Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1875-04-13
MORE POST OFFICE FRAVDs-
a $4,000 Per AHnMns Leak.
Developments I'm Two Cities.

fifty in the United States. Every state has
at least one. and several have as many as
two or three points designated whe re mail
pouches needing repairs can be sent. New
York state, for instance, has thrae-New
York, Albany and Buffalo; Pennsylv ania
has NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS., Harrisburg and
Pitfsourg; the District of Columbia has one
Washington, sc. On looking into the mat
ter. the Postmaster General found that fora
number OF years past the repairing of mail
bags had cost the government nearly 500. 600
annually. Soon after he received an init
NATION that fraudulent transactions were
going on at the Indianapolis and st. Louis
repositories, and acting on the hint he at
once dispatched Special Agent William T.
Henderson 10 those points, with instructions
10 make thorough Investigation and report.
The result has more than confirmed his sus-
picions, as there can scarcely be doubt that
these fraudulent operations are not confined
To ST. Louis and indianapolis, but are of
sufficient extent throughout the country TO
involve the sum of at least 900 annually.
In other words, the Post Office department
has been paying 100000 for work which
should not have cost at the highest estimate
over s25, 900 per year.
INVESTIGATION OF THE ST. LOUIS pEPosI-
TORY.
In making his report of his investi CATION
of the mailbag repositories at st. Louis,
Special Agent Henderson says of the deposit
tory at the above named point that the
pouches, DC, are properly examined at the
Office when returned by the contractor MAX
ing the repairs and the repairs represented
Ivy the tag accompanying each pouch gener-
ally compare with the repairs actually
made. The fraud is perpetrated in this way.
Thomas Morrison, the Contractor, directs his
men To make the work average SIPS TO the
hundred pouches, and I'm order to do this they
must butcher them and then repair them
until the desired amount is reached. Per
feet pouches have been cut and patched
Good bottoms have been cut out;
straps cut of; handles and staples cut
of and holes cut into them without limit.
Mr.. Henderson continues: II found num-
Der OF bottoms, straps, staples, &C, in the
shop, and called Mr.. MOrrison's attention To
The fact, and he at once commenced All at
tack upon DhOut who, he said, had been in
communication with a certain Woodward
(Chief OF Special Agents Woodward, Post
Office Department. at Washington, and with
out his knowledge or consent had commenced
q few weeks since to do his cutting, &c, and
was saving the bottoms, &c, to show to the
special agent when an investigation was Or
dered." Mr.. Henderson says further that
Dhout was responsible for less than one
third of the wrong. He then required Nor
rlsOn. the contractor, and Dhout, Henry
MeFadden and Dominica May work
The affidavits in the main corroborate Mr..
Henderson's statements as to the mutilatng
the mail bags, but Morrison charges that the
whole thing was job pat up on him by
DhOut or DOnx, from motives OF personal
malice, and one man makes an affidavit 10
the fact that he had heard Donk threaten to
have revenge on Morrison because the latter
had once reprimanded HIM. Mr.. Henderson
| says he deems it due TO the postmaster and
the superintendent to state that they knew
nothing of the frard, but were imposed upon
by the contractor and porter whom they
had always regarded as entirely trustworthy.
This porter, he believes, was in collision
with the contractor from the fact that the
one hundred bags per week which Morrison
required were always furnished. The bills
| of Morrison since he has been doing the re-
pairing for material were 81 ,133.N; amount
paid for labor, 81 20; deduct amount of
stock on hand, SlI0J0, and the grand total is
| S2,3l902. The total amount paid him by the
| government from May, 1874, to January I,
| 1875, was 81 ,45i.05; amount since January last
about 81 500. The amount charged for re-
| pairs was steadily on the increase, and Mr..
Henderson thinks If not checked would have
increased monthly.
INvEsTIG ALTON OF THE INDIANAPOLIS
DEPOSITORY.
The substance OF Mr.. Henderson's report OF
his investigation of the mailbag depository
at indianapolis, Indiana, is as follows: He
found the work OF repairing being done by
one w. G. Mason, formerly clerk i'm the In
dianapOlis post office. The work was given
| to him ON the 9th OF May, 1874 Prior to this
the government paid for the work in question
at the indianapolis depository on an average
per month, say, about 500, or about 5000
per year. While MasOn's predecessor was
doing the same work il was customary for
Mr.. Holloway. superintendent of the Office,
to supervise the repairs by examining all the
work done, and by comparing the charges on
every pouch repaired with the tag represent
ing what repairs were necessary, the price.
&c This examination took up so much OF
his time that, on consultation with the post
master, 1T was concluded to transfer this
duty to porter, one Edward Vickers by
name. Nickers, it seems, attended TO these
duties during the month of May and part OF
June, last year, but no longer; his excuse
being that Mason, the contractor, told him
he need not do IL; that he, Mason would do
nothing but what was right. The monthly
bills OF the contractor Immediately
began TO increase materially, (some-
times reaching 5000 per monthly and
recently the postmaster at Indianapolis
instituted an investigation into the
matter which lei TO the late investigation by
Special Agent Henderson. On being asked
if he did not know Mason was overcharging
for. his work, Nickers said he had had rea-
son to think so, but did not positively know
1t. On being asked by Special Agent Hen
dersOn why he did not inform the postmaster
of his suspicious, he said he regarded il as
none OF his (Vickers') business. Mr.. Hender-
son ascertained that the charges for repairs
averaged S3.0S per bag, Notwithstanding the
fact that in many cases ONLY slight repairs,
few stitches, or a small patch, costing ten
pouches. Subsequently Mr.. Henderson, pro-
cured Masons bills for material, which he
forwarded TO the Post ONCE department as
proof conclusive OF MS fraudulent charges
December last, Mason charged the depart
ment for "a S61 rivets, for which he was paid
by the department S1+SGl. The bills show
that since May 6, 1874. Mason has purchased
but 81 800 rivetS. The cost of these rivets was
1884. In other words. Mason charged the
government in three months for ISL rivets
more THAI he had used or purchased in ten
months, and had received for material
which cost him S3S.S4 the sum Of S74s6l.
and so in regard to other items.
Mason alleges that he pays one of his work
men $500 per month, (rather a fancy price for
a cobblero his wife S15, and two of his BROTH
ers SIS and S25 respectively; his total eX-
penses for labor being 1915 per month. To
sum up, the total amount OF material pur-
chased and labor paid for by him in ten
months, from May 9Th, 1874, cost him S4,O.G.
He charged the Post Office department with,
and received for the same, SIS, 4iS45, or at the
rate Of about 500 100 per year. That is to say,
in ten months he made net profit, after
paying for help, material, &c, of Sl4372.i5,
which is about three times more than the an
nual pay OF a member of Congress, aud near
ly twice as much as a member OF the Cabi-
net receives. Subsequently Mr.. Henderson
visited the repaIrer's shop and took down and
examined about one hundred pouches, which
Mason said had been repaired. Atleast half
of the bags inspected showed no repairs what
+ ever. Mr.. Henderson says he cannot believe
that Vickers' received any consideration
for his neglect Of duty, but nevertheless
recommends his removal. In concluding his
report, Mr.. Henderson says that the postmas-
ter and superintendent of the Indianapolis
office arp innocent Ofary inter- iOnal wrong