act of 1813, that every person claiming under the act must make known his claim by delivering a notice in writing to the register of the land-office for the district in which h e land should lie, designating his claim, and to be filed in the office. If it appeared to the satisfaction of the register and receiver that he was duly entitled, he was allowed to enter the land on payment of one-twentieth of the price; but the entry must be made at least two weeks before the time of the commencement of public sales in the district, or the right would be forfeited.

Hale sets forth in his petition that, at the time when the said act was passed,—namely, April 12, 1814,—John Percifull had actually inhabited and cultivated the tract of land embracing the hot springs, and forming a portion of the quarter-section claimed by him; that he had settled upon the same as early as 1809, and had continued to reside thereon and cultivate the same up to the time of the passage of the act; but that he could not comply with the act as to making entry, &c., because the land was not publicly surveyed until the year 1838. That as soon as practicable...