New-York tribune., 1872-08-16
THE CHORPENNING CASE.

We publish this morning a plain, brief mar
rative of the famous ChOrpenning Case, OF
which so much has been said during the pres
| ent political campaign, and we commend 1t to
the careful attention of our readers. During
fourteen years Mr.. George Chorpenning rolled
q constantly augmenting claim through the
POst-Ofice Department and the lobbies OF
| Congress. -Four successive Postmasters-Gen
eral decided against it. The Court of Claims
threw it out. The Attorney General repeat
edly pronounced it res adja3icata which
could not be reOpened even at the command
of the President of the United States. 1t was
fraudulent and outrageous on its very face.
In 1857 the amount asked for (after several
large claims had been paid) was $4,000; in
1868 the claims, based upon precisely the same
condition of facts, had swollen to the respect
able sum of $443,OOO.
| BY this time the Chorpenning Ring seems to
have been considerably enlarged, and 10 have
secured the services of several highly impor-
tant persons. An effort was made TO remove
the Second Assistant PostmasterG General, un-
der whose influence the last decision against
the claims had been given, and Gen. Grant
appears urging President johnson to make
the required change. Mr.. johnson refused !;
but as soon as Grant became President the
scheme was carried into effect, and Mr. George
Earle, the attorney of tho Chorpenning Ring,
and law partner of Mr.. Creswell, was moreover
brought into the department as First Assistant
Postmaster General. A change was made in
the contract Office. Mr.. Creswell seems also to
have interfered in the appointment of Sixth
Auditor of the Treasury, whose business it
tho n md
matters being thus arranged, the Ring
went to work upon Congress. At the
very close of the fsession in July,
1870, bill was hurried through in
the confusion of the closing hours, without
the report of any committee, authorizing and
directing the Postmaster General to "investi-
"gate and adjust" the claims of George Choir
penning under an act for bis relief passed in
1857. This act Of 1857 contained a clause pro-
viding that the claims should be adjusted
"by the afidavits and proofs on file in the
"House Of Representatives" We should not
omit to mention that these affidavits and
proofs had been selected and assorted by
Chorpenning's attorney from the records of the
Post Office Department, and at least one paper
that would have been fatal to the claims was
leu OUT OI Iu6 hHio
which happened to be in the pocket Of
Member of Congress, were accepted as con-
structively on the files of the House of Rep
resentatives.
Mr.. Creswell now went to work. He took
the law to mean that he was not to question
the Justice of the claims, but TO be governed
entirely by the selected "affidavits and proofs
on the files of the House of Representatives."
He was not to consult the records of his own
Department, where there was indubitable
evidence of fraud. He was not to receive any
new testimony. He was to accept everything
that ChOrpenning said as true, and to pay him
the full amount of his demands, and the only
" investigation" required Of him was an in
quiry how much Chorpenning wanted. Mr..
original contract with the
Government was for 100000. lie had already
obtained on this contract, at various times,
SJ30,0O0; and now Mr.. Creswel awarded him
$4,000 more. The warrant of course, went
through the Post-0fhce Department without
any difficulty; but in the Treasury fortunately,
1t stuck; Mr.. Dawes heard of it; the whole
swlndle was exposed in Congress- payment
was stopped, and the law of July, 1870, was
repealed by unanimous vote of both Houses