First. When such loss or destruction was without fault or negligence on the part of the claimant.1

Second. Where the private property so lost or destroyed was shipped on board an unseaworthy vessel by order of any officer authorized to give such order or direct such shipment.2

Third. Where it appears that the loss or destruction of the private property of the claimant was in consequence of his having given his attention to the saving of the property belonging to the United States which was in danger at the same time and under similar circumstances. And the amount of such loss so ascertained and determined shall be paid out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, and shall be in full for all such loss or damage: Provided, That any claim which shall be presented and acted on under authority of this act shall be held as finally determined, and shall never thereafter be reopened or considered: And provided jurther, That this act shall not apply to losses sustained in time of

'Clause first stands alone as an independent basis for a claim, and was intended to reach cases not covered by the other two clauses. This clause is broader in its scope than the two succeeding clauses, but absence of fault or negligence must be proven if the claim is made under it. Broad as this clause is, it does not cover every case of loss an officer or soldier might sustain in his "reasonable, useful, and necessary property while he was in the military service. (II Compt. Dec., 644, 647.)

Stating the proposition in other words, it does not make the United States the absolute insurer, against all accidents and contingencies, of the reasonable, useful, and necessary property of officers and soldiers. To entitle a person to reimbursement under this clause the loss or destruction must be without fault or negligence, directly or indirectly, near or remote, of the owner, and must have been caused by, or resulted from, some exigency or necessity of the military service. It must reasonably be attributable to the fact that it was held in the military service, whereby the owner was deprived, in some degree, of the control over it which he would have in civil life, and where it would be subjected to dangers not ordinarily incident to its use in civil life. Under all conditions of a use of such personal property as is covered by the law it is subject to deterioration and loss; but in the military service the dangers are greater and peculiar because of the environments of that service. It was to provide against personal loss resulting from these special and peculiar dangers that this law was enacted. Any other view of the law would make the United States the insurer of all personal property necessarily used in its service by officers and soldiers. This can not have been the intent of Congress. If it be held that absence of fault or negligence is the only condition precedent to reimbursement an officer would be entitled to payment for a horse dying from old age, or a uniform, side arms, or household furniture worn out in use. (III id., 637.)

'The true construction of clause second is that the claimant is entitled to reimbursement without being required to show, affirmatively, that he was not guilty of negligence, "where the private property was shipped on board an unseaworthy vessel by order of any officer authorized to give such order or direct such shipment." The leading idea in this clause is that the loss would be attributable to the unseaworthiness of the vessel, and that the soldier sustaining the loss would have no option as to the shipment on said vessel and no responsibility for a loss under such circumstances. (II id., 647.)

To entitle a person to recover under the first clause of the act the following facts, among others, must be established:

1. The loss must be of private property of the officer or soldier. "The articles must not only belong to him, but must be used by him and for him alone, as it were, personal to him in the performance of his duty." 2. The property must be such as the Secretary of War shall decide to be

war or hostilities with Indians: And provided further, That the liability of the Government under this act shall be limited to such articles of personal property as the Secretary of War, in his discretion, shall decide to be reasonable, useful, necessary, and proper for such officer or soldier while in quarters, engaged in the public service, in the line of duty: And provided further, That all claims now existing shall be presented within two years and not after from the passage of this act; and all such claims hereafter arising be presented within two years from the occurrence of the loss or destruction. Act of Mar. 3, 1885 (23 Stat. 350).

218. Claims of volunteers who served during Spanish War.-No claims for arrears of pay, bounty, or other allowances growing out of the service of Volunteers who served in the Army of the United States during the War with Spain shall be received or considered by the accounting officers of the Treasury unless filed in the office of the Auditor for the War Department on or before December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and fourteen. Act of Dec. 22, 1911 (37 Stat. 49).

219. No deduction for attorneys' fees.-In the settlement of claims of officers, soldiers, sailors, and marines, or their representatives, and reasonable, to be useful, and to be necessary for such officer or soldier while in quarters, engaged in the public service in the line of duty.

3. The loss must have been without fault or negligence, in any degree, of the claimant.

4. The loss must have been caused by some exigency or necessity of the military service, such as would naturally be attributable to and would flow from such service. To establish a case under this act the property must have been lost or destroyed in the military service; not merely while it was in use in that service, but because it was in that service. Being in that service must have been the proximate cause of the loss.

5. The loss must not have been caused by the natural wear and tear, or deterioration, of the articles in ordinary use in the service. Inherent defects in articles, on account of which they are unable to stand the ordinary strain of the service, will prevent recovery.

