Marine corps. sistence of oth cers. tract, he and his sureties shall be liable for the forfeiture specified in such contract, as liquidated damages, to be sued for in the name of the United States, in any court having jurisdiction thereof. Marine Corps.-For pay of officers, non-commissioned officers, Pay and sub- musicians, privates, and servants serving on shore, and subsistence of officers of the marine corps, for the said half calendar year, ninetynine thousand nine hundred and thirty-eight dollars; and for the said fiscal year, two hundred and one thousand four hundred and seventytwo dollars and fifteen cents. Provisions. Clothing. Fuel. Barracks. Transportation. Military stores, &c. Contingent expenses. STATUTE III. For provisions for non-commissioned officers, musicians, privates, servants, and washerwomen, serving on shore, for the said half calendar year, nineteen thousand one hundred and twenty-eight dollars and eight cents; and for the said fiscal year, thirty-eight thousand six hundred and seventy-eight dollars and eighty cents. For clothing for the said half calendar year, twenty thousand three hundred and forty-nine dollars; and for the said fiscal year, forty thousand six hundred and ninety-eight dollars. For fuel for the said half calendar year, eight thousand one hundred and thirty-seven dollars and six cents; and for the said fiscal year, sixteen thousand two hundred and seventy-four dollars and twelve cents. To keep barracks in repair, for rent of temporary barracks, for the said half calendar year, three thousand dollars; and for the said fiscal year, six thousand dollars. For transportation of officers, non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates, and expenses of recruiting, for the said half calendar year, four thousand dollars; and for the said fiscal year, eight thousand dollars. For military stores, pay of armorers, keeping arms in repair, accoutrements, ordnance stores, flags, drums, fifes, and other instruments for the band, for the said half calendar year, one thousand four hundred dollars; and for the said fiscal year, two thousand eight hundred dollars. For contingent expenses of said corps, viz: For freight, ferriage, toll, wharfage, and cartage; for per diem allowance for attending courts martial and courts of inquiry; compensation to judge advocates; house rent where there are no public quarters assigned; for per diem allowance to enlisted men on constant labor; expenses of burying deceased marines; printing, stationery, forage, postage on public letters, expenses in pursuit of deserters, candles, oil, straw, barrack furniture, bed sacks, spades, axes, shovels, picks, carpenters' tools, and for keeping a horse for the messenger, for the said half calendar year, eight thousand nine hundred and ninety dollars; and for the said fiscal year, seventeen thousand nine hundred and eighty dollars. APPROVED, March 3, 1843. March 3, 1843. CHAP. LXXXIV.—An Act to test the practicability of establishing a electro-magnetic telegraphs by the United States. system of Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Appropriation United States of America in Congress assembled, That the sum of thirty for constructing thousand dollars be, and is hereby, appropriated, out of any moneys in the electro-magnetic telegraph. Payment of Prof. Morse, and others. treasury not otherwise appropriated, for testing the capacity and usefulness of the system of electro-magnetic telegraphs invented by Samuel F. B. Morse, of New York, for the use of the Government of the United States, by constructing a line of said electro-magnetic telegraphs, under the superintendence of Professor Samuel F. B. Morse, of such length, and between such points, as shall fully test its practicability and utility, and that the same shall be expended, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, upon the application of said Morse. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, authorized to pay, out of the aforesaid thirty thousand dollars, to the said Samuel F. B. Morse, and the persons employed under him, such sums of money as he may deem to be a fair compensation for the services of the said Samuel F. B. Morse, and the persons employed under him, in constructing and in superintending the construction of the said line of telegraphs authorized by this act. APPROVED, March 3, 1843. STATUTE III. March 3, 1843. Appropria CHAP. LXXXV.-An Act for the protection of commerce on Lake Michigan. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the following sums of money be, and the same are hereby, appropriated, to be paid tions. out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the protection of commerce on Lake Michigan. For the half calendar year from the first of January to thirtieth June, eighteen hundred and forty-three; and for the fiscal year from the first day of July, eighteen hundred and forty-three, to the thirtieth June eighteen hundred and forty-four, viz: For the construction of a harbor at the most suitable situation at or near Milwaukie in the Territory of Wisconsin, to be made under the survey of an officer to be appointed by the Secretary of War, for the said half calendar year, fifteen thousand dollars; and for the said fiscal year, fifteen thousand dollars. It shall be the duty of the corps of topographical engineers to survey and select the most suitable site for a light-house at or near Southport on Lake Michigan, in said Territory. Milwaukie harbor. Light-house at Southport. For continuing the public works at the harbor of Chicago, in the State of Illinois, for the said half calendar year, ten thousand dollars; and for the said fiscal year, fifteen thousand dollars. Chicago har bor. harbor. For continuing the public works at the harbor of St. Joseph in the St. Joseph State of Michigan; for the said half calendar year, ten thousand dollars; and for the said fiscal year, fifteen thousand dollars. