Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-06-05

dictment as having been paid Mr.. Machen
by the Croft Brothers is S1S.9S7.79
Section 55O1 Revised Statues.
Sec. o5o1 Revised Statutes. under which
Machen is indicted, Is as follows:
Every officer Of the United States, and
every person acting for or on behalf of the
United States, in any official capacity UNI
der or by virtue of the authority Of any de-
partment or office of the government there
of; and every officer or person acting LOT
or on behalf of either house Of Congress.
or. of any committee of either house, or Oh
both houses thereof, who asks, accepts, OF
receives any money, or any contract
promise, undertaking, obligation. gratulty.
or security for the payment OF money or
for the delivery or conveyance of anything
of value, with intent to have his decision
or action on any question, matter, cause,
or proceeding which may, at any time, pc
pending. or which may be by law brougnt
before him, in his official capacity. or in his
place of trust or profit. influenced thereby.
shall be punished as prescribed In the pre-
ceding section.
The preceding provides that any member
of Congress who shall be guilty of the
offense In Sec. 5501 shall be punished by "a
fine not more than three times the amount
asked or accepted or received, and by I'M
prisonment not more than three years
Mr.. Machen on Hand.
Promptly at o'clock this afternoon, the
hour at which. 1t was understood. the grand
jury had arranged to hand in its report
Mr.. Machen appeared at the entrance to
Criminal Court No. 2. accompanying him
was Attorney Charles A. Douglass, and
also Messrs. Orrin G. Staples, David Moore,
+. NJ. Criswell Emanuel SPEECH and DR..
Croson, who were prepared to qualify as
his sureties. ,..s--..
Mr.. Payne Informed.
Postmaster General Payne arrived at his
desk shortly before 8 o'clock this afternoon.
and had not heard of the indictment being
returned against Machen. When informed
of the fact. Mr.. Payne stopped signing his
mail, looked far off into the distance for
moment. and then, with something of sad
ness in his voice, remarked simply in low
tone:
We'll. that was to be expected"
Then, after pause, Mr. Payne queried:
What was done with the other two?"-
undoubtedly meaning the Croft brothers.
And then, after rejecting:
''Oh, yes, the jury only takes up one case
at time
Mr.. Payne had just been Informed of
the victory Of the department in the cases
involving his discretion as to what shall
and what shall not be classed as second
class mail matter, and feeling very
good at the first report of the decision.
1T 1t involves the broad principle that
we hope 1t Does he remarked, 1T is a
great victory for the department"
To give the postmaster discretion as to
second-class matter means that the gov
eminent will be saved many thousands Of
dollars during each year In postal reve
nues. This is one of the reforms which is
confidently looked forward to as necessary
to place the postal service a paying
basis.
Machen's Defense,
Mr.. Machen has been discussing with his
friends the case against him in connection
with the Croft letter box fastener. In this
discussion some of the inside details of the
case which have been carefully guarded by
the prosecution have been divulged. 1t was
not known generally that the prosecution
was in the possession of certain checks
which it is maintained were sent to Machen
in payment of his profits in the Croft fast
ener. Mr.. Machen has remarked, however
that all of the checks which have been
secured by the post office inspectors were
sent him by his business partner, Mr..
George f. LorenZ of Toledo, Ohio. Mr.. Lo-
REM was appointed postmaster of Toledo
by President Cleveland, and although he
does not now hold that office, is said to
be regarded as one of the substantial citi-
Zens of that city.
Mr.. Machen claims that his partnership
with Lorenz was strictly legitimate one
and that the checks transmitted to him by
I>OTtnZ were IN connection with the min
ing business which the firm conducted. AL
though the amount of these checks cannot
be ascertained. Mr.. Machen says that the
one for the largest amount represents a
personal loan to himself from Lorenz
Mr.. Machen further informs his friends
that he was not partner of the Croft
Brothers concern. and that he did not re-
ceive any of the profits from the sale of
the letter box fastener to the government
He is optimistic that no wrongdoing will
be proved against him. and he adds that the
only possible cause there may be for criti-
cism of his administration so far as the
Grof fastener is concerned, Is that the price
paid for the article may be considered ex-
cessive. This was necessary, he maintains
because the article was a patented affair
and the larger price paid for 1t was in line
with the universal practice in the purchase
of articles which are patented and where
there is no competition.
Stories were printed some days ago to the
erect that Lorenz was the go-between in
the Machen-Groff deal. and the above ex-
PLANTATION made by Mr.. Machen gives his
presentation of this matter.
The explanation which Mr.. Machen is
making to his friends is not news to the
government officials who have been ia
miliar with the case from the first. This
same explanation is understood to have
been made to the officials who questioned
Mr. Machen for three hours on the day he
was arrested.
When asked how such an explanation
would affect the strength of the govern
ments case against Mr.. Machen these
same officials remarked significantly that
there was nothing novel in the matter to
them. and that the declaration had not
deferred them from going ahead with their
case.
There was some degree of relief mani
Tested among officials who may be held
as partly RESPONSIBLE at least for the de-
Velopment OF the case against Machen
when the news OF his Indictment by the
grand jury was made known today 1t
was decidedly the desire of these officials
to avoid the public hearing before United
States Commissioner Taylor
Postmaster General Payne did not go
to his office this morning. The announce
ment was made that he was slightly In
disposed and would not be at his desk
until the middle OF the afternoon Fourth
Assistant Bristow, who is in immediate
charge of the investigation, reported no
new developments in any phase of the
inquiry today.