Evening star., 1926-09-20
j. S. FILES CLAIM
FOR S5,0)0,0DO
Sues on Sale of Bosch Mag
neto Co. by Alien Prop
erty Custodian.

A civil suit filed in Federal Court
at Boston by the Department of JUS
tice to recover $5000,000 from the
principals in the sale Of the original
Bosch Magnetic Co. of Springfield,
Mass, in 1918 by the alien property
custodian and reorganization of the
company into the present American
Bosch Magnetic Co. will be conducted
under the direction of an assistant 10
Attorney General Sargent. His Sc
lection will later be announced.
After more than five years Of in
vestigations by Federal grand juries,
officials and agents Of the Justice and
War Departments and a special Sen
ate committee-after 1t is too late to
institute criminal proceedings If they
were ever contemplated-the Gov
ernment has brought a civil case
barely within the time limit it had
TO act.
1t is understood that papers in the
case were filed in Boston Friday.
with an understanding nothing would
he announced until copies were served
on large number of defendants
named. Saturday was the last day
in which the Government could have
brought an action in one Federal dis
trict and reached by means of it all
Approved by Attorney General.
This particular case has been un'
der preparation in the Department OF
Justice for months with the utmost
secrecy preserved. Attorney General
Sargent personally approved the fl
ing of the action, and the stage is
set for the latest but most important
civil suit resulting from numerous
investigations of alien property
transactions The most important
criminal action is the American
Metals case in which former Attor-
ney General Daugherty and Thomas
w. Miller, a former alien property
custodian under the Harding admin
iStratiOn, are on trial
The Bosch case goes back to the
Wilson administration. Those most
prominently identified with the seiz-
ure, sale and reorganization Of the
company were A. Mitchell Palmer of
Pennsylvania, then alien property
custodian and afterward Attorney
General; Francis p. Garvan of New
York, then one Of Palmer's chief
assistants and afterward alien prop
erty custodian himself; Martin f.
Kern of Pennsylvania, wealthy
brewer and newspaper owuer; Arthur
T. Murray, friend and associate of
Kern; George A. Macdonald, presi-
dent Of the Chicopee National Bank
Of Springfield: Hornblower & Weeks
of Boston, and the Chase National
Bank and Chase Securities Co, of
New York. The property was sold
to Kern, who then organized the
present American Bosch Magnetic Co
The most comprehensive story of
the Bosch transaction ever made pub
lie. and now, Of course, matter of
official and public record, was re-
lated in sworn testimony by George
w. Storck, an expert accountant and
experienced investigator for the De-
partment Of Justice, in April, 1924, to
the special Senate committee which
investigated former Attorney General
Daugherty.
Storck testified that Kern and his
associates made a million dollars and
that Kern made more than 100000
himself without putting up one cent.
There also was placed in the
records of the hearings before the
Senate committee a detailed report
of an examination of the books of
the old and the new Bosch com.
panies made by William J. Barry. an
accountant for the War Department.