6. Payment must be limited to the commercial value of the articles at the time of their loss, and not exceed the value of such articles as it was necessary for the officer or soldier to have in the service. Unusually expensive articles can not be considered necessary. The purchase price of an article is more likely to be a fair measure of its value than the estimate placed upon it after the purchaser obtains possession of it. The purchase price should not be exceeded without good cause shown.

7. Proof of absence of fault or negligence must state all the circumstances, and be sufficiently elaborate to enable the accounting officers to reach their own conclusions. Mere opinions or conclusions of witnesses, without full statement of facts upon which they are based, are of little value.

8. Any want of proper care either in the claimant or his servant, or the incompetency of the servant, will prevent recovery.

9. It is the duty of owners to care for their property; any voluntary relaxation of that care by intrusting it to others, is negligence within the meaning of the law.

Although under clause second the claimant is not required to show affirmatively that he was not guilty of fault or negligence, this will not be understood as precluding the Government from showing that he was so guilty, and, if so found, he will not be entitled to recover. (III id., 637; XIII id.. 334, 432, 875.)

Under clause third the claimant must show that he was not guilty of fault or negligence other than of neglecting his own property in his efforts to save that of the Government. (III Comp. Dec., 636; see, also, II id., 644; III id., 636, 659; XIX Opin. Att. Gen., 693; G. O. 35. A. G. O., 1896; G. O. 39, A. G. O., 1897; Circular 1, A. G. O., 1897; Par. 726, A. R., 1913.)

all other claims for pay and allowances within the jurisdiction of the Auditor for the War Department or the Auditor for the Navy Department, presented and filed hereafter in which it is the present practice to make deductions of attorneys' fees from the amount found due, no deductions of fees for attorneys or agents shall hereafter be made, but the draft, check, or warrant for the full amount found due shall be delivered to the payee in person or sent to his bona fide post-office address (residence or place of business). Act of June 6, 1900 (31 Stat. 637).

220. Conspiracy to defraud the Government-Purchase of arms, equipment, etc., from soldiers.-Whoever shall make or cause to be made, or present or cause to be presented, for payment or approval, to or by any person or officer in the civil, military, or naval service of the United States, any claim upon or against the Government of the United States, or any department or officer thereof, knowing such claim to be false, fictitious, or fraudulent; or whoever, for the purpose of obtaining or aiding to obtain the payment or approval of such claim, shall make or use, or cause to be made or used, any false bill, receipt, voucher, roll, account, claim, certificate, affidavit, or deposition, knowing the same to contain any fraudulent or fictitious statement or entry; or whoever shall enter into any agreement, combination, or conspiracy to defraud the Government of the United States, or any department or officer thereof, by obtaining or aiding to obtain the payment or allowance of any false or fraudulent claim; or whoever, having charge, possession, custody, or control of any money or other public property used or to be used in the military or naval service, with intent to defraud the United States or willfully to conceal such money or other property, shall deliver or cause to be delivered, to any other person having authority to receive the same, any amount of such money or other property less than that for which he received a certificate or took a receipt; or whoever, being authorized to make or deliver any certificate, voucher, receipt, or other paper certifying the receipt of arms, ammunition, provisions, clothing, or other property so used or to be used, shall make or deliver the same to any other person without a full knowledge of the truth of the facts stated therein, and with intent to defraud the United States, shall be fined not more than five thousand dollars, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. And whoever shall knowingly purchase or receive in pledge for any obligation or indebtedness from any soldier, officer, sailor, or other person called into or employed in the military or naval service, any arms, equipments, ammunition, clothes, military stores, or other public property, whether furnished to the soldier, sailor, officer, or person, under a clothing allowance or otherwise, such soldier. sailor, officer, or other person not having the lawful right to pledge or sell the same, shall be

fined not more than five hundred dollars, and imprisoned not more than two years. Sec. 35 Act of Mar. 4, 1909, Criminal Code (35 Stat. 1095).

221. Priority of. Whenever any person indebted to the United States is insolvent, or whenever the estate of any deceased debtor, in the hands of the executors or administrators, is insufficient to pay all the debts due from the deceased, the debts due to the United States shall be first satisfied; and the priority hereby established shall extend as well to cases in which a debtor, not having sufficient property to pay all his debts, makes a voluntary assignment thereof, or in which the estate and effects of an absconding, concealed, or absent debtor are attached by process of law, as to cases in which an act of bankruptcy is committed. Sec. 3466, R. S.

