[Inclosure 2 in No. 37.] Mr. Tower to Mr. Abeles. UNITED STATES LEGATION, SIR: I have received your application made to this legation on behalf of your son, Siegfried Abeles, who, you tell me, is a naturalized citizen of the United States and whose name now stands upon the list of deserters from military duty in the Austrian service. You ask the intervention of this legation with the Imperial and Royal authorities to have his name removed from the list so that he may return to Raudnitz upon a visit. In order that I may present this case to the Imperial and Royal foreign office here, it will be necessary for me to have the certificate of naturalization of Siegfried Abeles, or a certified copy of the same. With that document in hand to prove his citizenship, I will see what may be done to obtain for him the relief he seeks. I am, etc. CHARLEMAGNE TOWER, In reply to the foregoing letter, Mr. Adolf Abeles sent to this legation the certificate of naturalization of Siegfried Abeles, issued by the United States district court in and for the southern district of New York on the 4th of December, 1896. [Inclosure 3 in No. 37.] Mr. Tower to Count Goluchowski. UNITED STATES LEGATION, YOUR EXCELLENCY: A complaint has been made at this legation by Mr. Adolf Abeles, a merchant of Raudnitz, on behalf of his son, Siegfried Abeles, setting forth that the name of the said Siegfried Abeles is retained upon the list of those who have failed to perform military duty in the Imperial and Royal army of Austria-Hungary, and that the said Siegfried Abeles is classed as a deserter, although he emigrated some years ago to America and has become a duly naturalized citizen of the United States. The facts of the case appear from Mr. Adolf Abeles's statement to be as follows: Siegfried Abeles was born on the 8th of August, 1871, in Neustraschitz, in Bohemia. In the year 1891, having obtained a permit to travel, he went to Bremen, in Germany; and in the same year he sailed from Bremen to America. Having resided in the United States uninterruptedly for five years, he was admitted to become a citizen of the United States of America by the United States district court in and for the southern district of New York on the 4th of December, 1896. In the meantime, and during his absence in America, the said Siegfried Abeles was adjudged by the K. K. Kreisals Strafgericht in Leitmeritz to have evaded military duty, and his name was accordingly entered upon the military lists of the district as a deserter. Mr. Adolf Abeles complains that, although he has appealed to the said honorable court to remove the charge of desertion which it has decreed against his son, and although he has placed in evidence before it the certificate of naturalization of his son to show that Siegfried Abeles is a duly naturalized citizen of the United States of America, yet the said honorable court has refused to relieve Siegfried Abeles from the charge of desertion or to take his name from the list of those who are liable to trial and punishment under the Imperial and Royal laws of Austria-Hungary for nonfulfillment of military duty. Mr. Adolf Abeles asserts, however, that his son is not a deserter, and that under the provisions of the convention concluded on the 20th of September, 1870, between the United States of America and the Empire of Austria-Hungary he can neither be held to military service nor does he remain liable to trial and punishment for the nonfulfillment of military duty; but that, on the contrary, as he has not transgressed any of the provisions, especially of Article II, of the aforementioned convention, and as he has resided uninterruptedly at least five years in the United States, and during such residence has become a naturalized citizen of the United States, he should now be treated as such. I have the honor to submit this case to your excellency's attention, and to request that your excellency will cause due inquiry to be made by the proper Imperial and Royal authorities with a view to having relief granted and justice done to this citizen of the United States; that, if the facts of the case be found such as I have had the honor here to present them to your excellency, the name of Siegfried Abeles may be removed from the list of deserters, and that, as an American citizen, he may enjoy freely within the limits of the Imperial and Royal AustroHungarian dominions all the privileges which are intended to be reciprocally enjoyed by the citizens of each of the high contracting parties within the territory of the other under the aforesaid convention of September 20, 1870. In support of the statement made by Mr. Adolph Abeles, I have the honor to inclose to your excellency herewith the