Worcester morning daily spy. (Worcester, Mass.) 1888-1898, 1898-01-02
COUPON STAMPS.
A Test Case on Trial in Central
District Court.
Judge Woodward Called Upon to Give q
Decision as to the Legality of the
Trading Stamp Scheme.

Three cases were tried in the civil
session Of the central district court Sat
urday, before Judge Woodward, in
which the Traders Supply Company
was interested, in one of them as
plaintiff and In two as defendant The
first case was the Traders Supply Com
pany VS.. Bertha l. ForbuSh, an action
of contract, to recover $26. so for coupon
stamps sold to the defendant. The Sec
ond case was that of Bertha !. Forbush
vs.. the Traders Supply Company, an
action of contract, to recover S. paid
by the plaintiff, suit being brought on
the ground that the transaction was IL
legal. The third case was that Of C. L.
F'orbush VS.. the Traders Supply Com
pany, an action of tort, in which the
plaintiff said that the defendant con-
verified two coupon books valued at
$4S.7O and one receipt or letter. of the
property and goods and chattels Of the
plaintiff. John e. Sullivan appeared for
9. l.. and Bertha l. Forbush and
Charles 7. Tatman for the Traders
supply Company The three cases
were tried together, and the question
as to the legality Of the coupon system
was kept prominently in the fore
ground.
In opening the case, Mr. Tatman ex-
planned at length the methods of doing
business pursued by the Traders Sup
ply Company. Each book given out by
the company contains 5000 coupons. The
merchant to whom the book is issued
agrees to settle with the company
weekly for the coupons issued during
that time. He further agrees to give
to his customers one coupon with every
sale of 10 cents worth of goods, If the
customer calls for the coupons. Books
are issued to the customers by the COM
pany, and when filed are redeemable
at the company's store in goods or pre-
miums. The stamps are pasted into this
book, as they are received by the Gus
toner, and not until the book is filled
can 1t be redeemed at the store. In the
first case, the defendant does business
under married woman's certificate.
The plaintiff was unable to collect
money on the tbooks, and took them
back; and noWl brings suit to recover
the money due 4n the coupons used.
On the first fount the answer is a
general denial On the second count
the answer was3 that the plaintiff could
not recover, because the contract or ac-
count answered, on which the plaintiff
sought to recover, was contrary to pub
lie policy, and in restraint of trade"
In the third count the defendant said
that the plaintiff could not recover be-
cause the contract sued on was Illegal
and void, as it was in violation of the
laws of the commonwealth.
William Ronayne, former agent,
and G. e. Oliver, the present agent for
the Traders Supply Company, both
testified for the plaintiff that the For
bush account had never been squared
with the company. The latter said that
late in October he went to Forbush's
store 20 demand the books, and took
them, leaving a receipt. Mr.. Forbush
was not in the store, and the witness
obtained the books from a clerk. He
was cross-examined by Lawyer Sullivan
and said he collected $3.50 for every SIS
worth of stamps issued. He did not
know that any books had been partly
filled and never turned in at the store,
and he did not know that the company
expected this to be the case, and
counted on 1t as part of it's scheme. He
said that the clerk in Forbusns store
gave him the books at his request.
Mr.. Forbush, dealer in, fish and
oysters, at "a Green street, said he en-
tered into a contract with the COM
pany last April The solicitor of the
company said that if he would Sign the
agreement, no agreement would be
made with George Jennison, a neighbor-
Ing fish dealer, and he further promised
that he would send number of young
women about the neighborhood to tell
all the women of the advantages to be
derived from the coupon trading
scheme. Mr.. F'orbush said it frequently
happened that customers had bought As
cents worth of goods and asked to be
allowed to give him five cents more so
that they could get five stamps. He
lost he first book ne received from the
company after but few stamps had
been taken from it, and the company
agreed to stand half the loss.
Richard Monahan, the clerk who was
in charge of Forbush's store at the time
the books were taken, testified that
Oliver asked him where the books were
kept as he wised to examine them. The
witness refused to get them and Oliver
went into the Office, opened the drawer
and took out the books, afterwards
writing out a receipt which he left. C.
H. Adams, clerk for Mr. Forbush, tes-
titled to visits Of Oliver to the store for
the purpose of getting the books Wit
ness stopped him once when he was go
ing to open the drawer where the books
were kept.
After the case had been argued, Judge
Woodward reserved his decision.
CENTRAL DISTRICT COURT, UT
LEY, J.-SATURDAY, JAN. /.
Bedros K. Mazgerthian, an Armenian.
was arraigned on the charge Of assault
with dangerous weapon upon a fell
low countryman. He was held in $1,000
for appearance Monday morning.
The DRINKS were: George W. Smith,
Daniel Mccarthy and Bernard Gilroy,
fined $40 each; Oscar Gustafson, a con-
tinued case, was fled
EXCEPTTONS TIT mn