House of Representatives.
63d
Congress: 1st session.
Report No. 45.
[Untitled]
payment of an indemnity to the italian government for the killing of angelo albano, an italian subject.
August 15, 1913, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.
Mr. Sharp, from the Committee on Foreign Affairs, submitted the following
report.
[To accompany H. R. 7384.]
The Committee on Foreign Affairs, to which was referred the bill (H. R. 7384) authorizing the payment of an indemnity to the Italian Government for the killing of Angelo Albano, an Italian subject, having had the same under consideration, reports it back without amendment and with the recommendation that the bill do pass.
This claim grows out of the killing of one Angelo Albano, an Italian subject, by an armed mob while in custody on a charge of crime, in the city of Tampa, Fla., on the 20th day of September, 1910. The facts in the case detailing the crime and establishing the fact that its victim was an Italian subject at the time of his death, are succinctly set forth in the copies of sworn statements contained in the message from the President (H. Doc. 105), transmitting the report of the Secretary of State in relation thereto. Not only does the President recommend that “as an act of grace and without reference to the question of the liability of the United States, Congress make suitable provision for the heirs of the Italian subject thus killed, the proceeds to be distributed by the Italian Government in [Page 623] such manner as it may deem proper”; but Secretary of State Bryan in his report also recommends that Congress take such action in view of all the circumstances in the case, both on account of the precedents which he therein cites, and “for the preservation of the cordial relations now existing between the United States and Italy.”
As to the amount of the indemnity involved the payment of $6,000 is recommended, not only because it seems to this committee to be reasonable, but because it has been requested by the Italian Embassy as one that would comport with “the sense of equity and justice” as a fair sum which our Government should pay.
In view of these facts and the further one that recently similar claims for a considerably larger amount have been generously settled in our favor by the Italian Government, it would seem after this long delay to impose upon Congress an obligation to promptly comply with the request of that Government for a speedy settlement of the claim.