of national cemeteries. R. S., 4876, p. 951. Par. 2458-2460. Interments. 2461, 2462. Jurisdiction, criminal of fenses. 2463, 2464. The United States cemetery near the City of Mexico. 2465. Encroachments by railroads. Maintenance 2448. The Secretary of War shall provide for the care and maintenance of the national military cemeteries, and for this purpose shall submit an estimate with his annual estimates to Congress, and section four thousand eight hundred and seventy-six of the Revised Statutes is hereby repealed. Act of July 24, 1876 (19 Stat. L., 99). July 14, 1876, v. 19, p. 99. Acquisition of lands. 61, s. 4, v. 14, p. 400; July 24, 1876, c. 226, v. 19, p. 99; 83, v. 19, p. 269. 2449. The Secretary of War shall purchase from the Feb. 22, 1867, c. owners thereof, at such price as may be mutually agreed upon between the Secretary and such owners, such real Mar. 2, 1877, c. estate as in his judgment is suitable and necessary for the Sec. 4870, R. S. purpose of carrying into effect the provisions for national cemeteries, and obtain from such owners the title in fee simple for the same. And in case the Secretary of War is not able to agree with any owner upon the price to be paid for any real estate needed for such purpose, or to obtain from such owner title in fee simple for the same, the Secretary is hereby authorized to enter upon and appropriate any real estate which, in his judgment, is suitable and necessary for such purposes. Appraisement. 400. 2450. The Secretary of War, or the owners of any real 61, s. 5, v. 14, p. estate thus entered upon and appropriated, are authorized Sec. 4871, B. S. to make application for an appraisement of real estate thus entered upon and appropriated to any circuit or district court within any State or district where such real estate is situated; and such courts shall, upon such application, and in such mode and under such rules and regulations as it may adopt, make a just and equitable appraisement of the cash value of the several interests of each and every owner of such real estate and improvements thereon. Payment. Sec. 6, ibid. 83, v. 19, p. 269. Sec. 4872, R.S. 2451. When appraisement of the real estate thus entered upon and appropriated has been made under the orderMar. 2, 1877, c. and direction of the court, the fee simple thereof shall, upon payment to the owner of the appraised value, or in case such owner refuses or neglects for thirty days after the appraisement of the cash value of the real estate or improvements as aforesaid to demand the same from the Secretary of War upon depositing the appraised value in the court making such appraisement to the credit of such owner, be vested in the United States, and its jurisdiction over such real estate shall be exclusive and the same as its jurisdiction over real estate purchased, ceded, or appropriated for the purposes of navy-yards, forts, and arsenals. The Secretary of War is authorized and required to pay to the several owner or owners, respectively, the appraised value of the several pieces or parcels of real estate, as specified in the appraisement of any of such courts, or to pay into any of such courts by deposit, as herein before provided, the appraised value; and the sum necessary for such purpose may be taken from any moneys appropriated for the purposes of national cemeteries.' 1 To authorize payment for land appropriated for the purpose of a national cemetery under the act of February 22, 1867 (14 Stat. L., 400; sec. 4870, Rev. Stat.), the consent of the legislature of the State in which the land lies is not necessary; nor in such case is the opinion of the Attorney-General as to the validity of the title required; though as a prudential measure for the security of the Government it would seem to be highly expedient to obtain his opinion. XIII Opin. Att. Gen., 131; XIV; ibid., 271; ibid., 559. The appraisement of land for a national cemetery, as duly made by a United States court under sections 4871 and 4872, Revised Statutes, is conclusive upon the Secretary of War, who must thereupon pay the appraised value as indicated in the latter section. If indeed there has been fraud in the valuation by which the court has been deceived in its decree, or its original appraisement is deemed excessive, it may properly be moved for a new appraisement on the part of the United States. Dig. Opin. J. A. G., 1763. See XIII Opin. Att. Gen., 27. To authorize the acquisition by the exercise of the right of eminent domain, of private land for a national cemetery under sections 4870 and 4871, Revised Statutes, there must be (1) an existing appropriation (in conformity with the rule of section 3736, Revised Statutes) authorizing the acquisition; and (2) the private owner must be unwilling to give title, or the Secretary of War be unable to agree with