Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-11-14
CONFEDERATE MONEY.
Millions of Dollars Bought of q
savannah Firm.

| savannah Firm.
A few months ago the firm of Dixor
h Murphy advertised in the Nevs fol
Confederate money and offered 2 or
cents apiece for each bill. The appear
ance of the advertisement gave many the
idea that some scheme was on foot tc
convert the old notes into good, solid
Bland dollars. There were not few,
though, who, having considerable sum
of the old currency on hand, were glad
to sell even at the enormous discount OF
9S per cent off.
So ever since the notice first appeared
the enterprising firm has been receiving
all sorts Of inquiries. They have bought
in amounts ranging from $5 to $1,000.
All that the firm wanted with the bills
was to use them for advertising their
coal business by distributing 'the prom
ises to pay" all over the country. The
largest denomination received was the
tlve hundred dollar bills, and the small
est five-dollar bills. At first tho notes
came in rapidly. but of late there have
not been not many offering. The mark ct
seems to be pretty we'll bought up Bills
were picked up at every point from Vir.
ginia to Texas. Some were tattered and
showed wear, and some were as bright
and crisp as new. One package of $500
looked Us if the notes were just from the
press.
Altogether the firm has purchased
20, 900 bills, which once represented mil.
lions of Confederate dollars. On the
back Of each bill the firm has had print
ed an eight.stanza poem beginning.
The distribution of the bills bearing
the poem excited considerable interest
as to who was the author Of the pretty
verses. Many attributed them to Father
Ryan, and almost all of the South s
sweet singers of two decades ago were
given credit for the quaint lines by their
several admirers. Before going to Eng
land in June last Denis Murphy present.
ed President Cleveland at one of his re-.
ceptiors with q $500 interest bearing
note, which had the verses on its back.
The President smiled at the promise to
pay two cents per day interest, and the
incident and poem were published in
some of the Washington papers. There
happened to be in Washington about
that time one s. A. Jonas. who is editor
of the Aberdeen Miss Examiner. The
poem was passing around as an anony.
nous production, when Mr.. Jonas rec
ognized it as an effort of his own, written
at Richmond in May, 1865, at the re.
quest of some old friends and veterans.
Although the verses are peculiarly az
propriate and beautiful, they perhaps
never before had anything like the circu.
lation they have had within the last
year. They had laid unnoticed SO long
that the public had forgotten the writer.
During the last twelvemonth they have
been scattered all over the country. Mr..
Murphy took 1900 bills to England, and
when he returned had given them all
away. In Cardiff, Wales, where an
American is something of curiosity.
Mr.. Murphy gave a number of bills to
the miners and left them under the i'm
preston that he was benevolent
Cresus or Count of Monte Cristo, for
the miners considered the bills genuine
currency worth par.
A few days before the first advertise
ment was published Savannah gentle
man burned barrelful of old Confed-
crate notes. the whole representing over
81, 100000. This has probably been the
fate of many a barrel of the pledges
that we're once issued so freely that
$1,000 of them were required to buy q
pair of boots, and coarse boots at that.