Intermingled Cotton Cases United States v. Raymond, Assignee Same v. Kidd Same v. Cowan, Administrator Same v. Brabston Same v. Spear Same v. Lean Same v. Cook Same v. Batchelor Same v. Hawkins Same v. Gardner, Assignee Same v. Bodenhelm, Executrix

• Decision Date: 01 October 1875
• Citation: 92 U.S. 651,23 L.Ed. 756
• Parties: INTERMINGLED COTTON CASES. UNITED STATES v. RAYMOND, ASSIGNEE; SAME v. KIDD; SAME v. COWAN, ADMINISTRATOR; SAME v. BRABSTON; SAME v. SPEAR; SAME v. McLEAN; SAME v. COOK; SAME v. BATCHELOR; SAME v. HAWKINS; SAME v. GARDNER, ASSIGNEE; SAME v. BODENHELM, EXECUTRIX
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

92 U.S. 651

23 L.Ed. 756

INTERMINGLED COTTON CASES.

UNITED STATES

v. RAYMOND, ASSIGNEE;

SAME

v. KIDD;

SAME

v. COWAN, ADMINISTRATOR;

SAME

v. BRABSTON;

SAME

v. SPEAR;

SAME

v. McLEAN;

SAME

v. COOK;

SAME

v. BATCHELOR;

SAME

v. HAWKINS;

SAME

v. GARDNER, ASSIGNEE;

SAME

v. BODENHELM, EXECUTRIX.

October Term, 1875

APPEALS from the Court of Claims.

Mr. Solicitor-General Phillips and Mr. Assistant Attorney-General Edwin B. Smith for the appellants.

Mr. Joseph Casey and Mr. Henry S. Foot, contra.

MR. CHIEF JUSTICE WAITE delivered the opinion of the court.

The facts in these cases, as shown by the records and the findings of the Court of Claims, are as follows:——

During the years 1863, 1864, and 1865, large quantities of cotton were captured by the military forces of the United States and taken from the owners in the State of Mississippi. The identity of the several parcels so captured was destroyed, and the property of each owner could not be traced. A very large quantity was used by the army of the United States for defensive purposes in the vicinity of Vicksburg. Much of it was stolen, destroyed, or otherwise lost. After the surrender of Vicksburg, such as could be found and saved was collected at that place and at Natchez, and aftr wards intermingled and stored in a common mass. Subsequently it was sent forward and sold by the treasury agents in the same intermingled condition. The proceeds were paid into the treasury as a common fund produced from the sale of this common mass of unidentified cotton, shipped and received under these circumstances.

The Court of Claims found as a fact that the cotton of each of these several plaintiffs contributed to and formed part of this mass so intermingled and sold. This finding was not based upon evidence specifically tracing the property of each claimant, but upon the assumption that, under the circumstances attending these collections, all cotton started from the place of capture, on the way to Vicksburg or Natchez, in a manner that would naturally carry it into the mass, must be presumed to have gone there, unless it was shown to have been lost or shipped to some other point.

The court, upon this finding, ascertained the amount of the fund remaining in the treasury, after deducting payments theretofore made to other claimants; the number of bales sold to create the fund for which payment had not already been made, and the number of bales contributed by each of these plaintiffs to the common mass. It then gave judgment in favor of the plaintiff in each case for a sum which bore the same proportion to the whole fund still on hand that the number of his bales did to the whole number then represented by the fund.

From these judgments the United States have appealed.

It is difficult to see how the United States can complain of the judgments that have been rendered in these cases upon the facts as found. The aggregate of the whole is no more than the amount of money in the treasury to the credit of the fund, and which, as we have often decided, is a trust for the benefit of such as should establish their claim to it under the provisions of the Abandoned and Captured Property Act.

Each contributor to a common fund becomes interested in the fund in proportion to his contribution. Each owner of property intermingled with other property of the same kind and value, and stored in a common mass, becomes the owner as tenant in...