The Somerset reporter., 1889-04-25
GOOD BILLS FOR SCRAPS.
NOVEL WORK OF THE GOVERNMENT
REDEMPTION BUREAU.


Destroyed Fire, the baby and tho Pet
Dog Among the Chief Agents Of De-
strurtion-No Chance to Defrau6.
When small portion Of United States
note is returned to the treasury with
safi,eient proof that the remainder OF II
has gone ont of existence, the treasury
viii give the full value of the original
note Naturally the greatest destruction
Of money is wrought 10y lire, and bits OF
bills with charred edges are constantly
coming in for redemption.
But several instances have occurred
where men, in their desperation at Their
loss, have simply boxed up a lot of ashes,
in which there was not the slightest
trace OF the original material. and de-
manded hundreds and thousands of dol
lars for them. Such requests are, OF
course, refused. and the sendcrs are IN.
formed that their only recourse is 10 ask
congress by special act to indemnify
them.
MICE WITH EXPENSIVE NESTS.
Next to fire the young baby is put
down in the department as the most de
structive agent. Innumerable ailidasits
are received in which John Jones. or
whatever his name may be, being duly
sworn, deposes and says" that his in
FAINT son did chew up and swallow the
missing portions of certain s. bills, and
that the said missing portions were
thereby wholly DESTROYED and are now
no longer in existence.
The fashion of keeping small pet dogs
has also been the cause of many solemn
afiidavits being sent to the department
Your pug and your poodle seem to take
especial delight in masticating the fruit
and reward of the many days of severe
toll of the head of the house.
The fancy Of mice for $40 bills as lin
ing for luxurious nests has been impress
cd upon the redemption bureau by a long
series of examples. Only few days
ago several hundred dollars worth OF
nest lining was redeemed for a southern
man who had for many years given up
all idea of finding his missing treasure.
There was 500 of it in the first place,
notes of almost the first issue made by
the government early in war times. 1t
had been hidden away in place sup
posed to be secure, and had disappeared
A quarter of century later, in repair
ing the porch of the old house, the nest
of the wealthy mouse had been discov-
cred, and enough of the fragments re-
covered to secure more than half of the
original deposit,
Also from the south came most Of the
moldy, worm eaten bills which have
been hidden in bottles or buried in the
earth for years. There are not no many
savings banks in the south as in thrifty
New England, and hiding places are
used.
But tho habit of using the parlor Oh
kitchen stove as safety deposit vault
not confined to any one section of the
country. Neither is tho custom of burn
ing up this treasure by some other mem
Der of the family who is ali unaware oil
its value. Years ago the clerks in the re-
demption bureau ceased to dcclaim upoI
the stupidity of such people. 1t has be
come n matter of course with them ant
they expect about SO many letters every
week from people who have warmed TIVE
pair of hands with 81 900 worth of silvel
certificates.
FROM THE DEAD LETTER OFFICE.
There are not many attempts to de
fraud the government through the re
demption bureau. and none have beer
successful. The sending Of the two halye
of "A note of large denomination by diff
ferent people, each one swearing tha
the other half is destroyed, and askinl
for the full value of the note, frequent,
looks like an attempt to defraud, but TIN
officials think that in most cases til,
senders believe they are telling the truth
Counterfeit money comes from ever,
part of the country, mutilated, probabi,
by design, with requests for its redemp
ton. 1t is always indelibly stamped
counterfeit" and returned to the sender
The redemption bureau is not goo,
place for showing the queer" even in /
rragmentary condition.
There is in the treasury vault brown
wooden box eighteen inches long, a foo
wide and eight inches deep, which con
tains paper money of the nominal valu,
of several hundred thousand dollars
is not worth a dollar. The queer thing
about it is the manner in which it wa
collected. Every bit of it came from tn,
dead letter office of the postoffice depart
ment. Some portion of it is counterfeit
but the most of it was genuine none,
many years ago. The banks which is
sued it and the officers who signed i
are gone and forgotten. 1t was all sen
over to the treasury department SOM
years ago, and Assistant Treasure
Whelpley undertook to trace mp tn
various banks and get as much as posi-
BILE of it redeemed. Occasionally h
found descendants OF these old bank of
ficials, themselves bankers who wer
willing to redeem some of the notes TO
the sake of the signatures of thei
fathers, and in this way he succeeded il
getting several hundred dollars worth o
it redeemed.
But of that remaining, not bill cal
be redeemed. A little of it is Con
federate money, but most of it is o
banks, state and private, that went on
of existence many years ago. The oldes
notes are dated back as far as 1879. On,
package contained SD 900 and anothe
$4,000. The mystery is how SO mucl
money could have been lost in the mail
| Neither the men who sent it nor the one
| to whom it was sent could be found b,
the postofiice department nor could Mr.
Whelpley find any trace of them or thei
| descendants. The $1,000 package wa
sent from Brandon, Miss, to jackson
Miss, in 1910, and the letter accompany
ing it shows that it was sent in conse
quence of repeated demands. The mos
diligent search fails to discover tn,
slightest trace Of any such banking com
pany as that at Brandon, Miss. which
issued the notes, most Of which are o
the 81 900 denomination. The notes ar
handsomely executed, as are large ma
jority of those in the box.-Washingtol
Post.