Volume 30
Private Law 55–185
For the relief of Benjamin F. Jones.
Approved February 21, 1899
Statutory text
An Act
For the relief of Benjamin F. Jones.
Benjamin F. Jones.
Preamble.
Whereas, to wit, on the twenty second day of April, eighteen hundred and eighty-three, when Benjamin F. Jones was postmaster at the town of Beauregard, Mississippi, the said town was destroyed by a cyclone and every building in the town was swept away, including post-office building. In consequence of this disaster there was a loss of money belonging to the Government deposited in said post-office building, which said Jones was compelled to make good to the Government. The Illinois Central Railway, carrying mails to said town of Beauregard, ceased to deposit them at Beauregard depot and carried them to the town of Wesson, one mile from Beauregard, compelling said B. F. Jones, at his own expense, to transport the mails from Wesson to Beauregard, the cost being ninety-seven dollars, which the Post-Office Department refused to allow because of want of lawful authority. The Government sued said Jones on his official bond as postmaster, in the circuit court of the United States for southern district of Mississippi, and said court refused to allow the said item of ninety-seven dollars as an offset; but both the presiding judge, Honorable R. A. Hill, and the attorney for the Government fully recognized the equity of the claim in open court and signed a recommendation to allow said item of set-off: Therefore,
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
Reimbursement of amount paid as postmaster, Beauregard, Miss.
States of America in Congress assembled,
That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to pay to the said Benjamin F. Jones, late postmaster at Beauregard, Mississippi, or his legal representatives, out of any money in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, the sum of ninety-seven dollars, in consideration of the aforesaid loss and services.
Approved, .