in the shoulder joint without pain, and possibly 3 months will lapse before she is no longer conscious of the injury. Respectfully, (Signed) THOS. PURSER, JR. JULY 13, 1938. Re Mrs. George C. Hamilton. McComb, Miss. DEAR MR. HAMILTON: Your wife, Mrs. George C. Hamilton, who was injured in an automobile accident on Highway No. 51 near Magnolia, Miss., on May 28, received a severe contusion with a laceration 1 inch long, extending through subcutaneous fat over the right knee. X-ray at the McComb City Hospital, shortly after the accident, revealed no evidence of bone or joint injury. She developed a severe ecchymosis of the entire region about the knee joint which necessitated only slight weight bearing for a period of 1 week. This injury was treated with closure of the laceration with skin clips after careful cleansing of the wound, hot wet compresses, baking with infra-red light, and massage. Mrs. Hamilton has almost recovered although there is still slight swelling about the knee joint. Respectfully, STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, County of Pike, ss: This day personally appeared before me, the undersigned authority in and for said county and State, who within-named Dr. Thomas Purser, Jr., who states on oath that the above is a true and correct declaration of facts regarding injury to Mrs. George C. Hamilton. Witness my hand and seal of office, this the 13th day of July A. D. 1938. [SEAL] ELVA GARDNER, Notary Public. Early in the forenoon of Saturday, May 28, 1938, one Emmit Deer came into my office in the courthouse here in Magnolia, Miss., and told me that a Government truck which he was driving had been in a collision with a car driven by a lady, the collision having taken place on Highway No. 51, at the north edge of Magnolia. Deer asked me to phone a Mr. Long at Percy Quinn National Park and tell him of the collision and that the truck was at Caraway's One Stop Filling Station in Magnolia, and that I request Mr. Long to send for the truck. Mr. Long replied that he would in a short while. In conversation with Deer, after I had phoned Mr. Long for him, he, Deer, stated that the collision was entirely his fault and that he did not know why he had turned out in front of the lady. J. W. BRABHAM, Sheriff of Pike County. The My home is on the east side of United States Highway No. 51, about 50 feet north of where Highway No. 48 runs into No. 51 from the west. About quarter past 7 o'clock on the morning of May 28, 1938, I was standing in my front yard facing the highway. I saw a Government truck coming north up Highway No. 51 and just when it got to where Highway No. 48 runs into No. 51 it turned left, cutting across Highway No. 51 to go into Highway No. 48. It turned right in front of a car going south down Highway No. 51 and the car hit the truck. truck did not stop before it turned and the driver did not blow his horn or put out his hand, and there was no way for the car to avoid hitting the truck. Neither the car nor the truck was running fast. The truck was traveling north on the east side of Highway No. 51 and the car was traveling south on the west side. When the truck reached the intersection of the two highways it turned out in front of the car and they hit. I believe the car was too close to stop and keep from running into the truck. I don't believe the lady driving the car knew the truck was going to turn out. HENRY WASHINGTON. In my capacity of salesman for the McComb Lumber & Coal Co., McComb, Miss., owners of the Ford Tudor sedan bearing State license tag No. 439-718, Motor No. M 3038627, being the car driven by Mrs. George C. Hamilton, wife of George C. Hamilton, secretary and manager of the McComb Lumber & Coal Co., when it collided with a truck from the Civilian Conservation Corps camp at Percy Quinn National Park on the morning of May 28, 1938, I am required to drive this car daily, and its maintenance is my responsibility. The car, a 1936 model, was in excellent running condition at the time of the collision. On or about May 3, 1938, at my request, the brakes and steering gear were inspected and adjusted by Mr. C. T. Fitzgerald, head mechanic of the Parker Auto Parts Co., here. EDDIE THORBURN. I was sitting out in front of E. Carmel, Jr.'s store on the east side of United States Highway No. 51, opposite the point where Highway No. 48 runs into No. 51 on the west side, in Magnolia, Miss., about 7 a. m., Saturday, May 28, 1938, waiting for the store to open, and while I was sitting there I noticed an automobile coming south at about 30 miles per hour, driving on the west side of Highway No. 51-which was the proper side for a car going south to travel-and a truck coming north driving on the east side of the Highway No. 51. There was nothing unusual to attract my attention to these cars until just before they reached the intersection, when the truck made a short turn to the left across Highway No. 51 and headed toward Highway No. 48, right in front of the car coming south down Highway No. 51, without giving any notice or warning that I could see or hear, and I was right close to them and looking right at them, and when the truck made this turn it looked to me like the automobile was too close to him to get stopped in time to keep from hitting the truck and they run together. I have since been told that the lady driving the automobile was Mrs. George C. Hamilton and that the truck was being driven by Emmett Deer, who was driving the truck for the Civilian Conservation Corps camp at Percy Quinn National Park. The weather was clear and dry, and the highway paved, and there were no other cars passing at this time, and there was no one else around that I could see who might have seen the collision, and I know there was no one closer to it than I was. ARCHIE WILLIAMS. MARCH 28 (legislative day, MARCH 4), 1940.