Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1891-04-24
GOOD BILLS FOR SCRAPS.
NOVEL WORK OF THE GOVERNMENT
REDEMPTION BUREAU

singular Ways In Which Money Has po.,
Destroyed Fire, the Babv and a.,
among the Chief Agents of De-
str"ction-No Chance to Defr.ua.
when small portion of q United States
note Is returned to the treasury with
suiilclent proof that the remainder If !,
mas gone out of existence. the treas,,rr
wiz give the full value of the ORIGINAL
note Naturally the greatest destruction
OF money is wrought by fire, and bits of
oiils with charred edges are constantly
coming in for redemption.
But several instances have occ,,rroa
where men, in their desperation at their
loss have simply boxed up lot of ashes
In which there was not the slightest
trace OF the original material. and do
manded hundreds and thousands of dol
lars for them. Such requests are. of
course, refused, and the senders arc 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 nut
down in the department as the most de-
j structlve agent. lnnumerable affida Wits
are received in which John Jones or
whatever his name may be. "beino dnly
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 we're
thereby wholly destroyed and are now
no longer in existence.
The fashion of keeping small pet dogs
mas also been the cause of many solemn
atiidavits 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 few DAYS
ago several hundred dollars worth OF
nest lining was redeemed for a southern
man who had for many years given III
all idea of finding his missing treasure
There was 800 of it in the first place
notes of almost the first issue made by
the government early in war times. Ii
had been hidden away in place sup
posed to be secure, and had disappeared
a quarter of u century later. in repair
ing the porch of the old house. the nest
of the wealthy mouse had been discov
ered and enough of the fragments re
covered to secure more than half of the
original deposit.
Also from the south came most of til,
mody worm eaten bills which hav,
been hidden in bottles or buried in Ia,
earth for years. There are not SO man,
savings banks in the south as in thrifty
New England, and hiding places ar
used
But the habit of using the parlor O
kitchen stove us a safety deposit vault i
not confined to any one section of tn
country Neither is the custom of burn
ing up this treasure by some other mem
Der of the family who is all unaware o
its value. Years ago the clerks in the re
demption bureau ceased to declaim upol
the stupidity of such people. 1t has be
, come matter of course with them an
they expect about 50 many letters ever
week from people who have warmed tw
pair of hands with 81 600 worth of silve
certificates.
. FROM THE DEAD LETTER OFFICE.
There are not many attempts to de
fraud the government through the re
demption bureau. and none have bee
successful. The sending of the two halve
of a note of large denomination by di1
ferent people, each one swearing the
:, the other half is destroyed, and askin
for the full value of the note, frequent
!, looks like an attempt to defraud, but til
officials think that in most cases th
senders believe they are telling the trutl
Counterfeit money comes from ever
part of the country, mutilated, probabi
by design, with requests for its redeml
!, ton. 1t is always indelibly stampe
counterfeit" and returned to the sender
! The redemption bureau is not goo
= place for showing the queer, even IN
, fragmentary condition.
= There is in the treasury vault brow
; wooden box eighteen inches long, fo(
wide and eight inches deep which COZ
G tains paper money of the nominal valu
u of several hundred thousand dollars.
u is not worth dollar. The queer thin
!, about it is the manner in which 1t va
II collected. Every bit of it came from Il
d dead letter office of the postottice depar
" ment. Some portion of it is counterfel
2 but the most of it was genuine none
> many years ago The banks which |
IS sued it and the officers who signed
are gone and forgotten. 1t was all SCI
8 over to the treasury department son
wears ago, and Assistant Ireasur,
y Whelplev undertook to trace up Il
Is various banks and get as much as pos
p Bile of it redeemed. Occasionally
found descendants OF these old bank c
fcials. themselves bankers, who we
willing to redeem some of the notes I
tbe sake of the signatures OF the
y fathers, and in this way he succeeded
il GETTING several hundred dollars worth
/ itredeemed
$ But of that remaining, not bill c;
: ma redeemed. A little of it is Co
=. Tolerate money, but most OF 1t Is
, hanks state and private, that went o
h., of existence many years ago. Inc olde
t. notns are dated back as far rs 1872. VI
! nackage contained S54, 900 and anoth
lr 10 000 The mystery is how so mu'
s. money Money could have been lost in the he ma ma
- Neither the men who sent it nor the on
le to whom it was sent could be found
nostoffice department, nor could NJ
W 81 find any trace Of them or the H..
descendants. The $4,000 package W
srnt from Brandon, Miss, to Jackso
lie Miss. in 1910, and the letter accompall