The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1880-08-12
Mutilated Currency. /

Mutflated Currency.
Whenever any one, through the acct
dents or carelessness Of mankind, or his
wife, or his COW, or hog, or in any other
way, comes into possession Of mutilated
currency, he sends it to the Treasurer Of
the United States for redemption. He
also usually tells the story Of his wrongs
or his mist rtunes to excite the officials
sympathy and to get good bills in re-
turn This engenders a sort Of itera-
ture which, if collected, would make an
interesting and curious volume. Be-
fore giving a few notes. from it, it will be
told how this sort of battered and torn
currency is redeemed. Tt goes to the
Redemption Bureau Of the treasury, and
I IN case it is legal tender note and the
numbers and denomination are distin-
punishable, and satisfactory evidence is
furnished that the other portion will
never be presented, a new note is issued
to the owner Of the fragments. IF ma
tlonal- bank note, the name of the bank
must still cling to it, and the same evil
dence as to the other portions be fur
nished. Satisfactory evidence consists
. OF afidavits as to how the money became
SO dilapidated, and the Endorsements BY
responsible persons as to the honest in
tents OF the claimant for redemption,
For, Of course, fraudulent attempts are
frequently made on this bureau. Quite
often a woe-begone piece Of note will be
sent IN, and, upon applying the crucial
test, will turn out to be part of coun-
I terfeit; sometimes, too, the fragments
are manufactured . to make up good
case. In these instances the sender
gets reply more pointed than polite.
But generally there is little trouble, and
the fifty men and women employed in
this division can see through the case
remarkably quick, and the claimant gets
his Just deserts at once. The pieces Of
notes which pass muster are ground to
apulp, dried, and sold to paper-makers.
The amount redeemed averages nearly
81 900, 900 a month. "a
One Of the most remarkable cases
that has ever come before the Redemp-
ton Bureau is that Of Nebraska back
woodsman, q camp fire and 800, By
accident he dropped his, pocketbook
containing the money into the fire; it
was very hot, and before he could get it
out the book had shriveled up to hard
ball round and compact. He did not
open it, but sent it on with statement
Of the facts. The ball was cracked just
as a walnut would be, and revealed the
contents in $40 and $40 bills intact and
unchanged, and the backwoodsman got
his 800 back again. Another case was
that Of an Illinois farmer who had dis
trust for banks. A short time ago he
had several thousand dollars (no unusual
thing among Illinois farmers) which he
carried in his coat pocket and hung the
coat on chair near the fire. In the
night his wife smelt 6 something burn
ing, " and jumped up to find his coat
burned and his money charred mass.
fortunately there was enough dis
tinguishable about the notes to secure
him, and he has since concluded to pat
ronize the banks. 4
The charred money from the great
Chicago fire was sent to this bureau for
redemption. Banks keep their money
in packages unfolded, and most of the
Chicago banks lost the notes they had
on hand. In some instances, replacing
was impossible, but in others the thin
layers Of notes, the division between
which was hardly percepGble, were neat
" separated, and the numbers and de-
nominations picked ont of the black and
feathery framework Of what was once 6
note. In this way $$ss126 900 out Of 1856.
600 was identified, and new notes issued
y to the banks for that amount
An Ohio farmer lost $3.50 by blowing
thunder in his field. The next season
he turned it up, and, though almost de
composed, it was, upon application,
found redaemable Gases like Ebis arc.
numerous. Also instances where dogs,
horses, cows and other animals have
digested and partly OF wholly de-
stroyed Uncle Sans promises to pay.
One man sends forward the, portion Of a
$40 bill, and says he has watched the
dog yigilantly for the remainder Of it,
but not successfully. He got new,
note.