The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-11-30

indicted by the federal grand jury in
the District of Columbia for conspiracy
i to defraud in connection with these
transactions.
i Carriers satchels.
Carriers satchels are purchased under
four-year contracts.
i Boyle contraction June g. 1894, a
contract was executed with John Boyle
& Co., of New York, for furnishing these
satchels. beginning July 1. 1894. The
shoulder strap was part of the satchel
to be furnished by the contractor. On
August Is, 1894, Machen wrote the COM
pany that straps would be furnished
them by George D. Lamb. During the
life of the contract, 20, 7S4 shoulder straps
were furnished Boyle & CO., upon which
Long and Machen receive 255 cents each.
\ The Boyle contract expired June 80,
4 1898, and that year Machen awarded the
contract to Leopold J. Stern, of Balti-
more, a dealer in plumbers supplies
The specifications called for a satchel
with leather strap infinitely described,
/ the same as the contract with Boyle K
Co. Yet Stern was supplied with 5000
shoulder straps. Lamb continued to pay
Long a bonus on the straps, and Stern
paid for being relieved from furnishing
them.
+ Maohen, Stern. and Long were indict
ed on July 81, 1903, by the federal grand
4 jury in the District of Columbia for con-
spiracy to defraud.
i Crawford contraction June 80, 1902
the contract with Stern expired, and
new contract was entered into for
period of four years from that date with
the Postal Device and Lock company of
New York, represented by William G.
Crawford, of Washington, D. c. Craw-
ford was the deputy auditor for the
postoffice department under the last
! Cleveland administration.
/ Before the bids were opened Crawford
| enlisted the services of George E. Lorenz
of Toledo, Ohio. to aid him in securing
the contract. An agreement was enter
ed into between LOrenz and Crawford
/ whereby Lorenz was to receive specific
/ amount on each satchel as his share of
the profits. and he was to furnish the
straps. An analysis of the accounts
shows that the money which was paid
to I4erenz by Crawford was subdivided
between Lorenz Machen, and Crawford.
/ Machen and Lorenz each received 3112
per cent and Crawford % per cent. The
straps which Lorenz agreed to provide
were never furnished by him, but by
/ Machen, and paid for by the department.
! This was probably the most skillful
| and complex scheme invented by any
/ of the postal grafters.'' 1t consisted of
a double conspiracy: First, Lorenz and
Machen conspired with Crawford to de-
/ fraud the government out of the price
| of the straps; then Crawford eonsp1red
with Machen and Lorenz to defraud his
| own company out of the profits on the
manufacture of the satchels, while on
the side was Long and Machen receiving
a graft on straps from Lamb.
On July 81, 1908. Machen, Crawford,
enz were indicted by the federal grand
jury in the District of Columbia for con-
spiracy to defraud.
Croft Fasteners.
The Croft fastener is a patented de-
| vice for attaching street letter boxes to
posts. No contract was ever executed
for these fasteners. They were bought
hxy ma nf al
taching 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
department paid $3.50, but the price
was afterwards reduced to slips.
OF the $12S, 651.25 that during eight
years has been paid the Groffs by the
department. Machen and Lorenz have
received about $51, AGO.
The Groffs, Machen, and Mr.. and Mrs.
Lorenz were indicted by the federal
grand jury in the District of Columbia
on June 5, 8 and %, 1909 for conspiracy
to defraud and the offering and receiv-
ing of brides.
Painting of Street Letter Boxes.
In 1897 Machen made a verbal ar
rangement with John T. Cupper, of
Lockhaven, Pa, to paint all of the let
ter boxes in the United States, allowing
him 25 cents each on the posts, so cents
each for the letter boxes, and 81 for the
package boxes; if the work was done
by local painter Cupper was to fur
nish the material and receive SO cents
for each letter box and rs Gems for each
package box.
On July "a, 1900. the postmaster at
Springfield, Mass, submitted proposal
from local painter to furnish the ma
terial and paint the boxes in that city
for Is cents per letter box and % cents
per package box, costing in all 1920
On July q, three days afterwards. he
was informed by Machen that John r.
Cupper, the contractor, had been in
painting the boxes. After Cupper had
completed the work the postmaster was
directed to pay him $100.50, more than
three times as much as asked by the
local painter.
| In May 1902, the postmaster at San
Francisco, Cal, asked permission to
expend $3.50 for material to paint letter
boxes. In answer to this request he was
advised that John T. Cupper, of Lock-
/ haven, Pa, had been instructed to send
him sufficient material for painting the
! boxes, and on September 10 he was di-
rected to pay Cupper SS11.4S for ma
teriaI which he had ninety days prev
iously notified the department he could
secure for $780,
The manufacturers of letter boxes by
the terms of the contract were required
to paint the boxes at the factory, but,
regardless of this provision Cupper was
ordered in July, 1900, to paint all the
letter boxes at the factory where they
were made, and he was paid SIG, so
for this work
Inquiry from about five hundred free
delivery offices shows that the expense
of painting letter boxes for the six
years prior to Machen's agreement with
Cupper was 291k cents each Since
Machen's removal the boxes have been
painted in thirty-eight cities, the aver
age cost per letter box being 28.7 cents,
package boxes 81 cents, and posts 3
cents each.
Cupper, when first interrogated, de-
MED that he had ever paid anyone a
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 on
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