I will thank you to investigate the matter, and to take such action as the
facts may be found to warrant.
[Inclosure 1 in No. 5.]
Mr. Weniger to Mr.
Frelinghuysen.
New
York, N. Y., July 30,
1884.
Your Honor: Hereby I submit to your kind
consideration and interference a moral injustice done to me by the
German Government.
According to my affidavit, which I inclose, I was born in the year 1861,
in the city of Königsee, Duchy of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Germany.
My father, Ferdinand Weniger, came to the United States in the year 1871,
and my mother, Sophie Weniger, followed him, with me, in the following
year, when I was only twelve years of age. My mother having died in the
city of New York in the year 1877, my father returned to Germany in the
same year, leaving me in this country, when I was sixteen years old. As
my father neither would nor could take me with him back to Germany, I
was thrown on my own resources and was obliged to make my own living as
well as I could.
Now, when I have succeeded to make an honorable living, and at the same
time have become a citizen of this country before the court of common
pleas in the city of New York, the Government of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
claims me for military duty, and threatens me with confiscating a little
inheritance which my mother left me in Rudolstadt, which, together with
my savings, would serve me to establish my own business in this
country.
This seems to me a manifest injustice, as I did not come to this country
on my own free will, being too young at that time to do so, and as I was
abandoned here as a minor to the protection of this country.
It is true that my father never became a citizen of the United States,
and that my mother, ignorant of the German laws, neglected to have my
name erased from the military register of Rudolstadt, so that I am not
protected by the Bancroft treaty; but it is nevertheless a moral
injustice to me, which I am sure your honor can right if you will kindly
submit my case to the German Government in Berlin.
Yours, truly,
Pr.
CHARLES WENIGER
,
529
Robbins Avenue.
City of New York,
County of New York, ss:
I, Charles Weniger, of the city of New York, State of New York, do
swear that I was born on the 21st of April in the year 1861, in
Königsee, of the Duchy of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Germany; that my
father, Ferdinand Weniger, of said city, came to this country in the
year 1871; that my mother, Sophie Weniger, followed him, with me, in
the year 1872, when I was a little over eleven years of age; that my
mother died in the city of New York, State of New York, on the 12th
of April in the year 1877, and that my father returned to Germany in
the. same year, leaving me behind in the city of New York, when I
was a little over sixteen years old; that I was thrown by this event
on my own resources, and that I have become a citizen of this
country before the court of common pleas of New York, State of New
York.
Sworn to before me this 26th day of
July, 1884.
[seal] |
(235) P. V. STOCKY, Notary
Public, New York City. |
State of New York,
City and County of New York, ss:
I, Patrick Keenan, clerk of the city and county of New York, and also
clerk of the supreme court for the said city and county, the same
being a court of record, do hereby certify that P. V. Stocky, before
whom the annexed deposition was taken, was, at the time of taking
the same, a notary public of New York, dwelling in said city and
county, duly appointed and sworn and authorized to administer oaths
to be used in any court in said State, and for general purposes, and
that his signature thereto is genuine, as I verily believe. In
testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal
of the said court and county the 29th day of July, 1884.
[seal.] |
PATRICK KEENAN, Clerk. |
[Inclosure 2 in No. 5.]
Mr. Weniger to Mr.
Frelinghuysen.
New
York, Robbins Avenue, 529, August 16, 1884.
Sir: In answer to your letter of the 4th of
this month, I send you inclosed a certified copy of my naturalization
certificate.
In regard to my inheritance, I am unable to tell you the amount, as it
consists in a
[Page 201]
share of some
real estate which my mother owned at the time of her death in the city
of Königsee, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Germany.
My father, Ferdinand Weniger, of said city, who is executor of my
mother’s will, informed me that the Amtsblatt of Königsee, which is the
official organ of the Government for the city of Königsee, called upon
me by a legal notice to appear for military duty, in default of which my
inheritance would be confiscated; that, furthermore, my father was
called upon by the sheriff of said city to produce my person before
court or to give information concerning my absence.
As for dates, I cannot give you any information. They seem to me
immaterial, as any only aim is that you may kindly cause the German
Government to erase my name from the military register, after which the
confiscation of my inheritance would be consequently void.
Should you, however, judge proper, I shall write to Königsee for official
documents concerning my case; but I fear the delay caused hereby would
perhaps complicate the matter, which is still simple.
Yours, &c.,
United States of America, State
of New York,
City and County of New
York, ss:
Be it remembered that on the 3d day of June, in the year of our Lord
1884, Charles Weniger appeared in court of common pleas for the city
and county of New York (a court of record, having common-law
jurisdiction, a clerk, and seal), and applied to the said court to
be admitted to become a citizen of the United States of America,
pursuant to the provisions of the several acts of the Congress of
the United states of America for that purpose made and provided.
And the said applicant having produced to the said court such
evidence, having made such declaration and renunciation, and having
taken such oaths as are by the said acts required, thereupon it was
ordered by the court that the said applicant be admitted, and he was
accordingly admitted, to be a citizen of the United States of
America.
In testimony whereof the seal of the
said court is hereunto affixed, this 15th day of August, 1884, and
in the one hundred and ninth year of the Independence of the
United States.
[
seal.]
NATH’L JARVIS, Jr.,
Clerk.