Docket No. 434.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
on behalf of
James Tilly Houghton,
Claimant,
v.
GERMANY.
PARKER, Umpire, rendered the decision of the Commission.
This case is before the Umpire for decision on a certificate of the American Commissioner and German Commissioner[a] certifying their disagreement. A brief statement of the facts as disclosed by the records follows:
James Tilly Houghton, 30 years of age, an American national, was a passenger on the Lusitania and sustained personal injuries and suffered property losses when that vessel was destroyed May 7, 1915. He was a graduate of the Medical School of Harvard University and also held a diploma from the Boston City Hospital. At the time his actual practice of his profession was limited. He was en route to Belgium to engage in the work of assisting Dr. Depage in the Base Hospital at Lapanne. To that end he carried with him numerous medical and surgical instruments and apparatus and other personal effects of the aggregate value of $3,372.00. The claimant was thrown into the water, struck by falling wreckage, received a severe cut near the right temple, and remained in the water about five hours before being rescued. As a result of exposure and shock he was unable to practice his profession for more than a year and remained in a nervous state for about two years. Later he interested himself in the Red Cross and accompanied the Haskell Mission of the Red Cross to Greece as medical director, pursuing this course in order to lead an active outdoor life and void office confinement.
Applying the principles and rules heretofore announced in the decisions of this Commission to the facts as disclosed by the 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 James Tilly Houghton the sum of nine thousand dollars ($9,000.00) with interest thereon at the rate of five per cent per annum from November 1, 1923, and the further sum of three thousand three hundred seventy-two dollars ($3,372.00) with interest thereon at the rate of five per cent per annum from May 7, 1915.
Done at Washington February 21, 1924.
EDWIN B. PARKER,
Umpire.
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[a] Dated February 14, 1924.
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