Omaha daily bee., 1883-03-28
THE RANK OF ENGLAND.
What a Yankee Correspondent Found
In Conversation With the
Chief Accountant.

The first person I met on entering
the bank of England wos q venerable
porter In a quaint uniform, which
dates back, I think, q hundred years
or more; 1t left q green and buff i'm.
preston on me, but I cannot accur.
ateIy describe Its details. The porte,
Led Lem me to a room yh sss to B~aSeeutiye
TIE officer, nfGray, 10 entitled
"ohief accountant" and his position
corresponds very much to that OF
cashier of one of our banks. Mr..
Gray, who sat at his desk surrounded
by q corps of busy clerks, and who Is
q gentleman of the most courteous
and ~unassuming manners, gave me q
cordial welcome, and uuder his guild.
ance l visited every department. of
the bank, and had everything which l
did not understand, and at q glance
explained to me. The capital
of the bank is Ella, 500 600;
Its circulation In the hands of the pub.
lie about e25, 600, 900; Its deposits, on
no portion of which interest Is paid,
average In three days about 932, OO0,.
600. With its customers 1t has two
kinds of account, deposit and discount.
l was told that In order to get q dis.
count at this bank 1t was absolutely
necessary to have q deposit account,
but 1t can hardly be possible that q
banking institution with such an
enormous working capital, amounting
to nearly $500, 600, 900, Ia ever obliged
to buy paper In the open market In
order to keep up loans. The bank
discounts nc bill having over three
months to run; the smallest city bill
which It discounts is el00; the small.
est country bill, EGO. 1t circulates no
smaller notes than Go, but this seems
to be the only limited denomination;
in q frame in the building Is a IAN.
oelled note of the Bank of England for
tl0O. 600. 900, aud, If I remember
rightly, the banker poet Rogers had
hanging In his library a cancelled note
OF the same institution for ESQ, 600.
l have heard that a note for f1O,-
600 once had q singular history. 1t
was paid out to one Of the directors of
the bank, who soon after lost It under
such circumstances that he was salts.
fed, and succeeded In satisfying the
bank, that 1t had fallen into his fire.
place and been destroyed. He was
given q new note, for which he re.
turned Q proper receipt and guarantee.
Many years after the original note
was presented for payment; the bank
~endeavored to disown II, but could
not, for 1t wa genuine and In the
hands OF an innocent person, and the
bank had to pay 1t. It's history was
looked Into, and II was ascer-
tained that, instead Of being burned,
1t had been carried up the chimney by
q draft, and had found . safe lodg.
In some granny In the fiue.
Here 1t had remained until alterations
the house necessitated the removal
OF the chimney; then It wal discovered
,oy q workman, who regarded It as a
Legitimate find, and who presented 1t
for payment.
Right here I may as we'll relate
another story OF the bank, of which
there are many, both In print and as
legends, but of which / will let these
two serve as specimens. A sewer
workman while poking around under
ground found that by raising q flag.
stone he could penetrate into the bull.
lion room OF the bank. Amazed at
the discovery, he pondered over 1t,
finally concluded he would utilize
lt to his pecuniary benefit without
stealing. He therefore wrote to the
directors, asking what reward he
would receive if he should meet them
any appointed hour of the night In
the bullion room, and thus reveal to
them q mode Of ingress of which they
entirely ignorant. They named
\ sum which would make him inds-