, 1873-05-01

NEW TonE, Jan. 3 1878.
sla: herewith transmt IN aer nc Of comnroso
made On behalf Of Phelps Dodge Co., IN tls suit of
to recovor nominaliy 81 900 00o though tho detailed
statement furnished me iscloscB few thousand dol.
a I'll e q aef Il Ms.i # frat
Tho facts III the caso arc as follows: Aeuu9 upon
Information received BY him. Bpeeia. Agent jayne ap-
after careful examination, deemed It propor caso
sent for tho senior member Of tho l3use, and be- vol
UNFAIRLY produced the books though Of the junior
psnsr keep hack the noq whcn
mornoranda An examination showed, what was be-
1ieved before, THAT tho defendants had committed two
nsted in Invoicing tu shipped from liverpool .at tho
pricca paid for 1t In Wales. Thcro wero with tho IN
ss' sRs s stas sats % tss hs
Ssm TSs yos Sn Il s s9tps pss , Is a,s asss
that effect. There u at hand Of showing tho
amount Of undervaluaton thla account Or wo havo
spocics Of fraud consisted in trng characterization Of
aomo single item class Of itom8 III invoice in
ever, two instances In which tic whole invoice
secnls to hayo bean undorvaucd.
There s no actual evienco Of fraud in either class
ba i pGa %
fSty. referred II so
stroycd Tho iufoymer asserts that tho frauds hayo
indirccs proof that this Is so In the similarity Of
rates In standard itcms before mud Binco january,
1s the INVOICES M sholg tho same prices before ls1
since carly in 1871 which tainted with fraud, tho
total value III 1865 The itenls In tese Invoices
In which underyaluaona occur amount to So7l %,
while the nnouut of undrEyaluation is so,es876. Thu
81 l,0646s The total importations Of tho defendants
aro about Goo year. While tic inTcat1gatfon
was going on various proposals Of sopmsoInis9 Pro- wsso
would bo accepted, though think that my predoees-
l var personally ssogntzant Of the whole pro-
Sn asr ns1 tsfen my oa o oe. Yesterday
devoted considerable ti1no to tho examination Of tho
papern.
mend tho acceptance Of the compromise offered. I
Influenced to this by tho fact that tho nornt
with tue amount Of undorvalunton aud fraud tbat
bolieyc it would 10 exceedingly difficult to obtain
verdict for the amount clatlncd. The s1nalness IN
amount Of tho fraud also mnkea tho amount offered an
adequate -porhaps an observation-disclosures for
tho onense committed. THO .prorosal, therefore,
scoms to mo to sccura tho two thinga that should bo
requlred-an adequate au1n to punish tho offenders,
unl i payment into Tho Treasury, not only Of tho
amount dlyorsa fronl IT. bt Of az largo SUN rs Is
am little aorry that my Arst formal official act
| should DO to recommend = conlpromiso for a sum
Government could Justly claim. In tho recommonda-
uou mako have the concurrence not ouly Of tho otl
my e1s1ess bss @
United statca Attorney southora District Of Now York
NEW YonK, Jan. 2, 1873.
70 George Dliss Jr ESP, United STATES attorney for
the !SoNther,s District " Ntto York.:
Sin: AZ tho a.tornoya Of Messrs: Phelps. Doage ; q
E. Dodge aud others, comprising tho said hrn ths
day instituted for claim Of ,ooo ooo for alleged Vi
olatlon Of the Revenue laws OF tho United States IN
ation to tho importation Of merchandise and rartc-
uorly the provisions Of the act pf Cangrcaa approved
March ., 1903, In respect of tue, entry OF
certain importntlona cf merchandise within
uud during tho dyo ycaru last pastf
we are Instructed by clients, willie protesting that
no fraudulent intent has ever been entertained by
them toward the revenue OF tho United satos in any
Of their acts respecting eaia any nportaione made
hy then, to offer IN co.npronsso anl sct.'sment ct
the snld clain OF tho Tinted 4tatcs III he said aut
tho of $500 600 III United stases currency. the
solo ground that there may have beon acts tn connoc-
ou With tho entry Of tito aaI ttnrortatona tu viog-
ton OF tito provisions Of the said statutes and reuder-
Ing 1t proper that Bch offer tho nboye should bo
suadc. Yours, otc, WAKEatAN l. LATINO,
Attorneys for tho defeulauts.
WILLIAM FuLLEnToN, Of counsel,