Mr. White to Mr. Hay.
Berlin, July 2, 1902.
Sir: I have the honor to report that intervention was made on May 31, 1902 (F. O., No. 1182), and renewed on June 7 (F. O., No. 1180) in behalf of one Johann Wilhelm Lohmann, a naturalized American citizen of German origin. Lohmann had at first informed the embassy that he was threatened with expulsion, and then that he had actually been expelled. He wished to be permitted to remain at his former home for about three months.
Lohmann was born in Flögeln, Province Hannover, in 1878, and emigrated to the United States in 1893, where he became naturalized as a citizen last April. He then returned to Germany, having in his possession passport No. 53913, which was issued to him by the Department of State on April 11. On his arrival in Flogeln he complied with the local regulations regarding registration. On May 29 he was told that he must leave Prussia, and on June 5 he was called upon at the house of his mother and compelled to accompany a gendarme across the Prussian frontier to Bremerhaven.
To-day a note has been received from the foreign office in which it is stated that the Royal Prussian Government is not in a position to permit him to stay at his former home.
Lohmann, who was formally sentenced on account of his evasion of military duty, became naturalized in the United States in April and returned at once to his birthplace. As his sojourn there is not desired, the order of expulsion can not be revoked.
This information has been communicated to Lohmann, who has been living in Bremerhaven since his expulsion from Prussia without molestation.
I am, etc.,