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Lot 17
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Spoiled Oysters! Rare Early Grover Cleveland Signed Document
Spoiled Oysters! Rare Early Grover Cleveland Signed Document
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Description:

Grover Cleveland
Buffalo, NY, December 28, 1867
Spoiled Oysters! Rare Early Grover Cleveland Signed Document
ADS

GROVER CLEVELAND, Autograph Document Signed, Referee's Report in Wilson v. Dinsmore, December 28, 1867, Buffalo, New York. 6 pp., 8" x 12.5". Also signed a second time in body of text. Discoloring from glue at top of each page; general toning; repaired minor separation at fold; light soiling on outer page.

Attorney Grover Cleveland submitted this referee's report to the Supreme Court of New York, which had commissioned him to serve as sole referee in the case of Mary Louisa Wilson v. William B. Dinsmore, President of the Adams Express Company. Wilson sued the Adams Express Company for the value of a shipment of oysters from Baltimore that spoiled before delivery to Buffalo, New York. William B. Dinsmore (1810-1888) served as president of the Adams Express Company from 1857 to 1888.

J. E. Woodruff and J. R. Wilson operated an oyster and fish depot at the Tifft House hotel in Buffalo, New York, through at least January 1866. Mary Louisa Wilson was likely the widow and/or executrix of J. R. Wilson. After considering the case, Cleveland, as a court-appointed referee, found for Wilson and awarded $443.74 plus court costs.

Excerpts
"Supreme Court
Mary Louisa Wilson
Against
William B. Dinsmore President of the Adams Express Company

To the Supreme Court of the State of New York:
I the undersigned Grover Cleveland sole referee to whom this cause was referred to hear try and determine the same, do respectfully report:
That I have heard the proofs and allegations of the respective parties and the arguments of counsel thereon and duly deliberated thereupon and that I find and decide the following facts:
1st
That the Adams Express Company is an association or company duly organized as mentioned in the complaint herein and that at the time of the commencement of this action the defendant was the president thereof.
2d
That in the months of February and March 1865 the said The Adams Express Company was engaged in the transportation of goods and property as a common carrier for hire and reward, from Baltimore in the State of Maryland to Elmira in the State of New York.
3d
That on the twenty seventh and twenty eighth days of February 1865 and the ninth day of March 1865 the firm of Rom Schoolfield & Company delivered to the said The Adams Express Company as such common carrier, at said city of Baltimore a quantity of oysters amounting in the aggregate to five hundred and six quart cans and ninety three one half gallon kegs, consigned to Woodruff & Wilson at Buffalo aforesaid, a firm then doing business at said city; and than when so delivered to the said The Adams Express Company the said oysters were the property of said Woodruff & Wilson and were to be forwarded by said Company to the said Woodruff & Wilson at said city of Buffalo.
4th
That while the oysters were in the possession of the said The Adams Express Company as such common carrier and in the course of transportation to the said Woodruff & Wilson and before the same arrive at Elmire aforesaid the said oysters were, through the negligence of said The Adams Express Company and their officers, servants and agents, detained and delayed upon the route for several days beyond the time usually and necessarily occupied in the transportation of the same and that by reason of such delay and detention the said oysters became and were completely spoiled and worthless and were of no value to the said Woodruff & Wilson when thereafter delivered to them at said city of Buffalo.
5th
That if said oysters had been in good order and condition when they so arrived at said city of Buffalo they would have been of the value of Three hundred and Seventy One dollars and forty cents.
6th
That the claim and demand against the said The Adams Express Company by reason of the premises was before the commencement of this action duly assigned to the plaintiff.
And I find and decide as a conclusion of law from the foregoing facts that the said plaintiff is entitled to recover in this action from the defendant as President of the said The Adams Express Company the sum of Three hundred and Seventy one dollars and Forty cents and interest thereon from the fifteenth day of March 1865 amounting at the date of this report to the sum of Four Hundred and Forty Three dollars and Seventy Four cents and that the said plaintiff have judgment therefor together with the costs of this action and I direct that judgement be entered accordingly.
Buffalo December 28, 1867.
Grover Cleveland / Referee
Fees $25.00"

Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) was born in New Jersey but grew up in New York. In 1855, he moved to Buffalo and obtained a clerical job from an uncle. He read law, gained admission to the New York bar in 1859, and began his own law practice in 1862. In 1863, he received an appointment as assistant district attorney for Erie County and hired a substitute for $150 to serve in the Union army in his place. From 1870 to 1873, he served as sheriff of Erie County. During this time, he had a child with the widow Maria Halpin. In the early 1880s, he served successively as mayor of Buffalo (1882) and as governor of New York (1883-1885). His opposition to political corruption made him popular and led to his becoming the Democratic nominee for president in 1884. He narrowly defeated Republican candidate James G. Blaine with a plurality of just over 57,000 votes out of more than ten million cast.

As president, Cleveland largely eliminated the spoils system, began modernizing the U.S. Navy, and signed an act creating the Interstate Commerce Commission. He favored a limited government and made extensive use of the veto against bills passed by the Republican Senate. Entering the presidency as a bachelor, Cleveland in 1886 married Frances Folsom, who was twenty-eight years his junior, becoming the only president to marry in the White House. Between 1891 and 1903, they had five children. In 1888, Cleveland narrowly lost re-election to Republican Benjamin Harrison. Although Cleveland won a plurality of the popular vote, Harrison gained a majority of 233 to 168 in the Electoral College by carrying the critical swing states of New York and Indiana. In 1889, Cleveland moved to New York City and resumed the practice of law. He also spent considerable time at Buzzard Bay, where fishing became a favored hobby. When Cleveland spoke out in 1891 against Harrison's support of money backed by silver, he became a contender for the Democratic nomination in 1892. In a rematch of the presidential contest of 1888, Cleveland defeated incumbent Harrison to become the only person to serve non-consecutive terms as president. With the new Populist Party drawing away Republican strength in the West, Cleveland won by wide margins in both the popular and electoral votes. Cleveland's second term was marked by an economic depression caused by the Panic of 1893, tariff reform, and Cleveland's breaking the Pullman Strike of 1894 with federal troops. In 1893, Cleveland was diagnosed with a malignant mouth cancer, but he had surgery secretly aboard his friend E. C. Benedict's yacht to avoid further panic that might worsen the depression. After leaving the presidency in March 1897, Cleveland lived in retirement at his estate in Princeton, New Jersey.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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