The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-05-18
DETECTING BAD MONEY.
Young Ladies in the Treasury Who
Have Eyes in Their Fingers.

Young Ladies in the Treasury Who
Have Eyes in Their Fingers.
From the Neto York Advertiser.
Miss Calhoun, one Of the most expert
money handlers in the treasury department.
at Washington, has the remarkable record
Of counting $1,000 coins in single day, each
coin passing through her hands, and so deli
cate has her sense of touch become that
should there be a counterfeit coin in the lot
she would detect IL even when counting at
this Tremendous rate. She spreads the coins
upon large glass top desk and draws them
on with the tips Of her fingers, one, two,
three or four at time, as she pleases; for
her four fingers are all equally educated to
the work. Her eyes have nothing to do with
the detection of false coins Her fingers do
1t all. They have become so very familiar
with the exact weight of true coin, the
feeling Of IL and the amount of its resistance
upon the glass desk, that piece of spurious
gold, silver, nickel or copper money attracts
her attention instantly.
The expert counters Of paper money de-
tect counterfeits more by the eye than by
feeling, though If the quality of paper be
poor they can tell it by sense of touch. Mr.
Burnett, the chief Of the redemption di-
vision, tells of young lady who was one
day counting money sent in for redemption,
when she threw out bill and went on with
her count. When she had completed the
count she took up the rejected bill and ex-
amined it closely, but could find nothing
wrong about it. Her first impression, how
ever, had been that it was a bad bill, and
she stood by that impression and gave the
bill to the foreman of her room. He asked
her what was the matter with it. and she
said she did not know, only she was sure it
was bad. The foreman put it under a glass
and pronounced it good, but the young lady
was SO positive in her rejection OF it that
he took it to the chief That gentleman
examined it carefully and pronounced it
good.
The chief then took it to the young lady
and asked her why she had thrown it out
She said she could not tell, but she knew it
was counterfeit. Then it was sent to the
two most expert men in the treasury de-
partment and one of them pronounced it
good, while the other. when he came to it in
a pile Of good bills, with which it had been
given to him, threw it out, saying it was
bad.
To settle the matter the bill was taken
over TO the bureau Of engraving and print
ing and the man who made the plate applied
his infallible test to it and found that, while
the bill was almost perfectly executed in
every other respect, one little line of skad-
ing was about sixteenth of an inch farther
TO the left than it should be.
The young lady's eye had become so ac-
customed TO seeing that shading In exactly
the right place that, without being able to
explain how, she had discovered its spurious
character; and without being able to give
any reason for it, she had stuck to her first
impression. This might be good case for
those persons to speculate on who enjoy the
analysis or mental phenomena and the
separating of intuition from education of
the senses.