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be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to credit the money order account of Malachy Ryan, former acting postmaster at Caledonia, Minn., with $464.75, being the amount of fifty-one paid money orders alleged to have been lost in a burglary of the post office at Caledonia, Minn., on May 8, 1933, disallowed in the audit of his accounts due to failure of the said former acting postmaster to record the particulars of the said money orders."

Sincerely yours,

Hon. AMBROSE J. KENNEDY,

J. R. MCCARL,

Comptroller General of the United States.

POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, Washington, D. C., February 16, 1939.

Chairman, Committee on Claims, House of Representatives.

MY DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: The receipt is acknowledged of your communication dated February 7, 1939, transmitting a copy of a bill (H. R. 1846) for the relief of Malachy Ryan, former acting postmaster at Caledonia, Minn., and requesting a report on the facts in the case as disclosed by the files of this Department, as well as an opinion on the merits of the bill and copies of all material papers bearing thereon.

In reply you are advised that on April 5, 1935, in compliance with your request for the same information in connection with H. R. 5550, there was transmitted to your committee by this Department, copies of all the material papers on file, including a copy of a letter from the former acting postmaster dated February 27, 1935, and a copy of an affidavit made by him under date of March 29, 1935, relative to paid money orders amounting to $573.75 lost in the burglary of the post office at Caledonia, Minn., on the night of May 8, or the morning of May 9, 1933; also, a copy of the report of the inspector detailed to investigate the burglary, dated September 29, 1934.

As a result of action taken by Congress, a bill for the relief of Mr. Ryan, Private Law No. 290, Seventy-fourth Congress, was approved August 24, 1934, in the sum of $464.75, representing the amount of 51 paid money orders lost in the burglary, the amount of the original bill for $573.75 being reduced by $109, apparently because the postmaster's records showed that two money orders for $109 were paid by him on May 9, the day following the burglary.

In the event that the papers transmitted to your committee on April 5, 1935, cannot be found, this Department will be glad to supply additional ones upon request.

Sincerely yours,

STATE OF MINNESOTA,

County of Houston, ss.

RAMSEY S. BLACK, Acting Postmaster General.

Blanche Pope of said county, being first duly sworn on oath, deposes and says that she is an adult person and that during the entire year of 1933, and ever since said time, she has been assistant postmaster at the post office in the village of Caledonia, Houston County, Minn. That during the year 1933 Malachy Ryan was the postmaster in the village of Caledonia, Houston County, Minn.

That at that time, and for a long time prior thereto, it was the custom and practice at the said post office of Caledonia after the last train had left the village of Caledonia to change the date on the canceling stamp for money orders and the date on the money-order book and to balance the same for the day. That on May 8, 1933, this affiant at about the hour of 5:15 p. m., when the last train left that day from the village of Caledonia, changed the date on the canceling stamp for money orders from May 8 to May 9, 1933, and changed the date in the money-order book and balanced the book for the day of May 8, 1933, and that on said day, May 8, 1933, after the hour of 5:15 p. m. and before the closing of the window at 6 p. m. and after the date had been changed on the canceling stamp, this affiant paid two money orders at the said post office, one money order in the sum of $98 and one money order for the sum of $11, making a total amount of money orders, after the change of the date on the cancelation stamp and the closing of the money-order book for the day, in the sum of $109. That both of the money orders though canceled as of May 9, 1933, were in truth and in fact cashed by this affiant at the post office at Caledonia, Minn., on May 8, 1933.

Further affiant saith not except that after the closing hours of the post office on May 8, 1933, and the opening hours of said post office on May 9, 1933, the said post office was broken into and robbed and the money orders so canceled by this affiant were stolen and removed by the robbers.

BLANCHE C. POPE.

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 19th day of December 1935.

[SEAL]

My commission expires January 30, 1937.

BERNICE LEIDER, Notary Public.

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JUNE 12 (legislative day, MAY 28), 1940.-Ordered to be printed

Mr. ELLENDER, from the Committee on Claims, submitted the

following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 2083]

The Committee on Claims, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 2083) for the relief of Dan Yancey, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with the recommendation that the bill do pass without amendment.

