The Washington times., 1903-11-30
NO CONTRACT FOR
CROFT FASTENER

THE Croft fastener is patented de-
vice for attaching street letter boxes 10
posts. No contract was ever executed
for these fasteners. They were bought
pv Machen direct This method of at
tachfng letter boxes was not necessity,
and in many places pOstmasters did not
consider It satisfactory. The cost Of the
manufacture Of the patent fastener was
. cents each. For many years the de-
partment paid S1-50 but the price was
afterward reduced 10 SI-25.
.'Of the $12S. 651.25 that during eight
years has been paid the Groffs By the
department, Machen and Lorenz have
received about s51,4e0.
The Groffs, Machen, and Mr.. Al d
Mrs Lorenz were indicted by the Fed
eral grand jury in the District Of Co
Iumbia on June ), 8, and D, 1893, for con-
spIracy TO defraud and the Offering and
receiving Of brides.
In 1897 Machen made A verbal ar
rangement with John T. Cupper. of
Locl1haven. Pa. 10 paint all the letter
boxes in the United States allowing him
. cents each on the posts, 80 cents each
for the letter boxes. and 81 for the pack
age boxes; if the work was done by a
local painter Cupper was to furnish the
material and receive IS cents for each
letter box and 70 cents for each package
box
"On July "A, 1890. the postmaster at
Springfield. Mass. submitted a proposal
from a local painter to furnish the ma
terial and paint the boxes in that city
for 10 cents per box and p cents per
package box, costing all, S5225. On July
p, three days afterward. he was in
formed by AIachen that John T. Cupper,
the contractor, had been instructed 10
arrange Immediately for painting the
boxes. After Cupper had completed the
work the postmaster was directed to
pay him $l00-50, more than three times,
as much as asked by the local painter.
In May. 1902. the postmaster at San
Francisco. Cal. asked permission to ex-
pend S1So for material TO paint letter
boxes. In answer 10 this request he
was advised that John T. Cupper. Of
Lockhaven. Pa. had been instructed TO
send him sufficient material for painting
the boxes. and on September 10 he was
directed TO pay Cupper sS11.4S for ma
terial which he had ninety days previ-
ously notified the department. he could
secure for $50
THE manufacturers Of letter boxes by
the terms of the contract were required
y IL
regardless of this provision. Cupper was
ordered in July. 1890. to paint all the let
ter boxes at the factory where they were
made. and he was paid SIC. 227.5 80 for this
work
Inquiry from about 500 free-delivery
offices shows that the expense of paint
ing letter boxes for the six years prior
to Machen's agreement with Cupper was
295z cents each. Since Machen's removal
the boxes have been painted in thirty
eight cities. the average cost per let
ter box being 2s.7 cents. package boxes
81 cents. and posts cents each.
Copper, when first interrogated. de-
MED that he had ever paid anyone q
part of the money he received. for paint.
ing letter boxes. Later, when he was
confronted with drafts which he had
paid TO w. c. Long, he admitted that
he had paid him 10 cents per box OF
every box painted, or about $50. 900 dur.
ing the last five years. Part of this
money has been traced to Machen.
''Maehen, Cupper. and Long were in
dicted by the Federal grand jury on
July 81, 1900, for conspiracy to defraud
When the system of carrier registra-
ton was adopted. Machen conceived the
idea that the carriers needed a small
case in which TO carry the registration
book. He bought these cases from