[U. S. v. Fisher, 2 Cr., 358; U. S. v. Hooe, 3 Cr., 73; Harrison v. Sterry, 5 Cr., 289; Prince v. Bartlett, 8 Cr., 431; U. S. v. Bryan, 9 Cr., 374; Thelusson v. Smith, 2 Wh., 396; U. S. v. Howland, 4 Wh., 108; Conard v. Insurance Company, 1 Pet., 386; Hunter v. U. S., 5 Pet., 173; U. S. v. State Bank, 6 Pet., 29; U. S. v. Hack, 8 Pet., 271; Brent v. Bank of Washington, 10 Pet., 596; Beaston v. Farmers' Bank, 12 Pet., 102; U. S. v. Herron, 20 Wall., 251; Bayne et al., Trustees, v. U. S. 93 U. S., 642.]

222. Liability of executors, etc.-Every executor, administrator, or assignee, other person, who pays any debt due by the person or estate from whom or for which he acts, before he satisfies and pays the debts due to the United States from such person or estate, shall become answerable in his own person and estate for the debts so due to the United States, or for so much thereof as may remain due and unpaid. Sec. 3467, R. S. (See sec. 5101, R. S.)

(See Field v. U. S., 9 Pet., 182; Brent v. Bank of Washington, 10 Pet., 596.) 223. Priority of surety who has paid the amount due on the bond of an insolvent principal. Whenever the principal in any bond given to the United States is insolvent, or whenever, such principal being deceased, his estate and effects which come to the hands of his executor, administrator, or assignee, are insufficient for the payment of his debts, and, in either of such cases, any surety on the bond, or the executor, administrator, or assignee of such surety pays to the United States the money due upon such bond, such surety, his executor, administrator, or assignee, shall have the like priority for the recovery and receipt of the moneys out of the estate and effects of such insolvent or deceased principal as is secured to the United States; and may bring and maintain a suit upon the bond, in law or equity, in his own name, for the recovery of all moneys paid thereon.1 Sec. 3468, R. S.

1 The priority given in this section to sureties does not apply to sureties on a recognizance in a criminal case. (U. S. v. Rydor, 110 U. S., 729; U. S. v. Fisher, 2 Cr., 358; U. S. v. Hooe, 3 Cr., 73; Prince v. Bartlett, 8 Cr.. 431; U. S. v. Bryan, 9 Cr., 374; Thelusson v. Smith, 2 Wh., 396; U. S. v. Howland, 4 Wh., 108; Conard v. Insurance Company, 1 Pet., 439; Hunter v. U. S., 5 Pet., 173; Child v. Shoemaker, 1 Wash., 494; U. S. v. King, Wall. C. C., 12; Johns v. Brodhag, 1 Cr. C. C., 235).

224. Distress warrant.-Whenever any collector of the revenue, receiver of public money, or other officer, who has received the public money before it is paid into the Treasury of the United States, fails to render his account or pay over the same in the manner or within the time required by law, it shall be the duty of the proper Auditor to cause to be stated the account of such officer, exhibiting truly the amount due to the United States, and to certify the same to the Solicitor of the Treasury, who shall issue a warrant of distress against the delinquent officer and his sureties directed to the marshal of the district in which such officer and his sureties reside. Where the officer and his sureties reside in different districts, or where they or either of them reside in a district other than that in which the estate of either may be, which it is intended to take and sell, then such warrant shall be directed to the marshals of such districts, respectively. See 3625, R. S.

225. Contents.-The warrant of distress shall specify the amount with which such delinquent is chargeable and the sums, if any, which have been paid. Sec. 3626, R. S.

226. Execution against officer.-The marshal authorized to execute any warrant of distress shall, by himself or by his deputy, proceed to levy and collect the sum remaining due, by distress and sale of the goods and chattels of such delinquent officer, having given ten days' previous notice of such intended sale, by affixing an advertisement of the articles to be sold at two or more public places in the town and county where the goods or chattels were taken, or in the town or county where the owner of such goods or chattels may reside. If the goods and chattels be not sufficient to satisfy the warrant, the same may be levied upon the person of such officer, who may be committed to prison, there to remain until discharged by due course of law. Sec. 3627, R. S.

227. Same Against surety.—If the delinquent officer absconds, or if goods and chattels belonging to him can not be found sufficient to satisfy the warrant, the marshal or his deputy shall proceed, notwithstanding the commitment of the delinquent officer, to levy and collect the sum which remains due by such delinquent, by the distress and sale of the goods and chattels of his sureties; having given ten days' previous notice of such intended sale, by affixing an advertise ment of the articles to be sold at two or more public places in the town or county where the goods or chattels were taken, or in the town or county where the owner resides. Sec. 3628, R. S.

228. Amount of levy a lien.-The amount due by any delinquent officer is declared to be a lien upon the lands, tenements, and hereditaments of such officer and his sureties, from the date of a levy in pursuance of the warrant of distress issued against him or them, and a record thereof made in the office of the clerk of the district court