The facts are fully set forth in House Report No. 1856, Seventysixth Congress, third session, which is appended hereto and made a part of this report.

[H. Rept. No. 1856, 76th Cong., 3d sess.]

The Committee on Claims, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 2083) for the relief of Dan Yancey, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with amendments and recommend that the bill, as amended, do pass.

The amendments are as follows:

Line 6, after the name "Yancey" insert "of Livingston, Montana,”.

Line 6, strike out the sign and figures "$2,000" and insert in lieu thereof "$1,000".

At the end of the bill add: ": Provided, That no part of the amount appropriated in this Act in excess of 10 per centum thereof shall be paid or delivered to or received by any agent or attorney on account of services rendered in connection with this claim, and the same shall be unlawful, any contract to the contrary notwithstanding. Any person violating the provisions of this Act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in any sum not exceeding $1,000."

The purpose of the proposed legislation is to pay the sum of $1,000 to Dan Yancey, of Livingston, Mont., in full settlement of all claims against the United States, arising out of the forfeiture of a lease to certain Federal lands in Yellowstone National Park, and also the destruction of certain buildings on said lands owned by the said Dan Yancey.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

The uncle of the claimant, John F. Yancey, was a settler at the place known as Yancey's at a point east of Mammoth Springs in what is now Yellowstone National Park. According to the claimant, John Yancey was living at this spot

before the establishment of the park and there were other homesteaders on this unsurveyed public domain at various points. Dan Yancey further states that when the national park was established the Government made outright purchases from some of the homesteaders. In the case of John Yancey, the Government granted him from time to time 10-year leases at the rate of $10 per annum. Under the terms of this lease the lessee agreed to keep and maintain the buildings then upon the land, as well as any that might be erected after that time, in order that the buildings might be habitable and in good sanitary condition as a hotel for the accommodation of tourists and visitors to the park.

At the death of John Yancey, Dan Yancey took possession under his lease, by virtue of his will, and thereby acquired title. When this lease expired, Dan Yancey (in his own name) obtained long-term leases on the same terms; that is $10 per year.

The records of the Department of the Interior disclose that on August 1, 1907, Mr. Yancey was cited to show cause within 90 days from that date why the lease granted him under date of May 4, 1904, by the Federal Government should not be declared defaulted for failure on his part to reconstruct certain hotel buildings situated on the site covered by the lease, which had been burned, and to provide suitable accommodations for visitors in the park going to Yancey's. The buildings in question, with the exception of a log barn and several smaller structures, were destroyed by fire on April 16, 1906.

Mr. Yancey replied to the Secretary of the Interior under date of August 27, 1907, and a copy of his letter is herewith appended:

HELENA, MONT., August 27, 1907.

To the honorable the SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR,

Washington, D. C.

DEAR SIR: I have your communication of August 1, 1907, wherein you request me to pay you the rent for my premises in the Yellowstone Park, and also requiring me to rebuild at my present location. I herewith remit post-office money order for the sum of $12.50 in payment of rent to May 1908. I desire to have an extension of time to commence the building of hotel accommodations from the date you mention, to wit, November 1, 1907, to March 1, 1908. I have many reasons for this request, some of which are as follows:

First. There is in contemplation by the Government a change in the location of the Mount Washburn Road, and I believe that I may be able to show that an extension of the same via Yancey's and down the Yellowstone will make a better road than is now located over Blacktail.

Second. The War Department has under consideration the purchase of my improvements.

Third. There has never been any tourists visit that portion of the park until about the 1st of July, and the accommodations I have at Yancey's at the present time are amply sufficient to accommodate a limited number of stage passengers between the railroad and Cook City; hence I will be able, beginning on the 1st of March, to have accommodations for all those who desire to visit that portion of the park during the tourist season of 1908.

