The Washington times., 1904-02-14

ON. this page is presented the
chain of evidence which the
~ Government has sought TO es-
tablish in the trial of A w. Machen
George f. Lorenz and his wife. Martha
]. Lorenz. Diller B. Groff. and Samuel
A Groff, brothers The substantiation
of the charge OF conspiring to defraud
the Government In the sale to the Post
office Department Of large numbers of
Groff letter box fasteners at an exorbi-
tant rate when Machen was superin-
tendent of free delivery in the depart
ment, depends largely upon the mental
view of this evidence taken by the jury.
The contention of the Government has
been woven about these documents and
around the facts that the Groffs had a
device which they desired to have adopt
ed by the Postofice Department and
that Machen and Lorenz were great
friends. Machen was assistant postmas-
ter at Toledo when Lorenz was postmas-
ter in that city.
The theory Of the prosecution is that
the Groffs were approached by LOrenz.
who offered 20 see that their device was
adopted. His bargain with them was
to secure orders for half the profits on
the sales.
The Price Reduced.
At first the device was sold to the de-
partment for $50. but in 1893 the price
was reduced to Sl.25. The article cost
% cents to manufacture. leaving profit
Of 81 on each. Half of that was 80 cents
or 40 per cent Of the cost OF the article.
and there is where the real important
thread OF the prosecution began.
Examination of the books and &C
counts of Machen. the Groffs. and Mr..
and Mrs. Lorenz showed that as fast
a. the Groffs received a treasury war
rant from the Government in payment
for fasteners they forwarded 40 per cent
Of the amount to George Z. Lorenz in
Toledo. Lorenz then deposited that
amount TO the credit of himself or of
his wife
Immediately. or in a few days there
after. check or draft. signed by either
Mr.. or Mrs. Lorenz. and representing
exactly. to the penny. half the amount
received from the Groffs. would sbe for
warded 10 Machen in Washington He
in turn would deposit it to the credit of
his personal account in the bank in
Westminster. Md. where he had his
summer home.
First Caused Suspicion.
1t was this strange sequence of checks
and drafts which caused the postofice
inspectors to suspect conspiracy.
Working on that as a basis. they set
to work to prove that there was con-
certed movement to defraud the public
funds of large amounts of money.
SO many complete series of these pay
ments. covering a large period Of time,
has been established that the defense
has admitted them without question. Its
contention is that Lorenz owed Machen
$4,000 as the result of oil transactions
In the Ohio fields. and that the remit
tances TO Machen were but payments on
this honest debt
II has been pointed out by the prose-
cution on cross-exa mination over and
over again that the remittances to Lo-
REM. although made in the form OF
checks and drafts sent several DAYS
apart. were an exact half Of the sum
OF the last remittance received by Lo-
REM from Croft. The explanation Of
fered by Mr.. Lorenz is that when he
saw he had a good thing in the Croft
fastener and was going 10 obtain large
sums Of money he made up his mind
that he would discharge his obligation
I'm installments by dividing evenly with
Machen the money he got from his in
terest I'm the fasteners.
A Typical Case.
A typical case OF the transfer OF
checks and drafts between the parties