The Washington times., 1904-02-07
STRANGE LETTERS
IN NACHEN CASE
Whose Scheme Is This to
Influence Jury?
ASKS TALESMEN TO CONVICT
Government at Sea, 'Tis Reported, But
Perhaps Shrewd Attorneys
Will @Reach Land"
ASKS TALESMEN TO CONVICT

Who IS writing letters TO the members
Of the jury which is trying the case OF
A w. Machen, George f. Lorenz and
Mrs. Lorenz. and Diller 3. and Samuel
A Gron, on the charge OF conspiracyg
The first heard of these letters was on
Friday. when twp jurors Informed JUS
tice Pritclard n al they had received
communications asking them to bring ~
verdict for the Government Justice
Pritchard took the Jurynaen aside at the
noon recess and tOld them they were to
pay 10 attention to the communications
and warned them that they must not al
low incidents OF that character TO have
any weight in arriving at their conclu-
sions.
Another Strange Epistle.
Another of the strange missives ar
rived yesterday morning. directed TO
John +. Kumler the Toledo attorney for
the defense. The letter warned Mr.
Kuniler that efforts were being made 10
reach the jury in the interests OF the
prosecution and that ne should be on
his guard What else the letter con-
tained is not known. as Justice Pritch-
ard took il and turned Il over 10 Holmes
/ Conrad. special counsel for the Govern
mont I'm the trials. who Is now conduct
ing an investigation into the matter.
Justice Pritchard has determined to
keep the letters and other unsavory
/ features OF the rial In the background
as much as possible. and II Is under
stood he gave .njunct!ons that no more
should be said about the letters than
could possibly be helped.
Nothing more mysterious than these
/ letters TO the jury asking conviction
{ I.t -.
/ The inexplicable feature OF the case Is
; the fact that the writer's ask the con
viction OF the defendants. although no
: private Individual was Injured IN the
I least by the alleged conspiracy In
! trials for murder or embezzling bank
! funds. where the public conscience Is
greatly outraged and hundreds of per-
sons have a direct interest In the out
come, IL is not unusual for those con-
nected with the trial TO receive anony-
nous letters telling them what TO do.
But the Machen case is entirely diff
4 ferent, and the attorneys for the prose-
cution can think " no one who woul j
Z be so much Interested that he would
risk a long term In the penitentiary by
writing TO juryman.
There is another possible explanation
-.hich will be followed up by the Gov
/ ernment.
The Mystery Deepens.
Mr. Kumler's letter. received yester-
day. warned the defense that an effort
was being made 70 get at" the jury
for the prosecution. and that letter
complicates the problem all the more.
Why a man who would risk the peni-
ltentiary to write TO members of a Jury
should let It be known TO another man
I NH Fs.Fx cd L. -, !.
fense TO Tip off" the alleged attempt
is more than any Of those who are fol-
lowing the trial have been able to
understand.
! thorough investigation will be made
and. judging from the temper Of the
prosecution. II the guilty party is found
Il will go hard with him, be he an in
dividual schemer or the tool of schem-
ers
Mrs. Lorenz identified her signature
in checks TO Machen yesterday. but said
they were put there at the request OF
her husband. and that she made no
inquiry about the way in which the
checks were TO be used She was not
cross-examined. and II is believed that
when the case gees 20 the jury, the
| Government will ask the court TO give
instructions that she be acquitted.
John T. Arms testified that ne had
/ had dealings with Diller y. Croft in the
past thirty years that aggregated a
l large amount OF money, but GrofY never
| kept any accounts or books. When he
wanted TO know how he stood he visited
Mr. Arms and examined the ledEers of
| Arms firm, which discounted his notes
] Ferdinand w. Machen, Of Toledo, re-
hearsed IN part the story OF the OF
| deals IN which Machcn and the L1orenzes
/ were interested. He said he was present
wnen Lorenz signed the note to Macheu
] for s25.0oa