The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-08-22
GOOD BILLS FOR SCRAPS.
NOVEL WORK OF THE GOVERNMENT
REDEMPTION BUREAU.

REDEMPTION BUREAU.
Singular Ways in Which Money Has Been
Destroyed-Fire, the Baby and the Pet
Dog Among the Chief Agents of De-
struction-No Chance to Defraud.
When small portion of United States
note is returned to the treasury with
sufficient proof that the remainder OF 1t
has gone out of existence, the treasury
will give the full value of the original
note. Naturally the greatest destruction
of money is wrought by fire, 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 senders are in
formed that their only recourse is to 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 affidavits
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
affidavits 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
ed upon the redemption bureau by a long
series of examples. Only a 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 so many
savings banks in the south as in thrifty
New England, and hiding places are
used.
But the habit of using the parlor or
kitchen stove as a safety deposit vault is
not confined to any one section of the
country. Neither is the custom of burn
ing up this treasure by some other mem
Der Of the family who is all unaware of
its value. Years ago the clerks in the re-
demption bureau ceased to declaim upon
the stupidity of such people. 1t has be-
come matter of course with them, and
they expect about so many letters every
week from people who have warmed two
pair of hands with 81 900 worth of silver
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 halves
of note Of large denomination by diff
ferent people, each one swearing thai
the other half is destroyed, and asking
for the full value of the note, frequently
looks like an attempt to defraud, but the
officials think that in most cases the
senders believe they aretelling the truth
Counterfeit money comes from every
part of the country, mutilated, probably
by design, with requests for it's redemp
ton. 1t is always indelibly stamped
"counterfeit" and returned to the sender
The redemption bureau is not a goot
place for showing the queer" even in {
fragmentary condition.
There is in the treasury vault a brown
wooden box eighteen inches long, foo
wide and eight inches deep, which con
tains paper money of the nominal value
of several hundred thousand dollars. L
is not worth 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 money
many years ago. The banks which is
sued it and the officers who signed i
are gone and forgotten. It was all sen
over to the treasury department soD1s
years ago, and Assistant Treasurer
Whelpley undertook to trace I'D tn.
various banks and get as much as posi-
bic OF it redeemed. Occasionally h,
found descendants OF these old bank of
ficials, themselves bankers, who were
willing to redeem some of the notes fol
the sake of the signatures of theil
fathers, and in this way he succeeded il
getting seve al hundred dollars worth Of
itredeemed.
But of that remaining, not q bill car
be- redeemed. A little of it is Con
federate 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 1919. One
package contained $54, 1000 and another
$1,000. The mystery is how so much
money could have been lost in the mail
Neither the men who sent it nor the ones
to whom it was sent could be found by
the postofice department, nor could Mr..
Whelpley find any trace of them or their
descendants. The $4,000 package was
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 most
dilipent search fails To d;oao.-e. IL.