Hon. EMANUEL CELLER, Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, House of Representatives. DEAR MR. CELLER: This refers to your letter dated March 1, 1949, requesting a report on H. R. 734, a bill for the relief of Curtis R. Enos. As noted in our acknowledgment of March 18, your letter was referred to this Department since the lands involved are being administered by the Forest Service as a part of the Davy Crokett National Forest in Texas. The bill, if enacted, would confer jurisdiction upon the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas to determine the validity of the claim of Curtis R. Enos against the United States for title and possession of a tract of land situated in Houston County, Tex., containing approximately 89 acres. According to the records of this Department, the tract in question was acquired by the United States for national forest purposes in 1935 from the Houston County Timber Co. under the provisions of the act of March 1, 1911 (36 Stat. 961), as amended, commonly referred to as the Weeks law. The title record was at that time reviewed by the Attorney General who found that a valid title was vested in the United States, subject to a specified reservation of minerals as set out in the deed of conveyance. The land has since been administered as national forest. Mr. Enos' claim of title appears to be based upon certain unrecorded deeds and it does not appear that title by adverse possession was perfected prior to the acquisition of the tract by the United States. In view of the circumstances, it appears that Mr. Enos' claim lacks sufficient legal foundation to enable him to prove to the satisfaction of the court that he has a title superior to that of the United States. Court action on the matter as contemplated by the bill may therefore cause the Government considerable expense and result in little benefit to Mr. Enos. However, this Department has no objection to the enactment of the proposed legislation if your committee and the Congress consider it desirable to authorize adjudication of the claim by the courts. The Bureau of the Budget advises that, from the standpoint of the program of the President, there is no objection to the submission of this report. Sincerely, A. J. LOVELAND, Before me, the undersigned authority, on this day personally appeared Tom Daniels who upon his oath deposes and says: "My name is Tom Daniels, and I am 77 years old and live about 20 miles from Crockett in Houston County on Hickory Creek. I have lived there all my life and have never moved away from that place and I know and have known ever since I can remember all of the people living in that neighborhood. I am a farmer and have been a farmer all my life. I live about 6 miles from Ratcliff and well remember when the big sawmill was built in Ratcliff. During his lifetime I knew Mr. Silas Holcomb well and lived about half a mile from his home which was built on a hill where Mr. Curtis R. Enos now lives. That is about half a mile south of Hickory Creek. Mr. Silas Holcomb lived there with his family for many years, but I do not remember the year that he moved there When Mr. Silas Holcomb moved there his son, Mr. Arch Holcomb, was a little boy 8 or 10 years old. Mr. Silas Holcomb lived there a long time and then moved to Alto and lived there until he died. Mr. Silas Holcomb's farm consisted of several hundred acres, part in woods, part in pasture and part in cultivated land. It was on both sides of Hickory Creek, that is, on the north side and the south side. Some of the land that belonged to Mr. Holcomb on the north side of the creek ran up to the Oscar Simpson place and some of it ran up along the east side of the Oscar Simpson place and ran on up to the Wade Sheffield property which was directly north of this particular land. Ned Franklin had a bottom place right directly east of the north part of Mr. Silas Holcomb's place which was north of Hickory Creek A short time after Mr. Holcomb moved on this property he asked me, Oscar Simpson, Jess Wells, and Wade Sheffield and maybe some others to build a fence from Ned Franklin's west fence, that is a fence between the property belonging to Ned Franklin and Mr. Holcomb in a northeasterly direction or in an easterly direction nearly to Oscar Simpson's property. Then we built the fence on south to the Hickory Creek. This fence is still there on the ground where we built it and it is my recollection that what we did was simply to rebuild an old fence that was already there but I could be mistaken about there being an old fence there. Anyway Mr. Jess Wells told us that if we would help with the fence we could put our horses in the pasture that we were fencing. The reason that he told us that was that he rented this part of Mr. Silas Holcomb's place from Mr. Holcomb. He rented it from Mr. Holcomb for a number of years and cultivated it or had his livestock in there every year from the time that we built the fence until he left and moved away. The fence on the north side of this property is a short distance from the road that runs generally east and west that runs by the Sheffield place and by the Ned Franklin place and by the Oscar Simpson place and the Mr Ed Walling's place. This property on the north side of Hickory Creek was claimed by Mr. Silas Holcomb as being his property all the time from the time he moved on the place until he died. Mr. Holcomb rented the place out or used it all the