The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-11-30
COUNTERFEIT AUTO MARKERS
 WERE USED BY LOCAL GARAGE AS TEMPORARY CONVENIENCE
State Markers Mislaid-Substi- tute Ones Were Not Used on Any Car For More Than A Hours.

Before Secretary of State Matthew H. Rogers in Hartford yesterday, the officers of the Fairfield Auto Company defended themselves on the charge of having made and used counterfeit State auto markers
 Those present at the hearing were Harry D. Gates of Bridgeport. presi- dent and sales manager; Edward R. Hampton of Milford. secretary of the company and manager of the garage; Frank Vorelli. in. the employ of the State police: and Clifford B. Wilson Of Bridgeport, their lawyer. =
 Frank Vorelli testified that his at- tention had been called on October to the marker on a car of the Fair field Auto Company which had stopped at a corner. It gave every appear ance of being handmade and bore the Connecticut registration 132D. Two weeks later he saw another handmade marker bearing the same number. He visited the office of the company and the officers informed him, he said, that they would put no more of the handmade markers on their cars. He saw more of these markers later bear ing the same number. He again visit ed the garage and was told that trey were on cars that were being brought to the garage from the freight station. The officers of the company admitted to him that they had painted their markerh with Q denominations. the marker being of regular size but ,,ot of the color legally required.
 He said further that the regulation marker was used on the front of all the company's cars, that 132D was the dealers number of that company, that he had found one marker out of the six necessary to make up the three sets for three cars, to be missing; that he had seen several bad markers: that he had seen the handmade marker on the autos but could not tell whether the handmade markers had been on more than twenty-four hours. This is the limit of time prescribed by law in which a sign other than that issued by the State office can be used.
 Arthur Fifoot. employed in the au- tomobile department of the State Sec retary's office, testified that six mark CTS had been sent with the certificate of registration in 1909. that three ad- ditional sets had been ordered by the company November 30. 1909. and had been sent December 13. The company had got six gets in 1910f This evil dence was asked for. to show that the company had need of more than three sets of markers.
 MT Hampton testified that he had received the six markers for 1909 and 1910. He said that he never needed or used more than six sets Of mark CTS. During the first ten months Of the year two sets were mislaid. To piece out the number and to operate all of the six cars it had been neces- sary to duplicate some of the markers. This had been the case in bringing cars up from the freight station. He testified that the markers had never remained on the cars over night, there fore not over twenty-four hours, and that he had never let anybody else use them. He said he had ordered the men to take the markers off the cars when Vorelli had told them to. He said that the number of markers paint ed with red figures was four or five: When they had enough of the legal markers to make six full sets he said