Office of the Historian

Mr. Blaine to Mr. Phelps.

Department of State,
Washington, April 6, 1892.
No. 391.]

Sir: Referring to Mr. Coleman’s dispatch. No. 391 of the 20th of February last, relative to the military case of Charles E. Heintzman, I inclose the petition of the latter, asking for pardon and that his name may be stricken from the military lists of the German Empire. This petition has been prepared by Mr. Heintzman’s attorney in accordance with the suggestions in the note of the imperial German foreign office of the 19th of February last to Mr. Coleman, a copy of which accompanies his above-named dispatch.

I will thank you to transmit Mr. Heintzman’s petition to the foreign office with the request that it may be brought to the notice of the proper authorities with a view to its early consideration.

I am, etc.,

James G. Blaine.
[Inclosure in No. 391.]

Petition of Charles E. Heintzman.

The Honorable Kreis Ersatz Commission,
Germany:

The undersigned, your petitioner, prays to make the following statement and petition to your most honorable court and commission.

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(1)
That on 2d of November, A. D. 1891, your petitioner through his attorney, C. R. Miller, of Adrian, Mich., made a request through the Honorable Secretary of States for the United States of America, for the remission of a fine by the Government of his His Imperial Majesty of Germany, of 600 marks about to be decreed against your petitioner by the land court at Strasburg for violation of military duty in not reporting at a certain time to said court.
(2)
That before your petitioner had received any reply to his said request, to wit, on December 19, 1888, (your petitioner is informed by the said Secretary of State) he was condemned by the land court at Strasburg for violation of military duty to a fine of 600 marks and costs amounting to 75.76 marks, and that to secure this claim a mortgage was entered against certain real estate accruing from the estate of a grandfather of your petitioner and a brother in common. That his said brother Alfred Christian Heintzman, named in said judgment, died on July 14, 1891, at the city of Adrian, in the State of Michigan. That at the time of his death the said Alfred Christian Heintzman was single, never having been married. That he died at the house of his mother, Mrs. Marie Ellegat.
(3)
That the said petition or request referred to above was, by the honorable Secretary of State, referred to the honorable William Walter Phelps, envoy of the United States at the court of His Majesty, the Emperor, at Berlin.
(4)
That his excellency, the Freiherr Marschall von Bieberstein, imperial secretary of state for foreign affairs, by a communication dated February 19, 1892, to the chargé d’affaires of the United States of America, [stated] that the said request of your petitioner could not be granted by reason of section 31 of the imperial law of June 1, 1870, relative to acquisition and loss of imperial and state allegiance, nor your petitioner’s name be stricken from the military lists.
(5)
That the said communication last above referred to further intimated (in substance) that if your petitioner should procure from your honorable court an order or decree granting the discharge of your petitioner from the list of those liable to military duty, then that the matter of the remission of said line would be considered by the imperial courts or Government.
(6)
With the purpose of procuring such discharge from your honorable court, your petitioner upon his corporal states the following facts, to wit:
(a)
That he was born at Bischweiler, in Alsace. His father died while petitioner was young, and his mother immigrated in 1870, or thereabouts (after her husband’s death), leaving deponent with his grandfather, Christian Heintzman.
(b)
In 1881, when your petitioner was 13 years old, his mother, who remarried in America, came to Bischweiler and took your petitioner with her to the city of Adrian, in the State of Michigan, United States, where she lived then and has lived ever since.
That your petitioner lived with his mother and her husband in said city of Adrian until he became of the age of 21 years, and yet makes it his home there.
(c)
That he is a fully naturalized citizen ot the United States of America, having been admitted to full citizenship on October 4, 1889. That the legal certificate of his citizenship was filed with the papers sent to the honorable Secretary of State, United States, on November 2, 1891.
(d)
That by reason of his youth at the time of emigration (his age being 13 years), and by reason of the control of his mother over his person, he neither knew of the law of the Empire in regard to military service in the province of Alsace, nor was he able to resist the desire and control of his mother in taking him with her to her home in America.
(e)
That his emigration was not for the purpose of avoiding or evading military service in the standing army or navy of Germany, but simply to go to the home in America that his mother had provided for him, and to which, as his sole surviving parent, and by her authority of such parent, your petitioner supposes she had full authority and right to do.
(f)
That since his emigration he has grown to be a man, and has become a citizen of the land of his adoption and owing it full allegiance.
(g)
That he does not seek his discharge from the military lists for the sole purpose of evading service in the standing army or navy of the German Empire, but that he may thereby comply with the provisions of the imperial law of June 1, 1870, relative to the acquisition and loss of allegiance in Germany, and that having so complied with said law he may be legally entitled to the consideration of His Imperial Majesty’s pardon, and thereby have his inheritance released from the lien and charge of the fine and costs heretofore entered against him in the land court at Strasburg on December 19, 1888.

In view of the foregoing your petitioner prays that your honorable commission grant his discharge from the said military lists, and having so done will certify the same to his excellency, the secretary of state for foreign affairs (or to whomsoever the proper officer or tribunal may be), so that the matter of the pardon of your petitioner and the remission of his said fine and costs may be brought to the attention of His Majesty the Emperor or to the proper court of authority.

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In view of the foregoing your petitioner prays that you grant his discharge from the military lists of the Empire and that you grant him the proper and necessary certificate thereof and such other and further relief as under the circumstances is meet and proper to be done and granted unto your petitioner.

Charles E. Heintzman.

State of Michigan,
The County of Lenawee, ss:

Charles E. Heintzman, who signed the foregoing petition in my presence, having been by me duly sworn, deposes and says that he has heard read the foregoing petition by him subscribed and knows the contents thereof and that the same is true in substance and in fact.

On this the 24th day of February A. D., 1892, at the city of Adrian and State of Michigan, United States.

[seal.]
Geo. R. Cochrane,
Notary Public in and for Lenawee Co., Michigan.