The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1885-12-12

| $50 This difference OF 500 the teller
was unable to explain, and he stated
that it had puzzled 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 fives
that there should not he 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 eve fell on a well-worn five bear
ing the date of 1880.
"Here's 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 iiyes would be easily
explained. This was made in the DAYS
when the Government used to swindle
itself out of over dollars worth of
gold in every four s. pieces that were
turned out by the mint. > 49,.
The reporter examined the veteran
bit of metal, and then asked for an ex-
PLANTATION.
"Well.r said the teller" "a 500
piece contains 516 grains of gold. 600
fine, and always has to the best of my
knowledge The first s. pieces were
coined in the year 1875, and the law
compelled them to contain 1875 grains
of gold, 9162 fine. 1t takes four fives
to make twenty, and four times 1875
grains is equal to $40 grains, or "a
grains more than $50 piece. Add the
extra fneness to this and you have
more than the 25I 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 thrty-nine
years to get onto this leakage, for it
was not until 1884 that the weight of
fives was reduced to 1923 grains, and
that of tens to 2jS grains. There is a
premium of 81 on fves 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-
matical 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 to paper money.
''There clever sneak could toss
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 be compelled to
run with coin in his possession. There
are very few notes in circulation here
now"
"What will 500 in coin weigh? p"
"You can easily figure that for your
self. There are our trays that are built
to hold 500, 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 33I pounds of coin would be
a pretty good load for a 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
treasure-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 man that can
ride a horse bareback over a mountain
road, and hold 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 a
trying feat
IF gold is so heavy, silver must be
trying to handle
1--WE don't handle it, We wouldn't
accept deposit of / 900 silver dollars
from anybody, and we never take silver
from strangers. OF course, customer
may bring in roll or two to make a
good round sum, but we never break
1t, and pay it out in the same packages
in which we receive it. Every depositoi
Is required to write his name on such a
roll, and If the party we give it to finds
1t stuffed with lead pipe, or short a 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 a
deposit remains here for a sufficient
length of time to be put out at interest
1t never gets cent for my work.
Are you worried much with counter
feits?''
mot large ones. There used to be
an immense amount of bad silver afloat,
and when | was at the exchange desk
three years ago, used to find 50 to $40
In counterfeits every day. l have been
the receiving teller for two years now,
and have taken in an average of
500, per day in checks, coin and
bills, and in that time l have never
stumbled across but six counterfeits, two
in gold coins and four bills, and |
was lucky enough to catch them all. :"
The hands of the clock pointed to
three clock at this juncture, and as
the bank door closed the reporter took
his departure, leaving the teller en-
gagged in a still-hunt for the missing
dollar that refused to permit his sheet
to balance with his cash.-San Fran