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That before the money hereby appropriated for the construction of a harbor at or near said Milwaukie, shall be expended, the corps of topographical engineers shall select from actual examination and survey the point of location of said harbors. APPROVED, March 3, 1843. Location of Milwaukie harbor. STATUTE III. CHAP. LXXXVI.—An Act to authorize the investigation of alleged frauds under March 3, 1843. the pre-emption laws, and for other purposes. (a) An agent to be appointed to inof alleged fraud in Columbus land district. vestigate cases Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Commissioner of the General Land Office be, and he hereby is, authorized to appoint a competent agent, whose duty it shall be, under direction of said Commissioner, to investigate, upon oath, the cases of fraud under the preemption laws, alleged to exist in the Columbus land district, in the State of Mississippi, referred to in the late annual report of said Commissioner, communicated to Congress by letter of the Secretary of the Treasury, dated December the fifteenth, one thousand eight hundred and forty-two; and that such agent shall examine all witnesses who may be brought before him by the individual or individuals alleging the fraud, tigation. as well as those witnesses who may be produced by the parties in interest, to sustain said claims; and that he be, and is hereby, invested with power to administer to such witnesses an oath to speak the truth in regard to any question which may be deemed necessary to the full Mode of inves (a) See notes of the acts which have been passed relating to pre-emption rights; act of May 29, 1830, ch. 208. Proviso. In case of death of party entitled to pre-emption before consummating claim. Settlers on certain lands, unsurveyed at time of settle ment, may en examination of the cases so alleged to be fraudulent; and such testimony shall be reduced to writing, and subscribed by each witness, and the same returned to the Commissioner, with the opinion of said agent on each claim; and any witness, so examined before the said agent, who shall swear wilfully and falsely in regard to any matter or thing touching such examination, shall be subject, on conviction, to all the pains and penalties of perjury; and it shall be the duty of the Commissioner, to decide the cases thus returned, and finally to settle the matter in controversy, subject alone to an appeal to the Secretary of the Treasury: Provided, That the power conferred by this section upon such agent is hereby limited to the term of one year from and after the date of this act; and the compensation to be paid to said agent shall not exceed three dollars per day for each day he may be necessarily engaged in the performance of the duties required by this section. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That in any case, where a party entitled to claim the benefits of any of the pre-emption laws shall have died before consummating his claim, by filing, in due time, all the papers essential to the establishment of the same, it shall be competent for the executor or administrator of the estate of such party, or one of the heirs, to file the necessary papers to complete the same: Provided, That the entry in such cases shall be made in favor of "the heirs" of the deceased pre-emptor, and a patent thereon shall cause the title to inure to said heirs, as if their names had been specially mentioned. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That every settler on section sixteen, reserved for the use of schools, or on other reserves or land covered by private claims of others, which was not surveyed at the time of such settlement, and who shall otherwise come within the provisions of ter other lands. the several pre-emption laws in force at the time of the settlement, upon proof thereof before the register of the proper land office, shall be entitled to enter, at the minimum price, any other quarter section, or frac tional section, or fractional quarter section, in the land district in which such school section or reserve or private claim may lie, so as not to exceed one hundred and sixty acres, not reserved from sale, or in the occupancy of any actual bona fide settler: Provided, Such settlement was made before the date of the act of fourth September, eighteen hundred and forty-one, and after the extinguishment of the Indian title. