Butterfield Claims

(1854-1890). In 1854 two ships, loaded with war materials, cleared at New York for St. Thomas. Suspicion arose that they were destined for the rebels of Venezuela. Because of lack of evidence they were cleared in a libel suit. When they arrived at St. Thomas, Danish West Indies, trouble arose again because of their suspicious character. The owners presented a large claim for damages because the vessels were detained by the Danish government. Thirty-four years of negotiations ended in a Danish-American arbitration treaty (1888), as a result of which the claim was disallowed on the ground that the Danish government had observed strictly the neutrality laws involved. The name is derived from the firm that handled the negotiations.

References

"Dictionary of American History" by James Truslow Adams, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1940