Office of the Historian

File No. 4344/6–7.

Chargé Heimké to the Secretary of State.

American Legation,
Bogotá, September 2, 1907.
No. 226.]

Sir: Referring to my No. 139, of December 29, 1906, relative to the claim of Richard A. Deeb, an American citizen, against the Government of Colombia for horses, mules, cattle, and merchandise taken from him by federal and insurgent troops during the revolution that existed in Colombia in the years 1901 and 1902, in which dispatch I stated that I had taken up with the foreign office the settlement of that claim, I have the honor and pleasure to report that through my persistent efforts the Government has now issued a resolution allowing the claim of Mr. Deeb in the sum of $25,069 gold, payable in foreign [Page 291] bonds, in accordance with the judicial decision pronounced by the examiner of the second section of the department of foreign affairs and with the concurrence of the council of ministers, a copy of which, clipped from the Diario Oficial of this city of to-day, I inclose in duplicate, as well as a translation of the same, also in duplicate.

Mr. Deeb claimed indemnity in the sum of $72,471.12 gold, $42,000 of which being, as was alleged, for levies caused by revolutionaries, and was disallowed, the Government holding that it did not recognize claims for damages caused by the insurgent forces; and of the remainder, namely, $30,471.12, the sum of $5,402.12 was disallowed for lack of proper evidence, resulting in a balance in Mr. Deeb’s favor of $25,069, which that gentleman has accepted in full settlement of his claim against the Government of Colombia.

It is gratifying to me to add that, as with the two other claims against the Government of Colombia recently reported to the department (in dispatches Nos. 213, 217, and 225), and which I have had the satisfaction of bringing up to the point of settlement, the payment of the claim of Mr. Deeb was arranged by me with perfect harmony and attended by the exhibition of the greatest courtesy on the part of the officers of the Government.

Mr. Deeb, a Syrian by birth, although an American citizen by naturalization, whom I have found to be a man of superior intelligence and exceptional refinement, informed me that it is his intention to return within a few months to the United States, where he would again take up his permanent residence.

I have, etc.,

Wm. Heimké.

[Inclosure.—Translation.]

[Extract of the judicial decision in the claim of Richard A. Deeb, an American.]

Under date of the 28th of October, 1901, Mr. Richard A. Deeb presented to the ministry of war a memorial introducing, his claim. Subsequently, on the 27th of July, 1906, it was passed to this department for its examination and decision.

He claimed $72,471.12 gold.

In this amount there are included $42,000 for levies caused by the revolutionists.

The record having been examined, the ministry found it in conformity with law 27 of 1903 and its organic decree, and proceeded to pronounce its decision on the 10th of August, 1907, which, in its determinate quality and with the concurrence of the council of ministers, says:

  • “First. There are no grounds for any recognition whatsoever on account of levies caused by revolutionaries, as defined in article 3 of law 27 of 1903.
  • “Second. The only and definitive indemnification adjudged to Mr. Richard A. Deeb, American citizen, as the sum total of the present claim, is the amount of twenty-five thousand and sixty-nine dollars ($25,069), payable in foreign bonds.

“Ordered to be entered in the register and published in the Daily Official Gazette; and if the result is accepted, an authentic copy hereof is to be sent to the ministry of the treasury for its action, and the record is to be filed.

“For the minister, the sub secretary,

“Francisco José Urrutia.”

At Bogota, on the 17th of August, 1907, the undersigned official gave notice of the preceding resolution to Mr. Teófilo F. Lian, attorney for the claimant, who accepted the same in all its parts, and in virtue of which he signs: Teófilo F. Lian, José M. Cárdenas M., judge of the second section.