him as to price. Ibid., par. 1769. Held that, notwithstanding the provision in section 4872, Revised Statutes, that the jurisdiction of the United States over land taken for a national cemetery by the right of eminent domain "shall be exclusive," such a jurisdiction, where the land is within a State, can not legally be vested in the United States except by the cession of the State legislature. In the absence of such cession on the part of the State sovereignty an act of Congress must be powerless to confer such an authority. (a) Ibid. An appropriation for the inclosure and improvement of a cemetery must be regarded as a ratification of the taking and of the intent to occupy permanently. Johnson v. U. S., 31 Ct. Cls., 262. a See the subsequent opinion of the Attorney-General in XIII Opins., 131. Superintend ents of cemeter ies. Feb. 22, 1867, c. 400; July 24, 1876, SUPERINTENDENTS. 2452. The Secretary of War shall cause to be erected at the principal entrance of each national cemetery a suitable 61, s. 2. v. 14, p. building to be occupied as a porter's lodge; and shall appoint a meritorious and trustworthy superintendent to reside therein, for the purpose of guarding and protecting the cemetery and giving information to parties visiting the c. 226, v. 19, p. 99. Sec. 1873, Who may be selected as superintendents. May 18, 1872, c. 135. same. 2453. The superintendents of the national cemeteries shall be selected from meritorious and trustworthy soldiers, 173, s. 1, v. 17, p. either commissioned officers or enlisted men of the VolunSec. 4874, R.S. teer or Regular Army, who have been honorably mustered out or discharged from the service of the United States, and who may have been disabled for active field service in the line of duty. Salary of superintendents. 2454. The superintendents of the national cemeteries Sec. 4875, R.S. shall receive for their compensation from sixty dollars to seventy-five dollars a month each, according to the extent and importance of the cemeteries to which they may be respectively assigned, to be determined by the Secretary of War; and they shall also be furnished with quarters and fuel at the several cemeteries.1 Inclosures. headstones, and registers. Sec. 1, ibid. 368, v. 17, p. 345; 229, v. 17, p. 545. INCLOSURES, HEADSTONES, AND REGISTERS. 2455. In the arrangement of the national cemeteries established for the burial of deceased soldiers and sailors, June 8, 1872, c; the Secretary of War is hereby directed to have the same Mar. 3, 1873, inclosed with a good and substantial stone or iron fence; Sec. 4877,B.S. and to cause each grave to be marked with a small headstone or block, which shall be of durable stone, and of such design and weight as shall keep it in place when set, and shall bear the name of the soldier and the name of his State inscribed thereon, when the same are known, and also with the number of the grave inscribed thereon, corresponding with the number opposite to the name of the party in a 'The superintendent of a national cemetery over which the State has ceded jurisdiction to the United States, and within the limits of which he resides, is exempt from the duty devolved by the State upon all male persons between certain ages to work upon the public roads. Otherwise if the State has not ceded jurisdiction, or if the superintendent resides elsewhere within its jurisdiction. XVI Opin. Att. Gen., 468. Superintendents of national cemeteries are no part of the Army, but civilians, being required indeed by section 4874, Revised Statutes, to be selected from persons who have been honorably discharged from the military service. They are therefore, of course, not subject to the Articles of War or to trial by court-martial, and for any serious misconduct on the part of a superintendent a removal from office would be the only adequate remedy. Dig. Opin. J. A. G., 1767. register of burials to be kept at each cemetery and at the office of the Quartermaster-General, which shall set forth the name, rank, company, regiment, and date of death of the officer or soldier; or if these are unknown, it shall be so recorded. 2456. That the Secretary of War is hereby authorized to erect headstones over the graves of soldiers who served in the Regular or Volunteer Army of the United States during the war for the Union, and who have been buried in private village or city cemeteries, in the same manner as provided by the law of March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-three, for those interred in national military cemeteries; and for this purpose, and for the expenses incident to such work, so much of the appropriation of one million dollars, made in the act above mentioned, as has not been expended, and as may be necessary, is hereby made available. Act of February 3, 1879 (20 Stat. L., 281). 