Harbers v. Tribby

Citations

• 62 Ill. 56

Syllabus

<p>1. Contract—procuring enlistment—construction. Where a party was employed to procure enlistments in the military service of the United States for the benefit of a town, so as to exempt it from draft in the late civil war, and the party so enlisting was to receive $400 for each man so enlisted, and credited to the town before the day of the draft: Held, that the plaintiff, to recover under such contract, must not only show that he procured an enlistment, but, also, that the same was credited to the town before the day set for the draft, by competent proof.</p> <p>2. Evidence—certificates of army officers. In an action to recover a stipulated compensation for an enlistment for the benefit of a certain town, the plaintiff read in evidence, against defendant’s objection, the certificate, not attested by any seal of office, of an enlisting officer of the United States, and a certificate of the acting assistant provost-marshal for the State of Illinois, without official seal, to show the fact of enlistment to the credit of the town: Held, that there was no law making such certificates evidence in the courts of this State in controversies between its citizens.</p> <p>3. Evidence—official character. In such a case the fact that a person is an officer of the United States army, with power to give certificates of enlistment, can not be shown by proof that he acted as such. A certificate under the seal of the war department is the best evidence of his official character and authority.</p>