Docket No. 2055.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
on behalf of
Lora M. Medbury, individually and on behalf of Margaret Medbury Anderson, John Phelps Medbury, and Gordon Spencer Medbury,
Claimants,
v.
GERMANY.
PARKER, Umpire, rendered the decision of the Commission.
This case is before the Umpire for decision on a certificate of the two National Commissioners[a] certifying their disagreement.
Notwithstanding the diligence of the American Agent and the efforts on the part of the German Agent fully to develop the facts, the evidence submitted by the claimants and their counsel, through the American Agent, is far from complete and satisfactory. It abounds in inaccuracies and conflicting statements. Eliminating these, a painstaking consideration of the record indicates the following:
Maurice B. Medbury, an American national 50 years of age, was lost with the Lusitania. He was survived by his wife, Lora M. Mebury, then 53 years of age, a daughter, now Margaret M. Sims, then 25 years of age, and two sons, John Phelps and Gordon Spencer, then 20 and 19 years of age respectively, all American nationals. The case was presented to the Commission under the caption above given, but it appears that the son John never was a claimant and that the son Gordon and the daughter had relinquished their claims before this case was docketed. The decedent in taking passage on the Lusitania gave his residence as New York City. At the time of his death his family resided in Alameda, California. The personal estate of the decedent was found and administered in St. Louis, Missouri. The personal estate consisted of cheap jewelry, articles of personal adornment, toilet articles, and bric-a-brac, valued at $1,126,25, the inventory of which filled some four and one-half pages of legal cap, but which sold for $878.74 in excess of the appraised value. The decedent advertised himself as a dealer in “antique and modern jewelry, solid silver, etc.” and traveled from place to place offering his “private collection”. The record indicates that the wares dealt in by him were of a cheap and inferior quality similar to to [sic] those inventoried in the administration of his estate. The evidence submitted of the income and the earning power of the decedent and the contributions made by him to his family is extremely unsatisfactory. In support of statements made by the widow of substantial remittances frequently made her by the decedent one letter only is produced. That is dated April 8, 1909, and is far from supporting the statement made.
No claim is made for personal effects and other property belonging to the decedent which may have been lost with him on the Lusitania.
Applying the rules announced in the Lusitania Opinion and in the other decisions of this Commission to the facts as disclosed by the record herein, 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 Lora M. Medbury the sum of seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500.00) with interest thereon at the rate of five per cent per annum from November 1, 1923; 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 the other claimants herein.
Done at Washington January 7, 1925.
EDWIN B. PARKER,
Umpire.
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[a] Dated December 17, 1924.
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