Tombstone epitaph., 1892-02-28
CORNERED THE COPPERS.
The Ingenious Scheme of a De.
 troit Baker.
His Pennies Being Refused by Hank He Collects Barrels of Them and Creates A Shortage in the
 Market

as the western cowboy, who invented the term, hates to see such currency in game of poker. As a rule there is strong kick when any large amount of pennies is turned in at once, and some time ago the local banks adopted rule not to take pennies in bulk from mer- cantile establishments. This aroused the indignation of storekeepers who re- ceived large quantities of coppers from their customers, as under the new de0 they were obliged to ship their surplus to eastern cities or send it to the treas ury department or to sub-treasuries at considerable trouble and expense.
 Barrie & Saladin, who run the larg- est bakery in the city, and naturally take in an almost endless number of cents, were the most seriously affected of any firm, and they determined on re- venge. Just how to accomplish this was a mystery. If the rule had applied to only one bank it would have been easy to get even by transferring business to another bank, but as all the banks had united on the issue this remedy was out of the question. To suspend all banking relations could not be thought of Mir. Barrie went home one evening trying to devise some plan to get even. As he sat reading the paper after sup per one of his children asked for penny to put in a missionary box.
 Suddenly an idea occurred to him. Why not work on the missionary idea and get a corner on the penny market? With the large amount of coppers com ing to his store it would be easy to soon accumulate enough sinners to cause serious shortage on cents The more he thought of it the more Mir. Bar rie was pleased with the idea. On the following morning he consulted his partner, and the two decided to carry the plan into execution.
 A strong hogshead was secured, care fully sealed up and placed in the eel lar A slot was cut in the lid and tin tube placed to run from the slot to the cash drawer upstairs. Early in Novem- ber the first penny was dropped into the huge barrel, and after that every copper that came in, instead of being placed with cash to be turned into the bank. was dropped into the slot. The barrel began to fill and the receiving teller at the Citizens savings bank was puzzled at receiving no more offers of heavy deposits of cents. NIT. Barrie explained at the bank that he had found a new way of getting rid of his pennies
 But slot machines, Sunday school con- tributions at Christmas and a heavy call by merchants for small change during the holidays exhausted the visible supply of the useful coppers, and the banks. instead of refusing to take large quan- titles of pennies, were at their wits end to gather enough to supply their customers Merchants who sent to banks for five dollars, ten dollars or fif- teen dollars worth of cents were disap- pointed The banks teiegra aphed to eastern cities, but were unable to get a supply on short notice. Then the follow ing appeared in a Detroit paper: ''There is great scarcity of pennies in Detroit"
 Mir. Barrie was happy. He dropped into his bank and casually asked the cashier about the penny crop. He then pleasantly reminded the cashier that the bank had once sneered at coppers On the two days following he made similar remarks at the bank and on the fourth visit he casually said:
 By the way, guess we've got quite a batch of pennies up at the shop. II you'll send a man up l can give you some. But want a premium of one and one half per cent"
 The bank readily agreed, and a mes senger was sent up. When he arrived | L ts. 1 than he could carry. If the bank want ed them all they must send up an ex I press wagon. The telephone was re | sorted to. The bank was delighted | Oh, certainly, it would take all it coulC ! get.
 l Half an hour later an expressmaI | called. The contents of the hogsheao | had been emptied into three barrels | which were placed on the wagon anC | taken to the bank. The cashier wa | fairly struck dumb: he had calcnlate' on half a bushel of pennies at the out side-here were barrels of them. B' telephoned to MT. Barrie. He didn' 1 want the whole mint.
 Cant help that" said Mir. Barrie
 You said you'd take all you could gc
 at one and one half per cent premium.
 So the barrels were rolled into tn
 bank and placed in a back room, wbicl
 was cleared of all furniture The thou
 sands upon thousands of coppers welr
 dumped on the tiled floor. Cormtini
 them was out of the question, aIs
 weighing was resorted to. The aver
 age number of pennies in a pound WE
 ascertai3ed, and then the entire collec
 ton was weighed of. It was roughl
 estimated that there were one hundre
 and two thousand five hundred pennie
 in the lot. Barrie X Saiadin received
 check for fifteen dollars and seventy
 five cents as premium. Then ever
 bank in town was notified that it coul
 have all the pennies it wanted by send
 ing over. They all "bitp and the ban
 r,anapeei to unload about ts,,.o ssss::i-s.s
 it's stock within few hours. Tn
 shortage in the penny marker was r'
 lievet, and there is now a superaouI
 dance of the copper articles