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That where an individual has filed, filing a declara under the late pre-emption law, his declaration of intention to claim the benefits of said law for one tract of land, it shall not be lawful for the same individual at any future time, to file a second declaration for another tract. Proviso. 1841, ch. 16. An individual tion for one tract, cannot file a second for another. Claimants under late preemption law, &c. to make known their claims. Claimants not to suffer for noncompliance with pre-emption laws caused by vacancy of office of register or receiver. Proviso. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That claimants under the late pre-emption law, for land not yet proclaimed for sale, are required to make known their claims, in writing, to the register of the proper land office, within three months from the date of this act when the settlement has been already made, and within three months from the time of the settlement when such settlement shall hereafter be made, giving the designation of the tract, and the time of settlement; otherwise his claim to be forfeited, and the tract awarded to the next settler, in the order of time, on the same tract of land, who shall have given such notice, and otherwise complied with the conditions of the law. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That whenever the vacancy of the office either of register or receiver, or of both, shall render it impossible for the claimant to comply with any requisition of any of the pre-emption laws within the appointed time, such vacancy shall not operate to the detriment of the party claiming, in respect to any matter essential to the establishment of his claim: Provided, That such requisition is complied with within the same period after the disability is removed as would have been allowed him had such disability not existed. ter section, and SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That where a settler on the pub-Settlers residlic lands may reside on a quarter section, a fractional quarter section, ing on one quaror a fraction of a section less than one hundred and sixty acres, and cultivated land on any other and different tract of either of the descriptions aforesaid, he or she shall be entitled, under the act of June twentytwo, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, to the same privileges of a choice between two legal subdivisions of each, so as to include his or her house and farm, not to exceed one hundred and sixty acres in all, as is granted, by the first section of that act, to settlers residing on a quarter section, and cultivating on another and different quarter. SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That where two or more persons are residing on any of the species of tracts specified in section seven of this act, as required by the acts of the twenty-second of June, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, and first of June, one thousand eight hundred and forty, and any one or more of said settlers may have cultivated land during the period of residence required by either of said acts, on another and different tract, or other and different tracts, the latter mentioned settlers shall be entitled to the option of entering the tract lived on, jointly with the other or others, or of abandoning the tract lived on to those who have not cultivated land as above required, and entering the tract or tracts cultivated, so as not to exceed one hundred and sixty acres to any one settler, who, by virtue of this section, is entitled to a separate entry; or such joint settlers may jointly enter the tract so jointly occupied by them, and in addition enter other contiguous unoccupied lands, by legal subdivisions, so as not to exceed one. hundred and sixty acres in all to each of such joint settlers: Provided, That the extended privileges granted to pre-emptors by this act, shall not be construed to deprive any other actual settler of his or her previous and paramount right of pre-emption, or to extend to lands reserved for any purpose whatever. In case of two or more persons residing on one quarter section, and one or more of them cultivating other tracts. Proviso. Persons com ing within sec. tomber, 1841ch. 16, entitled to pre-emption. tember, 1841, SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That all persons coming within the tenth section of the act of the fourth of September, eighteen hundred and forty-one, entitled "An act to appropriate the proceeds of the sales of the public lands, and to grant pre-emption rights," shall be entitled to the right of pre-emption under its provisions, notwithstanding such persons claiming the pre-emption shall have settled upon and improved the lands claimed before the same were surveyed: Provided, Such set- Proviso. tlements were made before the date of the aforesaid act, and after the extinguishment of the Indian title. And said act shall not be so construed as to preclude any person who may have filed a notice of intention to claim any tract of land by pre-emption under said act, from the right allowed by law to others to purchase the same by private entry after the expiration of the right of pre-emption. APPROVED, March 3, 1843. CHAP. LXXXVII. -An Act to provide, in certain cases, for the sale of the real estate of infants within the District of Columbia. