Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1889-05-23

There are not many attempts TO de.
fraud the Government through the re-
demption bureau and none have been
successful. The sending of the two
halves OF note of large denomination
by different people, each one swearing
that the other half is destroyed and
asking for the full value of the note,
frequently looks like an attempt to de-
fraud, but the officials think that in
most cases the senders believe they are
telling the truth.
Counterfeit money comes from every
part of the country, mutilated, prob
ably by design, with requests for its
redemption. 1t is always indelibly
stamped counterfeit and returned
to the sender. The re1e mption bu-
reau is not good place for showing
the queer" even in a fragmentary
condition.
The redemption bureau people must
be entertaining correspondents. At
least, people like to continue writing
to them, when there is no necessity for
it. A man up in Pennsylvania sent in
a mutilated S. bill some time ago, and
received in return q check for So on
the sub-Treasury in Philadelphia.
Presently long letter came from him
complaining that the teller of the bank
in his town, who had paid him thou
sands of dollars previously re-
fused to cash the check unless he
brought somebody to identify him.
What should he do? The bureau COR
respondent answered him courteously
that the bank teller was undoubtedly
following instructions and was doing
right. He should take man to identify
him. Back came another long letter,
with further complaint about the
bank teller.
This time the treasury sent him
s. bill and thought it had
done with him. Not SO. All the
letters sent out are signed by the
treasurer as matter of form, but the
man who actually writes them puts his
initials at the upper left-hand corner
OF the sheet and under them is printed
the direction, please quote these
initials in replying" which, of course,
is for the convenience Of the depart
ment when the reply is received, so
that the writer of the first letter can
be readily traced. Now, after the
Pennsylvania man had got his money
and had no further business with the
department, he writes another long
letter inquiring why he should always
be asked to quote those initials. He
did not see that he had ever gained
any thing by it, and he would like to
know why he should continue to quote
those initials.
Another courteous letter explained
this matter to him, but he replied that
he did not understand the necessity,
and since it had never done him any
good to quote these initials he would
be blessed if he would do it any more.
This did not seem to require any re-
ply and none was sent, but the re-
demption bureau is daily expecting
another letter from him.
There is in the treasury vault g
brown wooden box eighteen inches
long, afoot wide and eight inches deep
which contains paper money of the
nominal value of several hundred
thousand dollars. 1t is not worth 6
dollar. The queer thing about it il
the manner in which it was collected.
Every bit of it came from the dead let.
/ ter Office of the Post Office Depart
' ment Some portion of it is counter
felt, but the most OF it was genuine
. money many years ago. The bank;
which issued it and the officers WHIT
. signed it are gone and forgotten. /
I was all sent over to the Treasur,
Department some years ago, and AS
S sistant Treasurer Whelpley undertook
, to trace up the various banks and &c
as much as possible of it redeemed
a Occasionallylhe found descendants o
; some of these old bank officials them
r selves bankers, who we're willing TO re
v deem some of the notes for the sake o
the signatures of their fathers, an,
( in this way he succeeded in gettin,
O several hundred dollars worth of tire
{ deemed. But of that remaining, not
n bill can be redeemed. A little of it i
Q Confederate money, but most of it is o
: banks, State and private, that wen
q out OF existence many years ago. Tn
q oldest notes are dated back as far q
|, 1912. One package contained $54,00
and another $4,000. The mystery i
: how so much money could have beel
lost in the mail. Neither the men VIII
f sent it nor the ones to whom it wa
h sent could be found by the Post-O ffic
Department, nor could Mr.. Whelple
1 find any trace of them or their de
S scendants. The $4,000 package wa
2 sent from Brandon, Miss, to jackson
Miss, in 1910, and the letter accom-
r panying it shows that it was sent i
t consequence of repeated demands. Tn
Il most diligent search fails to discove
n the slightest trace of any such bankin
@ company as that at Brandon, Miss
il which issued the notes, most of whic
g are OF the $1,000 denomination. Tn
u notes are handsomely executed, as ar
v large majority of those in the box
: Washington Post