Memorandum to the embassy of Austria-Hungary.
Washington, June 1, 1907.
With further reference to the memorandum of the Austro-Hungarian embassy, dated April 1, 1907, and the memorandum of the Department of State of April 6, in regard to the cases of the Hungarians, Gobo Biljetina, alias Guy Bearton, and Stephan Sutej, employed in the service of the Government of the United States, the former of whom was seriously injured and the latter of whom was killed while at work on Dam No. 4 on the Ohio River, the Department of State has the honor to advise the Austro-Hungarian embassy of the reply of the War Department in the premises.
From a report of May 4, 1907, from the United States Engineer office at Pittsburg, Pa., it appears that the accidents referred to in the memorandum occurred while the work on Dam No. 4, Ohio River, was in progress under the immediate charge of First Lieut. E. N. Johnston, Corps of Engineers, who reports the circumstances as follows:
Case of Gobo Biljetina, alias Guy Bearton.—This man was employed at Dam No. 4, Ohio River, as laborer, from July 10 to July 26, 1906. On July 26 he was injured, his leg being struck by a piece of timber which was knocked against him by another stick of timber which was being pulled by a cableway and which suddenly slipped and caused the accident. The overseer in immediate charge of the job, Mr. Olford F. Ruse, stated that when a contractor’s noon whistle blew, Bearton left his work before being dismissed for the noon hour; he went away a short distance and was then stopped by a call from the overseer. He was standing still when the accident occurred. The overseer stated that if he had remained where he was supposed to be, he would not have been hurt. I personally saw him hit by the timber, as I happened to be passing at the time.
I arranged for his care at the dam by a surgeon and for his being sent to the Allegheny General Hospital, at Allegheny, Pa., where he was cared for without cost to him, I believe. A letter from the surgeon of the hospital was forwarded to your office on November 27, 1906, from which letter the facts of his treatment and discharge from the hospital, etc., can be learned. I believe that the surgeon stated that no permanent disability would result from Guy Bearton’s injuries.
[Page 60]After his discharge from the hospital, Guy Bearton walked up a high and steep flight of stairs to the office on the second floor of the power house at Dam No. 4 and asked to have his check sent to him at Fallston, Pa.
I have no present knowledge of his whereabouts.
Case of Stephan Sutej, alias Steve Sutel.—This man was employed at Dam No. 4, Ohio River, as laborer, from July 10 to October 13, 1906. He was killed by the explosion of boiler of the government pumpboat Old Slaclcwater. He was quartered in a small building on the government reservation and left a wife who had just arrived from Austria with her two young children. Sutej, being quartered on the reservation at the time of his death, was buried at government expense. There was due him at the time of his death in wages the sum of $18.70. In conformity with the decisions of the Comptroller of the Treasury, this amount has necessarily been retained by the Government as part payment of the burial expenses, etc. Mrs. Barbara Sutej has no visible means of support, but the commissioners of Beaver County, Pa., offered her a home at the county poor farm, and to find homes for her children. This offer she refused to accept, and they then offered her monthly orders for provisions, to continue for a limited time.
It is my understanding that the United States does not undertake to guarantee the fidelity or capability of any of its employees, and that the executive departments have no authority to settle a claim for damages in the case of a workman injured or killed while on government work, whether the injuries or death be caused by unavoidable accident or otherwise.
Under these circumstances, the Department of State regrets that it would be compelled to say, in response to an application addressed to the bounty of the Government that it is not within the competence of the department to afford relief in cases of this character.