2457. The Secretary of War shall cause to be preserved Records. in the records of his Department the names and places of burial of all soldiers for whom such headstones shall have been erected by authority of this or former acts.1 Ibid. INTERMENTS. Who may be buried in na ceme c. 257, v. 17, p. 202; Mar. 3, 1873, c. 276, v. 17, p. 605. 2458. All soldiers, sailors, or marines, dying in the service of the United States, or dying in a destitute condition, after having been honorably discharged from the service, July 17, 1862, c. or who served during the late war, either in the regular or 596; June 1, 1872, volunteer forces, may be buried in any national cemetery free of cost. The production of the honorable discharge of a deceased man shall be sufficient authority for the superintendent of any cemetery to permit the interment. 2459. Army nurses, honorably discharged from their 3, 1897, V. service as such, may be buried in any national cemetery, and, if in a destitute condition, free of cost. The Secretary of War is authorized to issue certificates to those army nurses entitled to such burial. Act of March 3, 1897 (29 Stat. L., 625). 2460. For expenses of burying in the Arlington National Cemetery or in the cemeteries of the District of Columbia, indigent ex-Union soldiers, sailors, and marines of the late Army nurses. 29, p. 625. Burial of indi gent soldiers. 30, p. 1108. Mar. 3, 1899, v. 1 Provision for carrying this statute into effect has been made in the acts of appropriation of August 4, 1886 (24 Stat. L., 249), March 3, 1887 (24 Stat. L., 534), October 2, 1888 (25 Stat. L., 539), March 2, 1889 (25 Stat. L., 969), August 30, 1890 (26 Stat. L., 400), March 3, 1891 (26 Stat. L., 973), August 5, 1892 (27 Stat. L., 377), March 3, 1893 (27 Stat. L., 599), August 18, 1894 (28 Stat. L., 405), March 2, 1895 (28 Stat. L., 949), June 11, 1896 (29 Stat. L., 443), and subsequent acts of appropriation. Limitation. United States cemeteries. 20, s. 1, v. 16, p. 188. civil war who die in the District of Columbia, to be disbursed by the Secretary of War, at a cost not exceeding forty dollars for such burial expenses in each case, exclusive of cost of grave, three thousand dollars.' Act of March 3, 1899 (30 Stat. L., 1108). JURISDICTION, CRIMINAL OFFENSES. Jurisdiction of 2461. From the time any State legislature shall have over national given, or shall hereafter give, the consent of such State to July 1, 1870, c. the purchase by the United States of any national cemeSec. 4882, R.S. tery, the jurisdiction and power of legislation of the United States over such cemetery shall in all courts and places be held to be the same as is granted by section eight, article one, of the Constitution of the United States; and all provisions relating to national cemeteries shall be applicable to the same. Penalty for defacing national Feb. 22, 1867, c. 400. 2462. Every person who willfully destroys, mutilates, cemeteries. defaces, injures, or removes any monuments, gravestone, 61, s. 3, v. 14, p. or other structure, or who willfully destroys, cuts. breaks, Sec. 4881, R.S. injures, or removes any tree, shrub, or plant within the limits of any national cemetery, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not less than twentyfive dollars, and not more than one hundred, or by imprisonment for not less than fifteen days and not more than sixty. The superintendent in charge of any national cemetery is authorized to arrest forthwith any person engaged in committing any misdemeanor herein prohibited, and to bring such person before any United States commissioner or judge of any district or circuit court of the United States within any State or district where any of the cemeteries are situated, for the purpose of holding such person to answer for such misdemeanor, and then and there shall make complaint in due form.* UNITED STATES CEMETERY NEAR THE CITY OF MEXICO. Cemetery near the City of Mexico. Mar. 3, 1873, c. 2463. The President is authorized to provide, out of th ordinary annual appropriations, for establishing and main267, v. 17, p. 602. taining United States military cemeteries, for the prope“ care and preservation and maintenance of the cemetery or Sec. 4879, R.S. 1 A similar provision occurs in the annual acts of appropriation since that of March 2, 1889 (25 Stat. L., 409). 2 By section 4881, Revised Statutes, the superintendent of a national cemetery is authorized to arrest persons who injure, etc., gravestones, trees, shrubs, etc., within the cemetery. Held that he could not, under this authority, legally arrest a person who fired a gun into or across the cemetery without causing any such injury as is specified in the statute, but, for the arrest and punishme t of such a tresspasser, must have recourse to the local authorities. Dig. Opin. J. A. G., par. 1766. |