Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-02-12

illustrated the fact that the smallest
cubic space that would be exactly
filled by both coins would hold 5X5x5 in
twenties and8xSxS in ives, or 1875 twen-
ties and SIP tivcs. One hundred and
twenty-five twenties equal $4,000, of
course, while 512 fives amount to ST.
$50. This difference of $50 the teller
was unable to explain, and he stated
that it had puzzled a good many X
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 be any difference
when the ratio of the coins is so per-
feet. After puzzling owe 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
ing the date of 1880.
"Here's a relic, he exclaimed, as he
tossed it over. eff the old standard of
coinage was in force now, the differ
ence in favor of the fives wouldbe easily
explained. This was made in the days
when the Government used to swindle
itself out of over a dollars worth of
gold in every four SIS 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 500
piece contains SIG grains of gold, 900
fine, and always has, to the best of my
knowledge. The first SIS pieces were
coined in the year 1875, and the law
compelled them to contain 1856 grains
of gold, 916s fine. 1t takes four tves
to make a twenty, and four times 1856
grains is equal to $40 grains, or "a
grains more than a 500 piece. Add the
extra fineness to this and you have
more than the 253 grains that it takes
to make gold dollar. It was the
same way with tens at that time; they
contained 270 grainseach, 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
fves was reduced to 1923 grains, and
that of tens to 258 grains. There is a
premium of 81 on fves a1ftedating
1884, and if they arenot too badly worn
they are worth it in extra bullion"
The subject of bank robberles 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 to paper money.
''There a clever sneak could toss
a million dollars into his hat and still
have to get it on; but here if he
stole $4,000 he could not carry itwith-
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 $4,000 in coin weighp"
"You cal easily figure that for YOUR
self. There are Jul trays that are built
to hold 500, 000in twenties. They weigh
1,O75 ounces each. or rather the coin
does, which equals 67.3 pounds. Ten
thousand dollars weighs Just half that,
and even 49, pounds Of coin would be
a pretty good load for a MAJ to stow
out of sight on his person. l always
had a great admiration for Bret Harte,
until l 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 q halt he fired the
coach lamps at them. and then jumped
on to ono of the stage horses with the
treasure-box, and after a 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 a find Il man that can
ri0e a 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. Tn
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"
eff gold is SO heavy, silver must be
trying to handle"
"We don't handle it. We wouldn't
accept a deposit Of 1000 silver dollars
from anybody, and we never take silver
from strangers. Of course, a customer
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 deposition
is required to write his name on such a
roll, and if the party we give it to finds
it stuffed with lead pipe, or short apiece,
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 q
deposit remains here for a sufficient
length of time to be put out at interest
it never gets a cent for my work"
"Are you worried much with counter.
feits?"