-Ordered to be printed Mr. TOWNSEND, from the Committee on Claims, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 5812] The Committee on Claims, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 5812) for the relief of Marguerite P. Carmack, 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. 1554, Seventysixth Congress, third session, which is appended hereto and made a part of this report. [H. Rept. No. 1554, 76th Cong., 3d sess.] The Committee on Claims, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 5812) for the relief of Marguerite P. Carmack, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with amendments and recommend that the bill as amended do pass. The amendments are as follows: In line 4, after the word "pay", insert "out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated”. In line 5 strike out the language "the same being" and insert in lieu thereof "in full settlement of all claims against the United States". 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 authorize the payment of the sum of $364.23 to Marguerite P. Carmack, of Forest Hill, Calif., in full settlement of all claims against the United States for repayment of purchase money paid in connection with mineral-entry patent to Pacific Blue Lead, Outbreak, and Snow Shoe mining district, Placer County, Calif. STATEMENT OF FACTS The record discloses that on May 5, 1927, the claimant was allowed to make mineral entry 016676, Sacramento series, covering the Outbreak, Pacific Blue Lead, and Snow Shoe placer-mining claims, containing 290 acres in sec. 5, T. 15 N., R. 13 E., Mount Diablo meridian, within a national forest. The purchase price was $725, which was applied and covered into the Treasury. It developed that on August 5, 1927, the acting regional forester filed a protest against the entry, so far as it embraced the Snow Shoe and Outbreak claims. It was developed that the Government had erred in this transaction with the claimant and the details will be found in the report of the Department of the Interior, as well as the statement of the claimant, both of which are hereafter appended. As a result, it was learned that the claimant should be reimbursed in the amount of $400 and an application for the repayment of this amount was duly filed and approved by the Interior Department on May 2, 1930. However, on May 22, 1930, the Comptroller General denied the claim, holding that there must be a rejection by the Government in lieu of a relinquishment by the entryman and that the withdrawal of the application was a relinquishment within the meaning of the act of December 11, 1919 (41 Stat. 366). The record further shows, however, that the Comptroller General reconsidered this decision and the claim was allowed on October 22, 1930, to the extent of $35.77, leaving $364.23 still due and unpaid. The Department of the Interior recommends reimbursement of this amount concluding its report to the committee as follows: "It is clear that, in relinquishing the entry, the claimant acted in good faith upon the advice of the registrar of the district land office. It is also clear that in the absence of such relinquishment the application would have been rejected by the Department in due course, whereupon the Comptroller General would have probably allowed the claim. "The record fails to show any evidence of fraud, and in my opinion the claimant is entitled to a repayment of the amount claimed." Your committee consider that the claim is meritorious and recommend passage of the bill. Appended hereto is the report of the Department of the Interior, together with claimant's affidavit. Hon. AMBROSE J. KENNEDY, Chairman, Committee on Claims, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, House of Representatives. MY DEAR MR. KENNEDY: Further reference is made to your letter of May 2, requesting a report on H. R. 5812, a bill for the relief of Marguerite P. Carmack. I have no objection to the enactment of the proposed legislation. The material facts in the case, as shown by the records of the General Land Office, are as follows: On May 5, 1927, Marguerite P. Carmack, of Forest Hill, Calif., was allowed to make mineral entry 016676, Sacramento series, covering the Outbreak, Pacific Blue Lead, and Snow Shoe placer-mining claims, containing 290 acres in sec. 5, T. 15 N., R. 13 E., Mount Diablo meridian, within a national forest. The purchase price was $725, which was applied and covered into the Treasury. On August 5, 1927, the acting regional forester filed a protest against the entry, so far as it embraced the Snow Shoe and Outbreak claims, upon the following charges: 1. That