[2] Foss was educated in public schools, and then attended Franklin County Academy in St. Albans, Vermont.

[3] Foss first worked as a traveling salesman, selling a lumber-drying device for the company his father managed.

[2] His success in this role prompted Benjamin Franklin Sturtevant to offer Foss a management job in Boston in 1882.

[2] In its building that covered ten acres, Sturtevant Company made blowers, economizers, engines, forges, motors, turbines, and more.

[2] After politics, Foss returned to his former manufacturing business and also managed his real estate holdings in Boston.

[5] His motion was defeated following a speech by Henry Cabot Lodge, urging national party unity in defense of the protective tariff.

[6] After Governor Eben Sumner Draper was elected in 1908, divisions within the state Republican Party deepened, especially over tariff reform.

[8] In 1909, he bought his way onto the Democratic Party ticket as its nominee for lieutenant governor, but lost to the Republicans by a narrow margin.

[8] In March 1910, Foss won a special election for United States House of Representatives, filling a vacancy caused by the death of William C.

[11] At this point, Foss announced that he intended to run regardless, and essentially demanded the party ratify his nomination.

[12] In the general election, labor Democrats attacked Draper's anti-labor record, while Foss essentially campaigned against the pro-tariff stance of Senator Lodge.

[14] He signed measures covering employer liability and workmen's compensation, but also vetoed bills authorizing the tenure of school teachers and the right to picket.

[14] In addition, a pension plan was started for state employees and part-time schooling for working children was also enforced.

[15] Foss's tenure included the 1912 textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts, which was stimulated by the passage of a law limiting the working hours of women and children.

[16] Incidents of violence in the strike prompted Foss to call out the state militia, and he applied pressure on the mill owners to settle the action by threatening to withdraw them.

Richeson had documented bouts of mental problems and was convicted without trial after eventually pleading guilty to the charges.