The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1885-06-24
A LOST THOUSAND DOLLAR BILL.
----~-- I'll 4ffft
Tire Curions History aud Ultimate
Disposition of a Valuable Note.


Many of our older citizens will re-
member the frequent mentien that
was made in the daily prpa1 n shis
city about twenty years ago. of a
lost Sl,010-note. As the subject
ELECTED good deal Of attention in
Baltimore for 80 years, a history of
the same may not prove anintersst-
ing.
About dusk on the evening of the
second day Of March, ISIS, boy
about II years Of age, son ola re-
spectacle lady named Rodgers, ,resid-
ling in the neighborhood. offered n
bank note of the denomination Of
81, 900 in payment for some grocer
les at the store of Mr.. Josiah Cobb,
who kept on Liberty street. near
Fayette, adjoining the Methodist
Protestant Church. The clerk in the
store asked the boy if he knew the
amount OF the note, and the latter
replied that it was $40. The note
was then turned over to Mr.. Cobb,
who asked the lad where he bad OBJ
tanned it The boy replied that il
belonged to eolored vomaR, who
was then waiting for his return to
his mothers millinery store, and
that she wanted it changed 50 as to
enable her to pay his mother for
bonnet Mr.. Cobb believing that
there was some mistake or some
thing wrong about the note, retained
the bib and told the boy to request
his mother to come to the store and
bring tho colored woman along with
her Mrs Rodgers and the coIored
woman Ia mulatto girl about %
years of age appeared in a short
time.
The colored woman displayed an
utter ignorance of the value of the
note, and upon being further ques-
toned as to how she come by 1t,
told number of contradictory sto-
ries, and finally left the store in
high dudgeon. Mr., Cobb nor Mrs.
Rodgers never saw nor heard Of her
afterward. On the following day
Mr.. Cobb advertised in the daily
papers "A note stopped y No one
appeared; at the end of three months,
he again advertised il, giving the de-
nomination of the note. After the
advertisement had continued for two
months, the money was invested for
the benefit af the owner. A suit was
then entered by Mrs Rodgers against
Mr.. Cobb Tor the possession of the
money under the belief that it being
first offered her in payment of
debt involving a part thereof, she
had a prior claim TO whole amount.
The matter was finally compro-
missed by the parties agreeing that at
the end of three years. if no one
came to claim the note, it should be
handed over to the city authorities,
the latter agreeing to stand between
them IN all future suits that might
arise should claimant appear. In
February, 1912, Mr.. Cobb deposited
the note in the city treasury with
$50 40 interest. in trust, for the BEN
eft of the owner If be or she should
ever be found. Efforts were made
from time to time by various parties
to get possession of the money, but
without success.
The note remained in possession
of the CITY Register for 13 years, was
claimed in 1855 by Mary Ridgely.
an old colored woman about 20
years of age. 1t was proven that
she had no right 10 it, Mr.. Cobb
testifying positively that she was not
the woman who had claimed it II
years before. VIM S. Messery OF
Salem, Mass, put in Claim for the
nete on February 8, 1896, under the
belief that it belonged to him but he
subsequently, Withdrew the claim.
The matter was finally brought
before the City Council, which body
directed the note to be deposited IN
the City treasury. In February 1866
several ladies having in view the or
ganization o. an asylum for the or
phans of colored soldiers, and other
helpless colore6 children, presented
a petition to the City Council praying
that the 81, l,0OO-note with its accrued
interest, then amounting to near ST.
coo, be appropriated for the use OF
the new institution.
The Institution thus contempla-
ted was not carried into effect, but
in Its place the Union Asylum, for
the support OF the Federal soldiers
from the State of Maryland, was es-
tablished, and in October, 1866, the
City Council appropriated to the use
of this asylum the lost 81 ,000-note
and the accrued interest, amounting
10 nearly $1,000. Thus the mystsr-
terious note was finally disposed Of
in the founding of a noble charity.