certificate of naturalization of Siegfried Abeles, issued on the 4th of December, 1896, by the district court of the United States held in and for the southern district of New York. I beg that your excellency will have this document returned to me, in order that I may send it back to Mr. Abeles. I avail, etc., CHARLEMAGNE TOWER. [Inclosure 4 in No. 37.] Count Welshersheimb to Mr. Tower. VIENNA, January 11, 1898. SIR: In reply to the esteemed note of August 23, 1897, No. 19, relating to the citizenship of Siegfried Abeles, the contents of which were communicated to the Imperial and Royal ministry of foreign affairs, I now have the honor of informing the honorable envoy of the United States of America, Mr. Charlemagne Tower, that notice has been received from the above-mentioned ministry that, in view of the legal naturalization of the person aforesaid in the United States, which is now fully affirmed, the necessary steps have been taken to terminate the proceedings instituted against him for having evaded military duty, and that his name be dropped from the list of those liable to military duty, accord ing to the provisions of the treaty of September 20, 1870, and he be recognized and treated as an American citizen. The father of Siegfried Abeles, Mr. Adolf Abeles, a merchant living in Raudnitz, will be acquainted by the authorities of his district with the dispositions which have been made. While the undersigned has the honor of returning herewith the inclosure contained in the above-mentioned esteemed note, he avails himself, etc. SIR: I inclose for your information copy of a letter from the Hon. Ebenezer J. Hill,* a member of the House of Representatives from the. State of Connecticut, inclosing a communication from Messrs. E. A. Mallory & Sons, of Danbury, in that State, stating that Peter Hornik, a naturalized American citizen of Hungarian birth, who went to his native country in November last for the purpose of bringing his family to the United States, has been notified by the Austro-Hungarian authorities to appear for military service. You are instructed to make inquiries in the proper quarter in regard to the case, with a view to taking such action with reference thereto as the facts may be found to warrant. Respectfully, yours, JOHN SHERMAN. Mr. Tower to Mr. Sherman, No. 42.] UNITED STATES LEGATION, SIR: In reply to your dispatch (No. 63) of the 10th of January, 1898, and to your supplemental dispatch of the 22d of January, by which Í was instructed to make inquiry in the proper quarter in regard to the detention by the Austro-Hungarian authorities, for military service, of Peter Hornik, a naturalized American citizen of Hungarian birth, who went to his native country in November of last year for the purpose of taking his family to the United States, I have the honor to report that immediately upon the receipt of your instructions I addressed a letter to Peter Hornik at Nagy Tarkany, in Hungary, the temporary residence of said Hornik as given in the letter of Messrs. Mallory & Sons, of Danbury, Conn., a copy of which accompanied your dispatch No. 63, and asked him to inform me whether he had been arrested or detained in Hungary contrary to his rights as an American citizen. I wrote at the same time to Mr. F. D. Chester, United States consul at Budapest, asking him whether he knew anything of this man, and requesting him to make such inquiries as he might be able, to discover * Not printed. whether he was in any difficulty from which his American citizenship ought to protect him. I have not received a reply to the letter which I addressed to Mr. Hornik at Nagy Tarkany; but the cousul at Budapest reports that The said Hornik was registered at this consulate on December 10 last; that he sent in to me from Nagy Tarkany on the 18th of the same his military pass, from which it appeared that he had served the usual time in the Austro-Hungarian army and was enrolled in the second reserve (militia) of Szabolcs-Zemplin district at the time of his emigration to America, which was in his twenty-eighth year. He begged me, at the time of sending his pass, to ask the proper authorities to excuse him from answering a summons which he had received immediately on his return to Nagy Tarkany. In compliance with my representations the district commandery of SzabolcsZemplin district informed me on December 24, 1897, that Hornik's name had been struck off the list, as being a citizen of the United States. On the 30th of the same Hornik informed me that he would leave for the United States by a steamer sailing the 11th of January, together with his wife and family, whom he came over expressly to take back with him to America. It would seem that Mr. Hornik