Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1873-04-24
Mutilated Notes in the Treasury De-
Dartment.

Ra1 tAAAClts
Farther on we come to the room de-
voted to the counting of the mutilated
money received by mail, for, in addition
to the receipts by express, al average of
one hundred packages is received each
day by mail. The money SO received is
in much worse condition than that which
comes by express, for the reason that
currency which is mutilated is redeema-
BILE only by the Treasurer, and usually
comes in small amounts by mail while
the various assistant ~treasurers, deposit
aries, and depositary banks are agents
for the redemption of currency merely
soiled and defaced, which is forwarded
by them to the Treasurer by express.
The money received by mail comes in
all sorts of damaged conditions, and has
all imaginable kinds of horrible or ludi-
crous histories. Sometimes it has been
swallowed by a calf or a goat, which,
finding a pocket-book carelessly left
within its reach, proceeded to regale it.
self with the salt which the leather had
absorbed from the Precipitation, until
the book was forced open and the con-
tents exposed. The green notes had an
inviting and familiar appearance, and
the %confding animal eagerly swallowed
them and so sealed his W death war
rant for the owner, returning and see
ing the wreck of the pocket-book, right
ly conjectured where his money had dis
appeared, put the unwilling thief to
death and recovered the half-digested
notes. Others have been found on the
bodies of drowned or murdered men,
weeks perchance after their death. FIRE.
Guently they have been SO burned that
nothing remains but the charred resem-
blance of notes, SO frail and brittle that
a slight touch will change them to Gin
ders. Sometimes a note is sent which
some drunken fool, lord for the hour of
untold riches, to show his disregard for
money, has used to light his cigar, but
which, Upon the return of reason, he
has fastened to send to the Treasurer,
with IN humble and penitent request
that it be exchanged for a new note with
which to pay for food and lodging. Or
it may be that it is one which a terma-
CANT wife has thrown into the fire to
spite her hen-pecked mate, who has res
cued it before it was entirely devoured
by the flames ; or n that some lux
urious mouse has stolen from the money
drawer and used to line his nest. Once
a poor Frenchman sent a handful of
minute fragments of notes, with the
statement that they had met with the
accident of a little dog" Our Fenian
friends are prone to put lighted pipes in
the same pockets in which they carry
money. The consequence is that the
Treasurer receives for redemption a
great many greenbacks with round holes
burnt through them here and there, and
looking for all the world like bullet
riddled ensigns of the Irish Republic.
Some stories are so frequently repeated
as to excite grave doubts of their entire
truthfulness. For instance, a note
which is so badly damaged as to call fol
a severe stretch of the rules in order tc
make it worth anything, is pretty sure
to be said to belong to a poor, hard
working widow with an astonishing
number of children, for whom the
writer, in the f~ullness of his charitable
heart, has forwarded it for redemption
Allthese notes, SO ~variously mutilated
| must be restored as nearly as may be t.
their original shapes before their valu,
5 can be definitely aseertained. Her,
, again the skillful fingers of women ar,
l called into requisition. Some of th,
women employed III this work have, b,
long experience, become exceedingl!
expert in FASTING and restoring notes
Fragments which are so burned as tx
| seem to others only charred pieces o
paper, or SO minute as to be almost in
distinguishable, under their patien
hands again assume the semblance o
notes, SO that their kinds and denomina
tions can be readily distinguished
!, Notes which have been nibbled by mic,
into such tiny fragments that most per
sons would say that it was beyond hu
man power to restore them to thei
original shapes, are arranged and re
stored bit by bit, until after perhaps
labor of days they begin to assume thei
former forms, and at last are restore
with sufficient perfection to warran
e their redemption. These ladies hav
d made an art in which they have n
e rivals. 1t would require years to edu
S cate others to the same degree of ski
and knowledge, and it would be difficul
o to estimate the embarrassment whic
:, their Joss would entail on the Depart
ment.-From "An Hour Anaong tn
n Green6Gcks," In Scribner's.
A Chinese Murderer.
III