Mr. Tripp to Mr.
Olney.
United
States Legation,
Vienna, February 18,
1897. (Received March 6.)
No. 232.]
Sir: I have the honor to report the case of
Karl Sitar, who was arrested for violation of the military laws of
Austria-Hungary upon complaint of Mr. Nettles, consul of the United
States at Trieste, and released upon exhibition of his papers disclosing
his American citizenship.
For some reason, unexplained by Mr. Sitar himself, he seems in the first
instance to have failed to claim his rights as an American citizen and
to have exhibited his citizen papers only when arrested for violation of
the military laws of Austria-Hungary.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 1 in No.
232.]
Mr. Tripp to
Count Goluchowsky.
United States Legation,
Vienna, January 17,
1897.
F. O. 169.]
Your Excellency: Mr. Nettles, the consul of
the United States at Trieste, calls the attention of this legation
to the case of Karl Sitar, in which the facts as stated by him are
as follows:
Mr. Sitar is a native of Austria-Hungary, was born in 1873, and
emigrated to the United States when 17 years of age, and where,
after a continuous residence of five years, he was naturalized and
became a citizen of the United States. On the 20th of December,
1896, he returned to Austria for a brief visit to his mother, having
with him his certificate of naturalization and a passport from the
State Department at Washington in due form. Upon his arrival to
Toplitz, Unter-Krain, he was arrested and examined, and being found
unfit for military duty was held for violation of the military law
of Austria-Hungary and proceedings are now pending against him. He
was ordered to Laibach, as I am informed, for military examination,
but criminal proceedings, as it appears, are pending against him at
Rudolfswerth, in Krain.
If these facts are as reported by the consul at Trieste, the case
comes so clearly within the terms of the treaty of 1870 and the
cases Ladislav, Sedivy, and others decided under the treaty that I
trust your excellency will cause immediate suspension of the
proceedings against Mr. Sitar and require the local officers of that
province in future in similar cases to respect the rights of
citizens bearing American passports.
[Page 19]
Extending my thanks to your excellency for the uniformly kind and
prompt intervention of the Government of Austria-Hungary in previous
cases of arrest or violation of the rights of American citizens, I
take this occasion to renew, etc.
[Inclosure 2 in No.
232—Translation.]
Count Welsersheimb to Mr. Tripp.
Vienna, February 16,
1897.
In reply to the esteemed note of January 17 last, No. 169, the
Imperial and Royal ministry of foreign affairs has the honor of
informing the legation of the United States of America that the
result of investigations which have been made shows that the
enrollment of the American citizen Karl Sitar took place at the time
in consequence of Sitar’s voluntarily reporting himself to the
district captain at Rudolfswerth as one liable to military duty, and
in total ignorance of the fact that he had acquired foreign
citizenship.
On his subsequent examination he was found physically too weak and
unfit for military service.
The proceedings undertaken against him for violation of paragraph 48
of the military law were immediately discontinued as soon as the
question of Sitar’s citizenship became known.
Welsersheimb,
For the Minister.