was in no way detained or molested contrary to his rights as an American citizen, but that the summons sent to him was merely the usual demand made in this country of all returning emigrants to prove their freedom from liability to perform military service. This demand was met satisfactorily in the case of Mr. Hornik by the exhibition of his naturalization certificate, which established his American citizenship. The consul at Budapest informs me, under date of the 9th of February, that he has received information from Nagy Tarkany that Peter Hornik, with his entire family, left for America on the 6th of January. I have, etc., CHARLEMAGNE TOWER. MILITARY SERVICE OF ANTON GUERRA. Mr. Tower to Mr. Day. 69.] UNITED STATES LEGATION, Vienna, June 4, 1898. SIR: I have the honor to report to you the case of Anton Guerra, a naturalized citizen of the United States, who was arrested in Styria for nonperformance of military duty, and, in consequence of the intervention of this legation in his behalf, has now been set at liberty. Anton Guerra was born in Hrastuig, in Styria, on the 26th of November, 1875, and emigrated to America in August, 1889, when he was 13 years of age. He was naturalized before the circuit court of the United States in and for the eastern district of Pennsylvania on the 3d of May, 1897, and obtained a passport (No. 3660) from the Department of State on the 21st of the same month. He left the United States almost immediately after his naturalization and returned to his native town, where he now resides. Soon after his arrival in Styria he was arrested on the 5th of August, 1897, for nonperformance of military service, though it appears that he succeeded upon that occasion, with the aid of a local attorney, in freeing himself. Having remained in the town of Hrastnig, however, until the following spring, when the Austrian recruits were being summoned into service, he was notified again, on the 6th of March, 1898, to present himself among those liable to perform military duty. He then appealed to the United States consul-general in Vienna, who referred his letter to this legation. Upon inquiry into the facts, I discovered that Mr. Guerra belongs to that class of foreigners who go to the United States and remain there long enough to obtain the privileges of citizenship, after which, upon various pretexts, they return to their native country with an American passport. Most of them have never performed the slightest service to our Government in return; and that is the case with Anton Guerra, who has never paid any taxes, owned any property, established any tangible interest, or served upon a jury within the United States of America. Nevertheless, it was evident that he had emigrated to America before he was liable to military duty in Austria-Hungary, and therefore, under the provisions of the treaty of 1870, his United States passport should have been sufficient protection to him from arrest. His passport had been presented to the authorities in Styria and disregarded by them. It was this disregard of his passport which led me to present his case at once to the Austro-Hungarian ministry of foreign affairs, and I have the honor to announce to you that he has been set at liberty and his name struck from the list of those persons who are liable to perform military service. A copy of the entire correspondence is respectfully submitted herewith. I have, etc., CHARLEMAGNE TOWER. [Inclosure 1 in No. 69.] Mr. Guerra to Mr. Judd. HRASTNIG, March 8, 1898. HONORABLE SIR: I am sorry to again have to trouble you, but I am again called to appear on the 12th of March to the "assentirung," as they call it. I thought best to inform you about it. I went yesterday to the bezirkshauptmann in Cilli to protest against it, but told me it would be best to come there on the 12th and show my papers to the assentirung commission; but as I proved my citizenship last summer, I don't see why I should be bothered again. I wish you would protest against it to the bezirkshauptmann, as well as to let me know what to do. They claim I was militarpflichtig here at the time I was made a citizen there, and so have a claim on me, but I don't see what that has to do with it. Hoping to hear from you, I remain, very respectfully, ANTHONY GUERRA. [Inclosure 2 in No. 69.] Mr. Tower to Mr. Guerra. UNITED STATES LEGATION, SIR: Your letter of the 8th instant to Mr. Max Judd has been referred by the United States consul-general, Mr. C. B. Hurst, to this legation. As this legation has no record of your case, will you be kind enough to send hither a statement, setting forth the particulars, as fully as possible, both as to your previous as well as your present trouble. FR 98-2 |