Evening star., 1925-04-12
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star

Frauds were discovered in the Post
ONCE Department half a century ago
that were forerunners of the more
celebrated star route"
Postal frauds Of half a dozen
roras years later. In The Star
FRAUDS. of April 6, 1876, is the
following:
THE Postmaster General has just
| conclued an investigation into the
matter of mail contracts, IL having
| been discovered that there was col
| lusion between several clerks ana
| certain contractors in order to give
the latter an unfair advantage in
putting in their bids. The investi-
| cation has resulted in the discovery
| that just before and since the last
letting, in February last, four of five
clerks, whose names are for the
present withheld, have been using
their positions to advance the inter-
|. .ests of certain contractors, the sup
position being that they. have been
under the pay of said contractors.
On the day the bids were opened
each one was stamped with a stamp
! bearing the initials of the First and
Second Assistant Postmasters Gen
eral. The contractors in question,
through collusion with the clerks, OBJ
Itained q counterfeit stamp, and, learn
| ing through the clerks the amount
! of the various bids, were enabled to
put in lower ones, which, being
stamped were made to appear reg
! ular and as put in before the day
of opening the bids. 1t is understood
that a number of awards were made
on these fraudulent bids, but such as
were made will be Immediately can
! celed. The clerks. 1t is to be pre-
sumed, will be dismissed, and those
against whom the proof is conclusive
will be prosecuted in the courts"
|
| Democratic hopes for party success
| in the national elections in 1876 were
| -. 20 ceding the cam
| oiSnlHCdHCc ol paign, as scan
Spring Elections. qhas the administra nhdetInE
tion arose and evidences of a reaction
| from the long continued Republican
dominance developed. State elections
were held early in April, 1875, and
gave some encouragement to the
| Democrats, though the results were
somewhat mixed. The Star of April
! 6, 1875, says:
| "The Connecticut election isn't a
decisive sign that the Democratic tide
is yet on the rise, though 1t will no
4
| doubt be held by that party as a sub
| stantial success. The Democratic
governor Ingersoll, is reelected by a
| reduced plurality, and the Democrats
| probably gain two Congressman. AS
! the Republican platform in the State
| canvass contained a plank in the
| Endorsement of the administration. il
will no doubt be claimed by the in
dependent opponents of the latter as
| specially an administration defeat
| But as Congressman Hawley, anti
| Grant Republican, has been defeated
in the Hartford district, while Con-
| gressman Starkweather, administra-
tion Republican, has been reelected
by a handsome majority in the New
| London district, this sort of reason
| ing doesn't seem to work out log
ically. In Michigan the Republicans
seem to have damned the Democratic
tidal wave to some purpose, while, on
the other hand. the local elections in
Ohio afford some encouraging 'straws'
for the Democrats
| X X
Newspaper Row was a famous To-
cation in Washington half a century
ago, the stretch of buildings on E
Practical Jokers on Thirteenth and
Newspaper Row. on oouISoutM Fourteentb nth
street between f and the Ebbitt
House. Herein then and for some
years later were established practi-
| cally all of the correspondents of
out-of-town papers. In The Star of
April s, 1875, is a news item telling
of pranks played there by practical
| jokers the night before:
| Some one or more inclined to be
waggish having arrived probably at
| the conclusion that Newspaper Row
was not embellished with a sufficient
number of signs to designate its i'm
| portance, contributed at a late hour
! last night an additional number
| without regard to the eternal fitness
| of things Those passing the Tribune
| Office had their attention directed to
flaming red placard conveying the
intelligence that the Steamer Arrow
| left daily for Mount Vernon, and that
| Frank Hollingshead was captain.
Further on the office of the Philadel-
| phia Press and the Chicago Times
| was adorned with a sign, mammoth
| in proportions, Inscribed. 'Widdenich,
| Hunderling & Co., Cincinnati Lager
Beer The Associated Press came in
| for a solemn establishment, and was
| given an undertaker's card. The
| World Office was blockaded in the en-
| trance by a Theater ComiQue bill
board, the most prominent and notice
] able letters being Saved From the