The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1885-12-03

HiOHey W do " NC pdChcu III d s4O-i'
box"
"How do you make that out?''
"Well, the question is a somewhat
pulling one to answer, but / can east J
demonstrate it. The ratio of both the
diameter and thickness of five anC
twenties is as eight is to five"
With this the expert strung eight hall
eagles out in a row, and il was found
to be exactly as long as a row of five
twenties. The two rows were then
stacked up and the tops were found TO
be on level to hair 5 breadth. This
illustrated the fact that the smallest
cubic space that would be exactly
filled by both coins would hold 5x5x5 in
twenties and SxSxS in fives, or 125 twen-
ties and 512 fives. One hundred and
| twenty-five twenties equal 50, 500, Of
| course, while 512 fiveS amount to s.
$50. This difference of $50 the teller
was unable to explain, and he stated
that it had puzzled a good many eX-
perts. The interstices between the
| tWenties were much larger it was adj
| mitted, but there were so many more
| spaces between a cubic body of tiyeS
that there should not be any difference
when the ratio of the coins is so per-
feet. After pulling over the matter
| for some time the teller was about re-
storing the coin to the trays, when his
| quick eye fell on a well-worn five bear
inc the date of 1880.
| Here a relic, he exclaimed, as he
tossed it over. IF the old standard of
coinage was in force now, the differ
| ence in favor of the fives would be easily
explained. This was made in the DAYS
when the Government used to swiDdle
| itself OUT of over n dollars worth of
gold in every four s. pieces that were
| turned out by the mint
The reporter examined the veteran
bit of metal, and then asked for an eX-
| PLANTATION.
Well" said the teller" "a $50
piece contains SIC grains of gold, 600
fine, and always has, to the best of my
knowledge. The first s. pieces were
coined in the year 1895, and the law
compelled them to contain 135 grains
of gold, 9163 fine. 1t takes four fives
to make twenty, and four times 135
grains is equal to $40 grains, or "a
grains more than a $40 piece Add the
extra fineness to this and you have
more than the 25} grains that it takes
to make one gold dollar. 1t was the
same way with tens at that time; they
contained 270 grains each, or $40 grains
to the twenty. 1t evidently took the
Secretary of the Treasury thirty-nine
years to get onto this leakage, for it
was not until 1884 that the weight of
TO
that of tens to 258 grains. There is a
premium of 81 on tives antedating
1884, and if they are not too badly worn
they are worth it in extra bullion"
The subject OF bank robberies was
here resumed at the point where it had
been broken off by the teller's mathe-
NAUTICAL problem on the rotation of five
to twenties. He expressed the belief
that the Pacific Coast banks were more
free from raids than their eastern con-
freres, on account of the prevalence of
coin here in preference topaper money
''There a clever sneak could toss
a million dollars into his hat and still
have room to get it on; but here if he
stole $4,000 he could not carry it with
out its being seen, and the heightened
bank thief will not take such desperate
chances as he would oe compelled to
run with coin in his possession. There
are very few notes in circulation here
now"
''What will $4,000 in coin weight"
''You can easily figure that for your
self. There are our trays that are built
to hold S20,000in twenties. They weigh
1,075 ounces each, or rather the coin
does, which equals 67.3 pounds. Ten
thousand dollars weighs just half that,
and even 339 pounds of coin would be
a pretty good load for man to stow
out of sight on his person. always
had great admiration for Bret Harte,
until | read one of his yarns, where |
was able to contradict him. One chap
ter in it was devoted to the robbery of
the stage to Red Dog and the
driver was the hero. When the rob-
berS brought him to halt he fired the
coach lamps at them, and then jumped
on to one of the stage horses with the
treasurc-boX, and after race of six
miles beat them into the nearest sta
ton. The treasure-box, so Bret Harte
said, contained $4,000 in gold dust
Now if you can find a man that can
ride horse bareback over a mountain
road, and hold a box weighing 16S
pounds, and, thus handicapped, beat
two well-mounted men fully equipped,
I'll back him to whip Sullivan. I'm
afraid that Bret didn't figure the
weight of the coin down very fine when
he made the horse and driver do such
trying feat
IF gold is so heavy, silver must be
trying to handle"
1--WE don't handle it. We wouldn't
accept a deposit of 1000 silver dollars
from anybody, and we never take silver
may bring in a roll or two to make a
good round sum, but we never break
it, and pay it out in the same packages
in which we receive it. Every depositor
is required to write his name on such
roll, and if the party we give it to finds
it stuffed with lead pipe, or short piece,
all he has to do is to bring it back
with the wrapper, and the depositor's
signature holds him good for it. We
can refuse silver at this desk, because
we make no charge for deposits. In
fact, the bank just keeps me for orna-
ment and accommodation; for unless
deposit remains here for sufficient
length of time to be put out at interest
it never gets a cent for my work"
Are worried much with counter
feits?'
Not large ones. There used TO be
an immense amount of bad silver afoat,
and when was at the exchange desk
three years ago, l used to find 50 to $40
in counterfeits every day. have been
the receiving teller for two years now,