Docket No. 2192.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
on behalf of
John C. Garry, Marguerite Garry, Lauretta Garry Monroe, May Garry Kindy, and Lauretta Garry Monroe as Administratrix of the Estate of Mary A. Garry, Deceased,
Claimants,
v.
GERMANY.
BY THE COMMISSION: –
Christopher Garry, a naturalized American citizen, about 50 years of age, was a passenger on and went down with the Lusitania. He had never married. He left him surviving as his sole heirs and next of kin a niece, May Garry Kindy, then 27 years of age, a niece, Lauretta Garry Monroe, then 25 years of age, Marguerite Garry, then 20 years of age, and a nephew, John C. Garry, then 17 years of age, all American nationals. A claim is put forward on behalf of the Estate of Mary A. Garry (who died in 1919), mother of the above named claimants and the widow of John C. Garry, a brother of Christopher who had died prior to the sinking of the Lusitania.
It appears from the record that the deceased, Christopher Garry, had for a number of years received a salary of about $1,000 per annum, his sole source of income, and that he had been a member of the household of his sister-in-law and contributed to the household expenses. There is nothing in the record indicating that these contributions were in excess of the reasonable value of his board and lodgings. At the time of his death two of the nieces, claimants herein, had attained their majority, the third niece was in her twenty-first year, and the nephew was 17 years of age, and the two eldest nieces have since married. The claimants have failed to discharge the burden resting upon them of proving that they have suffered damages from the death of the deceased which can be measured by pecuniary standards.
There are statements in the record to the effect that the deceased had with him on the Lusitania personal effects, including jewelry and money, of the value of $1,000, all of which were lost.
Applying the rules and principles announced in the Lusitania Opinion and in other decisions of this Commission to the facts as disclosed by this record, the Commission decrees that under the Treaty of Berlin of August 25, 1921, and in accordance with its terms the Government of Germany is obligated to pay to the Government of the United States on behalf of May Garry Kindy, Lauretta Garry Monroe, Marguerite Garry, and John C. Garry the sum of one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) with interest thereon at the rate of five per cent per annum from May 7, 1915, each being entitled to receive one-fourth of the said sum, principal and interest; and further decrees that the Government of Germany is not obligated to pay to the Government of the United States any amount on behalf of Lauretta G. Monroe, Administratrix of the Estate of Mary A. Garry, Deceased.
Done at Washington January 7, 1925.
EDWIN B. PARKER,
Umpire.
CHANDLER P. ANDERSON,
American Commissioner.
W. KIESSELBACH,
German Commissioner.
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