time as a part of his farm and there was no fence between that part of his property and the part that was on the south side of Hickory Creek. I never heard of anybody else claiming this land and all the neighbors thought it belonged to Mr. Silas Holcomb and he was recognized as the owner At one time a good many years ago the 4-C Lumber Co. sent some men on this land and cut down some pine trees, but for some reason they never did haul any of them off and they stayed there until they rotted. That was while Mr. Holcomb lived down there and I do not know just what happened that kept them from moving the timber. Except for that one thing I never heard of the lumber company claiming this land or the timber and so far as I know their employees never did come on the land except that one time. But after the Government bought a lot of land from a lumber company or timber company they did come on this land and survey it and marked it with red paint. That was about 10 years ago. Mr. Silas Holcomb had this land under fence and claimed it and used if for at least 20 years in a row before the Government ever claimed it." TOM DANIELS. Subscribed and sworn to before me by Tom Daniels this 7th day of May A. D. 1947. RUBIE PETTY, Notary Public, Houston County, Tex. SEAL The STATE OF TEXAS, County of Houston: Before me, the undersigned authority, on this day personally appeared Tom Daniels known to me to be the person whose name is subscribed to the foregiong instrument and acknowledged to me that he executed the same for the purposes and consideration therein expressed. Given under my hand and seal of office this 7th day of May A. D. 1947. RUBIE PETTY, Notary Public, Houston County, Tex. SEAL The STATE OF TEXAS, County of Houston: Before me, the undersigned authority, on this day personally appeared J. M. Frizzell who upon his oath deposes and says: "My name is J. M. Frizzell and I am 72 years old and live about 20 miles from Crockett in Houston County on the place of Mr. H. L. Enos. I have lived in that neighborhood all my life and have never moved away except to pick cotton for short times I am a farmer and have always been a farmer. During the lifetime of Mr. Silas Holcomb I knew him well and lived on his place 17 years, this being the same place now owned by H. L. Enos and the place where Curtis R. Enos now lives. "In 1923 I lived on this place and Mr. Silas Holcomb hired me to repair and rebuild the fence fencing in the north part of the place, that is the part north of Hickory Creek. This property runs up to the Oscar Simpson piace on the east and to the Wade Sheffield property on the north. It runs up practically to the road that goes around to the place where old Camp Four used to be. This is the same property that I understand is now claimed by the Government, the Govern ment claiming to have bought it from the old 4C Lumber Co. I lived in that neighborhood when the 4C lumber mill that is the Louisiana & Texas Lumber Co. mill was put up about 1905 and the lumber company never did claim this land so far as I know, and they never had possession of it. There was an old wire fence there at that time and that is the fence that I rebuilt in 1923 for Mr. Holcomb. He gave me 100 bushels of corn and a mule for building this fence and doing some other work for him. The fence on the north side of this property is only a short distance from the road that runs by the Sheffield place, the Ned Franklin place, the Oscar Simpson place, and the Ed Walling place. I know that this property was used by Mr. Silas Holcomb and claimed by him for many years before I rebuilt the fence in 1923 and he continued then to use it all the time for farming and grazing purposes until he died. At the time the lumber company sold their land to the Government in the eastern part of this county the lumber company did not have this land in its possession. That was about 10 years ago and if the company was claiming the land I never heard of it and all the people in that community thought it belonged to Mr. Holcomb and he claimed it and used it as his property." J. M. (his X mark) FRIZZELL. Subscribed and sworn to before me by J. M. Frizzell this 20th day of May, A. D. 1947. RUBIE PETTY, Notary Public, Houston County, Tex The STATE OF TEXAS, County of Houston: Before me, the undersigned authority, on this day personally appeared J. M. Frizzell known to me to be the person whose name is subscribed to the foregoing instrument and acknowledged to me that he executed the same for the purposes and consideration therein expressed. Given under my hand and seal of office this 20th day of May A. D. 1947. Notary Public, Houston County, Tex. My name is Perry Vaughn, I live at Tadmor in Houston County, Tex., near Hickory Creek, about 400 yards from the old Silas Holcomb place This is the place where Curtis Enos now lives. I have lived in this neighborhood all my life and am 40 years old I have read the foregoing statement made by J. M. Frizzell, and all of it is true, as far back as I can remember, more than 30 years. The land he describes was always claimed and in the possession of Silas Holcomb, and I never heard of the lumber company claiming it. Mr. Holcomb told Mr. Frizzell he bought the land from Bill Patton. I helped Mr. Frizzell build the fence in 1923. Before that there was a fence at the same place as far back as I can remember. Witness my hand this May 20, 1947. PERRY VAUGHN. Subscribed and sworn to before me by Perry Vaughn May 20, 1947. Before me the undersigned authority on this day personally appeared Perry Vaughn, known to me to be the person whose name is subscribed to the foregoing instrument, and acknowledged to me that he executed the same for the purposes and consideration therein expressed. Given under my hand and seal of office this the 20th day of May 1947. (SEAL] EARLE P. ADAMS, Notary Public Houston County, Tex О HAZEL L. GILES JUNE 28, 1949.