494.11 L 25/4
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Japan (Wilson)
Sir: The Department desires that you take up at once with the Japanese Government the matter of pecuniary reparation for the unlawful killing of Lieutenant W. H. Langdon, engineer officer of the U. S. S. Albany, who was shot by a Japanese sentry at Vladivostok, Siberia, while returning to his ship on the night of January 8, 1921, the injury resulting in the death of the officer on the following day. The complete story of the tragedy is told in a communication of the American Consul at Vladivostok of January 22, 1921, to the American Chargé d’Affaires ad interim, Tokyo, Japan, as follows:
“Lieutenant Langdon was returning to ship on the sidewalk opposite from Japanese Division Headquarters on Peter-the-Great Street at about four o’clock in the morning of January eighth. Owing to the street being very steep, and the sidewalk terraced, and quite slippery with ice, Lieutenant Langdon was using his electric [Page 418] hand lamp during the entire descent, in accordance with the general practice of the American naval officers here. Lieutenant Langdon passed beyond the front of Division Headquarters and was near the turn of the street when a sentry ran across the street, pursued Lieutenant Langdon, and stopped about six feet in front of and to the left of him at position charge bayonets and said, “Amerikansky?” Lieutenant Langdon said, “Da”, and walked on. When Lieutenant Langdon was about six feet ahead of the sentry the sentry fired from his rifle. The ball entered near the middle of the back and passed out through the chest above the heart. After Lieutenant Langdon was shot he turned and fired two shots from his revolver at the sentry, and then returned to ship.”
The Department is informed that, at the time of his death, Lieutenant Langdon was unmarried, and that his surviving dependent relatives consist of a father and mother; that the mother was practically wholly dependent upon him for support, and the father partly so; that Lieutenant Langdon had for four years allotted from his pay a certain monthly sum to his mother and frequently sent home gifts of money; and that the father and mother had no resources other than their own labor and his assistance.
Lieutenant Langdon was thirty-two years and ten months old at the time of his death and was a Lieutenant (T) with pay at the rate of $324 per month. According to the American actuaries tables he had a normal expectation at the time of his death of 83.21 years of life, during which his pay and allowances, so this Department is informed by the Navy Department, could be expected to increase to approximately $7000 a year up to the probable time of his retirement, after which his retired pay would be $4500 per annum, under existing laws. This expectation of advancement in rank and pay was practically assured by reason of his efficiency, sterling character and exemplary habits. The Navy Department has submitted a statement to this Department in which are set forth the salient facts pertaining to the service record of Lieutenant Langdon, together with information as to the dependency of his surviving relatives and the approximate loss occasioned to them by his untimely death. The Navy Department concluded that in all the circumstances $40,000 would constitute a just and reasonable reparation.
Considering the circumstances under which Lieutenant Langdon was killed, his usefulness, expectancy of life, and financial prospects, and the dependent state of his aged parents, the Department feels that indemnification in the amount of $40,000 would be reasonable. Please present the matter to the Japanese Foreign Office and endeavor to obtain settlement on that basis, keeping the Department informed of developments.
I am [etc.]