Italy Wants Porter Charlton for Lake Como Crime.
The long wait of Porter Charlton behind the bars of a New Jersey prison for the final word as to whether he must return to Italy to answer for the murder of his wife at Lake Como, two years ago, is drawing to an end. The supreme court will take up Charlton’s case.
Charlton’s appeal is the most-noted murder case before the court. Diplomatic officials of Italy and the United States have become involved in the matter. The decision of the court will be looked to as a guide in diplomatic intercourse.
The twenty-three-year-old prisoner, through his father, Judge Paul Charlton, of Porto Rico, will challenge the right of the American government to surrender him[{60}] to the Italian authorities. This right is claimed on account of the peculiar circumstances under which Charlton was arrested.
Immediately after Mrs. Charlton’s body was found in a trunk in Lake Como the search for her husband began. He was arrested at the request of the wife’s brother, Captain H. H. Scott, of the United States army, as he stepped from a steamer at Hoboken, N. J. He had committed no crime in America, but confessed to having murdered his wife who, he said, had refused to obey his order to be quiet one night on their wedding trip.
Under the treaty between the United States and Italy, Italy has repeatedly declined to grant requests of the United States that Italians who committed crimes in this country and escaped to Italy be returned. Italy has responded that she would punish them.
When the Italian government requested the United States to surrender Charlton, Secretary Knox granted the request. To prevent his removal, Charlton’s father brought habeas-corpus proceedings before the New Jersey courts, claiming there was no authority for his arrest, and challenged the right of the American government to turn his son over to the Italian officers. The New Jersey courts held against Charlton, who appealed to the supreme court of the United States.