The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1889-06-21

I ao~tcasrs tho scadcrs believe they are
telling the t,-li'A
Counterfeit asoncy comes from every
{ part of tAc country, uutil0tci. prob
ably av design, with requests .1~ t.
redemption. Il is always indcublr
Stamped ..cov1terfcit'' and returutE
to the sender The redemption bu-
r-eau is not a good place for SHOWN
the queer, even in q fragmcucaT
( condition.
The redemption bureau people mus
nc entertaining correspondents. Al
/ least, people like TO continue writing
10 them. when there is no necessity for
it. \ man mp in Pennsylvania sent in
"A mutilatcd s. bill some ti,pe ago. and
. received in ToJurn chcct, for . on
the sub-Trcasury in Philadelphia
Presently IA hong letter came from him.
complaining that the teller of the bank
in his town, who had paid him thou
sands OF dollars previously. Te-
fused to cash the check unless he
brought somebody to identify him.
What should he do? The bureau cor
respondent answered him oourteOusly
taat the bank teller was undoubtedly
following Instructions and was doing
g.-ht. Ho should lake a man 20 identify
him. Back came another long letter,
with further complaint about the
bank teller.
This time tho treasury sent him IA
s. bill and thought it had
dono with him. Not 80. All the
letters sent out are signed by the
treasurer as n matter Of form. but tho
man who actually writes them puts his
initials ut the upper left-hana corner
OIthe 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 tho 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 ne 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 oNplainoI
this matter to him. but he replied that
he did not understand the necessity,
and since il 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.
Thore IS IN the treasury vault
brown wooden box eighteen inches
long, a foot vide and eight inches decn
which contains paper money OF the
nominal value Of several hundred
thousand dollars. 1t is not worth q
dollar. The queer thing about il is
the manner in which il was collected.
ESery bit OF it came from the dead let
ter Office of the Post Ohice Depart
ment Some portion Of it is counter
felt, but the most OF it was genuine
money many years ago. The banks
which issued IL and the officers who
signed it are gone and forgotten. It
was all sent over to the Treasury
Department some years ago, and As
sistant Treasurer Whclpley undertook
TO trace up the various banks and get
as much as possible Of it redeemed
Occasionally he found descendants OF
some OF these old bank officials them
selves bankers, who we're willing to re-
deem some OF the notes for the sake OF
the signatures of thci" fathers. and
in this way he succeeded in getting
several hundred dollars worth Of tire
deemed. But of that remaining, not n
bill can be redeemed. A little OF il IS
Confederate money. but most OF it is OF
banks. State and private, that went
out OF existence many years ago. The
oldest notes are dated back as far as
1872 One package contained $54, 600
and another 50, OJO The mystery is
how so much money could have been
lost in the mail. Neither the men who
sent it nor the ones 10 whom il was
sent could be found by tho Post-Onice-
Department, nor could Mr.. Whelpley
find any trace of them or their de-
scendants. The $4,000 package was
sent from Brandon, Miss, TO jackson.
Miss. in 1910, and the letter accom-
pauyiu" IL shows that IL was sent in
consequence OF repeated demands The
most uiIigcnt search fails TO discover
the slightest trace Of any such banking
company as that at Brandon. Miss,
which issued tho notes, most Of which
are Of the $1,000 denomination. The
notes are handsomely executed, as arc
a large majority Of those in the box.
Washington Post.