Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-01-07
DEMURRERS MAY BE FILED
Each Gives Bond for Appearance in
Sum of $4,000.
HISTORY OF ALLEGED OFFENSE
Investigation Made Under Direction
of Secretary of the Treasury by
Chief of Secret Service.

/ TIuW III NJ van DNck, former chemist
and inkmaker of the bureau of en-
craving and printing. and Victor G.
/ Bloede of Baltimore, president of the
| Victor G. Bloede Company, ink manu-
! facturers. who were yesterday indicted
for alleged conspiracy to defraud the
| United States. were arraigned today be-
fore Justice stafford in Criminal Court
No 1. Both entered pleas of not guilty,
with permission to withdraw their pleas
and demur to the indictment if so ad-
vised. by February Il.
Bail in the sum of 10000 was given by
each defendant, the United States Fidelity
| and Guaranty Company qualifying as
surety on the bonds.
Assistant United States Attorney Adkins
represented the government at the hear
ing today, and Attorney S. c. Peelle of
the local bar and Attorney Robert Biggs
of Baltimore appeared for the defendants
me Indictment filed yesterday resulted
from an investigation made at the direc-
ton of the Secretary of the Treasury by
MIR. w. HI. Moran, assistant chief of the
secret service. The investigation resulted
in the discovery of the close intimacy and
the passage of money between Bloede
and Van Dyck.
Referred to Bonaparte.
Thereupon the Secretary of the Treas
ury referred the matter to the Attorney
General, who directed United States At
torney Baker to present the matter to the
grand jury. Assistant United States At
torney Adkins and Mr.. Moran further in
vestigated the case and last month pre-
sented the result of their Inquiry to the
grand jury.
Van Dyck and Bloede, learning of the
| investigation by the grand jury, requested
and were granted permission to appear
before that body and explained the trans
actions Nineteen other witnesses testi-
fed.
Van Dyck is now in the employ of the
Ault and Wiborg Company, ink dealers, in
New York city.
The position of the defendants, who
claim to have been indicted for a tech
meal violation of the law, is set forth
in the following statement, given out
by their counsel today:
For several years prior to 1901 the
Van Dyck. chief of the ink making
division of the bureau of engraving
and printing, had. with the consent of
the chief of the department, been en-
rious forms of black pigments used
in the bureau.
Samples Developed.
''They had developed it is stated, a
number of samples of black as a re-
suit of hundreds of experiments with
different forms of carbons, but in the
winter of 1900 Van Dyck perfected
process whereby he could take three
of the black pigments produced by the
Bloede company and himself. and by
treating them in special method and
by adding thereto specially prepared
coke produce high-grade hard black
such as was used by plate printers.
He offered to sell this process to the
Bloede Company. but the company re-
fused to deal with Van Dyck, or to nego-
tate for the process unless he could first
obtain the consent of the head of the
Treasury Department, the company as
signing as its reason the fact that Van
Dyck was an employee of the bureau of
engraving and printing, and that it, the
Sloede Company, could not afford to do
any act which might subject it to criti-
cism. Mr. Van Dyck did apply for and
receive permission to make sale of his
process, and in February. 1901, an agree
ment was entered into between him and
Victor G. Bloede, president of the Victor
G.. Bloede Company, whereby the exclu-
sive right to use the process passed to
Mr.. Bloede.
In the spring of 1901 sample of this
hard-black was submitted to the bureau
and was tested in competition with the
samples of many other manufacturers,
and a contract was awarded to the Bloede
Company. The company succeeded in
holding the contract in the competition
tests made each year until 1906, when the
contract was awarded to cheaper black,
though the Bloede Company black secured
the highest rating for quality both in the
tests made by the bureau and by the COM
mittee of bidders.
Cost of the Material.
The government paid to the Bloede Com
pany forty-fve cents per pound for the
black. as against fifty-five cents paid to
the firm which lad previously held the
contract for many years. the saving 10
the government amounting to many thou
sands of dollars.
Mr.. Van Dyck resigned from the bureau
in 1905. but even while in the bureau
had, with the exception of mixing the COL
ors, no connection with or influence over
the tests that were made. tits not
claimed that the government was actual
ly de:rauded or in any way injured; on
the contrary. it is believed hat il re-
ceived very satisfactory material at a
price that must have Melted it a saving of
at least 100000 over the bareback
previously used for many years.
Facts Not Disputed.
There is practically no dispute as to
the facts, it is stated, and the questions
involved are largely technical In some