The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1873-04-05
Oar Olio.
Mutilated Notes in the Treasury De-
partment.

Farther on We come to the room devoted
to the counting Of the mutilated money
receipts by express, an 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
y mutilated is redeemable only by the
Treasurer, and usually comes in small
amounts by mail while the various assist
ant treasurers, depositaries, and dopositary
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
ludicrous histories. Sometimes it has
been swallowed by calf or goat, which
hnding pocket-book carelessly left within
Its reach, proceeded to regale itself with
the salt which the leather had absorbed
from the perspiration, until the book was
forced open and the contents exposed.
The green notes had an inviting and fami-
lar appearance, and the confding animal
eagerly swallowed them and SO sealed his
own death-warrant for the owner, return
ing and seeing the wreck of the pocket
book, rightly conjectured where his money
had disappeared, put the unwittng 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.
quently they have been so burned that
nothing remains but the charred resemb-
lance Of notes, so frail and brittle that a
slight touch will change them to cinders.
Sometimes 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 hastened to
send to the Treasurer, with an 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 termagant wife has thrown into
the fire to spite her heu-pecked mate, who
has rescued it before it was entirely de.
voured by the flames; or one that some
luxurious mouse has stolen from the
money-drawer and used to line his nest
Once poor Frenchman sent handful of
minute fragments of notes, with the state.
ment that they had "met with the accident
of 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 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, note
which is so badly damaged as to call for
severe stretch Of the rules in order to
make it worth anything, is pretty sure to
be said to belong to poor, hard. working
widow with an astonishing number Of
children, for whom the writer in the
fullness Of his charitable heart has for
warded it for redemption.
All these notes, SO variously mutilated,
must be restored as nearly as may be to
their original shapes before their value can
be definitely ascertained. Here again the
skillful fingers of women are called into
requisition. Some of the women employed
in this work have, by long experience,
become exceedingly expert in pasting and
restoring notes Fragments which are so
burned as to seem to others only charred
pieces Of paper, or so minute as to be al
most indistinguishable, under their patient
hands again assume the semblanee ofnotes,
so that their kinds and denominations can
be readily distinguished Notes which
have been nibbled by mice into such tiny
fragments that most persons would say
that it was beyond human power to restore
them to their original shapes, are arranged
and restored bit by bit, until after perhaps
a labor Of days they begin to assume their
former forms, and at last are restored with
sufficient perfection to warrant their re-
demption. These ladies have made an art
in which they have no rivals. 1t would
require years to educate others to the same
degree Of skill and knowledge, and it
would be difficult to estimate the embarrass
ment which their loss would entail ON the
Department.-From "An Hour Among
The Greenbacks," an illustrated article IL
Seri6ner's .tSr April.