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed Mr. FRAZIER, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 1105] The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 1105) for the relief of Hazel L. Giles, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass. The purpose of the proposed legislation is that the limitation placed within which application may be made by enlisted members of the armed forces for settlement of and compensation for leave under section 5 of the Armed Forces Leave Act of 1946, as amended (U. S. C., 1946 ed., supp. I, title 37, sec. 34), be waived in favor of Hazel L. Giles, of Monroe, N. C. STATEMENT OF FACTS It appears that Hazel L. Giles was entitled to terminal-leave payment under Armed Forces Leave Act of August 9, 1946, and September 1, 1948, was the final date on which to file a claim for terminal-leave payment. Mr. GILES mailed his application, which was postmarked September 2, 1948, and received by the Government on September 3, 1948, and was rejected due to the application being received 3 days late. Mr. Giles states that he was a traveling salesman and was on the road most of the time and was not actually aware of the deadline date of September 1, 1948. Your committee are of the opinion that Mr. Giles is justly entitled to his terminal-leave pay and, in view of the fact that (under the law) the only recourse for him is private legislation, your committee recommend enactment of the bill. DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY, Washington, D. C., April 8, 1949. Hon. EMANUEL CELLER, Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives DEAR MR. CILLER: Reference is made to your recent request to the Secretary of Defense for the views of the National Military Establishment with respect to H. R. 1105, Eighty-first Congress, a bill for the relief of Hazel L. Giles. The Secretary of Defense has delegated to this Department the responsibility for expressing the views of the National Military Establishment thereon The Department of the Army, on behalf of the National Military Establishment, has considered H. R. 1105 and is opposed to the enactment of the proposed legislation in its present form as a private relief measure in that it would discriminate against other personnel who have had their claims denied under similar circumstances. The purpose of H. R. 1105 is to extend the time within which application may be made by Hazel L. Giles for settlement and compensation for leave under the provisions of section 5 of the Armed Forces Leave Act of 1946, as amended and to authorize and direct that his claim be considered and acted upon under the remaining provisions of said act. The time which was prescribed by the original terminal-leave act, during which former members of the armed forces were required to make application for compensation, was originally one year This time was later extended for an additional year. During this latter period, wide publicity was given to the fact that there was a time limit on the submission of claims for benefits under the law In spite of the ample time which was given proposective claimants, and the wide publicity given the matter, a considerable number of claims for benefits under the act have been presented to the Department which have had to be denied because of the lebal time limit had expired. To single out one case for relief, such as is proposed in H. R. 1105, would constitute discrimination in favor of one of this considerable number of persons who have also had their claims denied Information is not available upon which to base an estimate of the fiscal effects of H. R. 1105 if enacted into law. The Bureau of the Budget advises that there is no objection to the submission of this report. Sincerely yours, KENNETH C. ROYALL, Subject: Claim for terminal leave. DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY, NORFOLK FINANCE OFFICE, Fort Monroe, Va., September 16, 1948. To: Hazel L. Giles, Route No. 1, Monroe, N. C. * * * * 1. Claim for terminal-leave payment under the Armed Forces Leave Act of August 9, 1946, is returned herewith, payment declined. 2. Section 6 of act of Congress approved August 9, 1946, provided as follows: "Leave to which enlisted members of the Armed Forces * discharged prior to the date enactment of this Act are entitled under the provisions of Section 3 of this Act shall, to the extent not taken, be settled and compensated for only in the manner provided in Section 6 of this Act and if application is made * * * not later than September 1, 1947." * * * 3. The act of July 26, 1947, modified the above act to provide for settlement in cash where requested and extended the time for filing and acceptance of claims to read not later than September 1, 1948. 4. In view of the above mandatory provisions, your claim postmarked September 2, 1948, and received September 3, 1948, must be rejected, and this office has no alternative but to return same without action toward payment. |