Fourth, If you are conversant with the history of my place you must have ere this observed that my uncle settled in the Yellowstone Park at the location in question before the park was set aside as such, and that he, and I as his successor, have always been granted long-term leases in lieu of the purchase of our rights therein. In this connection I desire to call you attention to the fact that various old settlers in the park, among whom were Henderson, McCarthy, and Mr. Baronette, were paid for their holdings therein by the Government, Baronette received $5,000 for an old toll bridge that was about ready to fall in the river by reason of its age and dilapitated condition. I have four houses, three barns, some outhouses, and fencing, ditch to meadow, and other improvements, and if there is no change in the present road, and my place is left entirely off the line of travel, I will be glad to accept less than one-half the amount that the Government paid to Baronette for his holdings as above mentioned.

Fifth. I will be in Washington City this winter during the session of Congress, and I desire that your Department grant to me an oral hearing relative to my rights in the park, at which time and place I will be pleased to produce proof to substantiate the matters herein alleged, and give additional reasons why my lease should not be forefeited.

Anticipating your favorable action on the above-mentioned_extension of time within which to commence building of hotel accommodations I await your early reply to this communication.

It has occurred to me and my friends in Congress that we might secure a place in the next sundry civil bill for an appropriation settling the entire matter satisfactorily to the Government and myself, and, in this connection I hereby request that you assist us in arriving at a price that would be fair and equitable to all concerned.

Yours respectfully,

DAN YANCEY.

The extension of time requested in Mr. Yancey's letter was not granted and the lease was declared forfeited on November 5, 1907, and the term thereof ended by the then Secretary of the Interior, Hon. James R. Garfield.

The report of the Department of the Interior, which will be hereafter appended, points out that it is not felt by that Department that there should be any compensation granted by reason of the forfeiture of the lease. It is admitted by the Department, however, that Mr. Yancey's property was taken over and used by them, and that the property has a value of $1,000. The Secretary of the Interior, therefore, states that he would have no objection to the enactment of the proposed legislation in the amount of $1,000.

Your committee concur in the opinion of the Department of the Interior, and recommend that the bill, as amended, do pass.

Appended hereto is the report of the Department, together with other pertinent evidence.

STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF H. R. 2083 FOR THE RELIEF OF DAN YANCEY The COMMITTEE ON CLAIMS,

House of Representatives.

GENTLEMEN: On January 9, 1939, I introduced H. R. 2083 for the relief of Dan Yancey of Livingston, Mont. This bill was introduced in the Seventy-fifth Congress as H. R. 7223. As action was not taken thereon, it was reintroduced in the Seventy-sixth Congress.

In support of the bill I submit the following:

For many years the uncle of Dan Yancey, John Yancey, owned and operated a stopping place in Yellowstone National Park, known as "Yancey's." This was many years before the park was created and tourists desiring to visit the park stopped with Mr. Yancey. He had quite a number of buildings on the place and could accomodate a number of people. He did not own the land, but leased it from year to year, from the United States Government and made improvements on it from time to time, the better to take care of the fishermen, hunters, and other guests who made his place a stopping point on their trips through Yellowstone Park to points beyond its boundaries.

When John Yancey died his nephew, Dan Yancey, took possession under the lease, his uncle having willed his rights in the property to him. When the lease expired Dan Yancey renewed it for a long term, in his own name. Certain buildings were destroyed by fire in April 1906, and the next year the Department of the Interior took possession of the premises. Mr. Yancey was financially unable to rebuild the buildings at the time they were destroyed. Several of the buildings that remained have been in constant use by the Department of the Interior since they were taken over, the lease being declared forfeited on November 5, 1903.

Mr. Yancey feels that he is entitled to some compensation for the buildings which remained on the place and which have been used by the Department since the lease was canceled. For this reason I have introduced the bill to reimburse him in the sum of $2,000.

Hon. AMBROSE J. KENNEDY,

JAMES F. O'CONNOR.

WASHINGTON, July 25, 1939.

Chairman, Committee on Claims, House of Representatives. MY DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Further reference is made to your request for a report on H. R. 2083, entitled "A bill for the relief of Dan Yancey."

The records of this Department disclose that on August 1, 1907, Mr. Yancey was cited to show cause within 90 days from that date why the lease granted him under date of May 4, 1904, by the Federal Government should not be declared defaulted for failure on his part to reconstruct certain hotel buildings situated on the site covered by the lease, which had been burned, and to provide suitable

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