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That when the guardian of any infant shall think that the interest of his or her ward will be promoted by the sale of his or her real estate, or any part thereof, it shall be lawful for such guardian to exhibit his bill for that purpose, in the circuit court of the District of Columbia, for that county in which the real estate proposed to be sold, or part thereof, shall lie. In the bill so exhibited, the guardian shall set forth, plainly and distinctly, all the estate, real and personal, to which such infant is entitled, and all the facts which, in his opinion, are calculated to show whether the interest of his ward will be promoted by such sale or not. The bill shall be fied. Parties defendant thereto. Guardian ad Bill, how veri- verified by the oath of the guardian; and the infant, together with those who would be heirs to the estate if he or she were dead, shall be made parties defendant thereto. It shall be the duty of the court to appoint some fit and disinterested person to be guardian ad litem, for the infant, who shall answer such bill on oath; the infant, also, if above the age of fourteen years, shall answer the bill in proper person, on oath. litem to be appointed. Bill, how answered. Commissions sitions to be awarded, &c. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That whether the answer to the for taking depo- plaintiff's bill admit the facts alleged or not, commissions for taking depositions shall be awarded; and before the court shall have authority, under this act, to decree any sale, every fact material to ascertain the propriety of the sale shall be proved by clear and credible evidence, given by disinterested witnesses; depositions to be taken in the presence of the guardian ad litem, or upon interrogatories agreed upon by him. What required to render a de cree of sale law ful. Proceeds of sale to be applied to the benefit of the in fant. Disposition of of the infant SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That if, upon hearing of the cause, it shall be proved, to the satisfaction of the court, by evidence taken as aforesaid, that the interest of the infant manifestly requires the sale of his real estate, or any part thereof, and the court shall be of opinion that, by such sale, the rights of others will not be violated, it shall be lawful to decree such sale, in such manner and upon such terms of credit as the court think right, always retaining a lien upon such estate for the payment of the purchase money. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the proceeds of such sale shall be vested and applied for the benefit of the infant, either in the purchase of other real estate, or in such other manner as the court shall think best; but, in whatever hands the proceeds of the sale may be placed, the court shall require ample security that they shall be faithfully applied in such manner as the court may direct. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That if the infant, after such sale, proceeds in case shall die intestate, under the age of twenty-one years, the proceeds afore said, or so much thereof as may remain at his death, shall be considered as real estate, and shall pass accordingly to such person or persons as would have been entitled to the estate sold, if it had not been sold. dying. Costs of suit, how paid. allowed to pur chase. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That if a sale be decreed, the costs of the suit shall be paid out of the estate of the infant, otherwise Guardians not the costs shall be paid by the plaintiff: Provided, That in no case where a sale shall be decreed shall the guardian of the said infant or infants, or the guardian ad litem, be admitted a purchaser, either by himself or by another, or in any manner whatever become the owner of the said land, during the infancy of the heir or devisee: And provided, also, That no sale of any infant's real estate shall be decreed, by virtue of this act, if the testator from whom such estate is derived, shall, by his last will and testament, have expressly directed otherwise. No sale to be decreed if prohibited by the testator. Act to take effect from its passage. STATUTE III. March 3, 1843. Boundary line to be surveyed SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That this act shall be in force from and after the passage thereof. APPROVED, March 3, 1843. CHAP. LXXXVIII.—An Act directing the survey of the northern line of the re servation for the half-breeds of the Sochs [Sacs] and Fox tribes of Indians by the treaty of August one thousand eight hundred and twenty-four. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Chief Engi and suitably de- line of the reservation for the use of the half-breeds of the Soch [Sacs] neer cause to be surveyed and suitably demarked the northern boundary and Fox tribes of Indians, by the treaty of the fourth of August sand eight hundred and twenty-four, beginning at the point, which at the Idate of said treaty was known and recognised as the northwest corner of the State of Missouri, and running thence due east to the river Mis marked. one thou |