the Snow Sho and Outbreak claims are nonplacer mineral in character, and 2. That $500 worth of work has not been done on or for the benefit of the Snow Shoe and Outbreak claims. On November 19, 1927, an answer was filed, denying the charges and demanding a hearing. After the deposition of one witness had been taken, the defendant appeared at the district land office on the day before the date set for the hearing, without counsel or witnesses, and sought the advice of the register. After questioning her, he advised her that she could, at that time, offer no adequate defense against the second charge, and that she could withdraw her application as to the contested claims without prejudice to her right to proceed de novo to secure patent whenever she could show to the satisfaction of the Government the mineral character of the land and that adequate work had been performed. Acting upon the advice of the register, the claimant relinquished her entry as to the Snow Shoe and Outbreak claims and, pursuant thereto, the Commissioner of the General Land Office canceled the entry to that extent on June 29, 1929. On September 16, 1929, the entry was approved for patent as to the Pacific Blue Lead claim, containing 129.99 acres, the purchase price of which was $325. In the meantime, on October 14, 1927, the Commissioner of the General Land Office had canceled the entry to the extent of its conflict with the patented Secret Cañon quartz-mine claim, described as lot 37, containing 14.31 acres. An application for the repayment of $400 was duly filed, and approved by the Department on May 2, 1930, but on May 22, 1930, the Comptroller General denied the claim, holding that there must be a rejection by the Government in lieu of a relinquishment by the entryman, and that the withdrawal of the application was a relinquishment within the meaning of the act of December 11, 1919 (41 Stat. 366). Upon a reconsideration by the Comptroller General, the claim was allowed on October 22, 1930, to the extent of $35.77, the purchase price of the 14.31 acres above mentioned, leaving $364.23, the amount claimed. On October 3, 1934, the claimant applied for the reinstatement of the entry as to the canceled claims, to which the Forest Service objected on the ground that, since the claims were apparently invalid for lack of mineral values, the reinstatement of the entry would accomplish no good purpose and would not be in the public interest. On October 26, 1934, the application for reinstatement was denied by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, from which decision an appeal was taken. By decision of the Department dated April 24, 1935, the Commissioner's decision was affirmed and, on June 24, 1935, the Commissioner finally closed the case. As hereinbefore stated, the Department had approved the claim for the repayment in its entirety. The Comptroller General disallowed the claim as to the amount in question because the application had not been rejected by this Department, but instead it had been relinquished by the claimant. It is clear that, in relinquishing the entry, the claimant acted in good faith upon the advice of the registrar of the district land office. It is also clear that, in the absence of such relinquishment the application would have been rejected by the Department in due course, whereupon the Comptroller General would have probably allowed the claim. The record fails to show any evidence of fraud and, in my opinion, the claimant is entitled to a repayment of the amount claimed. Sincerely yours, HARRY SLATTERY, Acting Secretary of the Interior. AFFIDAVIT OF MARGUERITE P. CARMACK Marguerite P. Carmack, after being duly sworn, deposes and says: That I am the Marguerite P. Carmack who filed mineral application in the district land office at Sacramento, Calif., on September 21, 1925, for the Pacific Blue Lead, the Outbreak, and Snow Shoe placer-mining claims in sections 4 and 5 of T. 15 N., R. 13 E., Mount Diablo meridian, serial 016676, embracing approximately 290 acres. The application was duly allowed by the Department, and publication of the notice to purchase the land embraced in the mining claims was made and the final papers and payment due the land office for the above claims was made on May 5, 1927, the amount called for being $725 and receipt 2905386 issued for this sum. After the papers were sent to the General Land Office at Washington there was found to be a conflict with patented Secret Canon quartz claim, being lot 27, and the Commissioner of the General Land Office held the entry for rejection as to that conflict by his letter N of August 4, 1927; and, by letter N of October 14, 1927, the entry was canceled as to the extent of that conflict and later $35.77 was returned to me. On October 6, 1927, the United States Forest Service filed a protest against the allowance of the Outbreak and the Snow Shoe claims, alleging they were not mineral in character and that $500 worth of work had not been done on them. Notices issued under contest No.1766, and a hearing was set for May 29, 1929, but no hearing was held. On May 28, 1929, I appeared before the registrar, district land office, at Sacramento, Calif., and there was a conference held with |