The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1892-04-14
CORNERED THE C0PPERS.
The Ingenious Scheme of q De-
troit Baker.
His Pennies Being Refused by Bank
He Collects Barrels of Them ana
Creates II shortage in the
Market

Detroit banks dislike to take pennies,
niclxels and other small change as much
as the western cowboy, who invented
the term, hates to see such currency IN
n pame of poker. AS rule there is a
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 comics in bulk from uier-
camille establishments. This aroused
| the Indignation of storelSeepers who re-
ceiyed large quantities of coppers from
| their customers, as under the new deal
they were obliged to ship their surplus
To eastern cities or send it to the treas
urv department or to sub-treasurles AT
considerable trouble and expense.
Barrie & Salad,n, who run the iarg-
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-
yenre. just how to accomplish this
was a mystery. If the rule had applied
TO only one bank it would have been
easy to geteven by transferring business
to another bank, but us all the banks
had united on the issue this remedy WIS
out of the question. To suspend all
banking relations could not be thou lit
of. Mr.. Barrie went home one evening
trying to devise some plan to get evcn'
AS he sat reading the paper alter sup
Der one of his children asked Tor U
penny to put in missionary box.
Suddenly an idea occurred to him.
Why not work on the missionary idea
and get u corner on the penny murket'
With the large amount of coppers ON
ing to his store it would be easy 10
soon accumulate enough sinners 10
cause a serious SHORTAGE on cents. The
more he thought of it the more MIR. Bar
rie was pleased with the i'd a. On the
following morning he consulted his
4 mariner, and the two decided to carry
= the plan into execution.
A strong hogshead was secured, care
. fully sealed up and placed in the Gel
lar. A slot was cut in the lid and tiI
= tube placed to run from the slot to tho
y cash drawer upstairs. Early in Novem
Il Der the first penny was dropped into
y the huge barrel, and after that every
|
u placed with cash to be turned into th'
! bank, was dropped into the slot. The
barrel began to fill and the receiving
teller at the Citizens savings bank was
,uzzled at receiving no more offers o.
4 heavy deposits of cents. Mr., Barrie
explained at the bank that he hac
I found a new way of getting rid OF his
pennies.
But slot machines, Sunday school con
tributions at Christmas and a heavy cal
: by merchants for small change during
the holidayse exhausted the visible supply
of the useful coppers, and the banks
: instead of refusing to take large guam
: titles of pennies, were at their wits
+ end to gather enough to supply thcl
! customers. Merchants who sent t
hankss far five dollars, ten dollars r-iii
teen dollars worth Of cents were disap
pointed, The banks tele raphed T.
eastern cities, but were unable to get
G supply on short notice. Then the follow
{ ing appeared in u Detroit paper
= "There is great scarcity of pennies
u Detroit"
Y Mr.. Barrie was happy. He Grorpe
! into his bank and casually asked tn
y cashier about the penny crop. He the
rS pleasantly reminded the cashier tn;
the bank had once sneered at copper
t On the two days following he ma,
Q similar remarks ut the bank and on u
u fourth visit he casually said
n, ''By the way, guess we've got qui
~ u batch of pennies up at the shop.
y you'll send man up ! can give y
d some. But want u premium OF o
., and one half per cent"
~ The bank readily agreed, and M
y senger was sent up. When he arriv
he was told there were more penn
~ than he could carry. If the bank wa
~ =, ed them all they must send up an I
Nv press wagon. The telephone was
sorted to- The bank was delight
Oh, certainly, il would take all it co,
w. get.
NV Half an hour later an expressm
'H called. The contents of the hogshS
a.. had been emptied into three barre
wy which were placed on the wagon {
o. taken to the bank. The cashier v
III fairly struck dumb; he had calcula
on half bushcl of pennies at the {
Az" side-here were barrels of them.
telephoned to Mr.. Barrie. He die
nc want the whole mint.
VI. Cant help that" said Mr. Bar
y. "You said you'd take all you could
'us, at one and enc half per cent. premiu
So the barrels were rolled into
bank and placed in a back room, wi
-. was cleared of all furniture. The til
go sands upon thousands of coppers "
- dumped on the tiled floor. Count
80 them was out of the question,
~, weighing was resorted to. The n
a,a age number of pennies in pound
ascertained, and then the entire col
: &c ton was weighed off. 1t was rouG
estimated that there were one hunt
and two thousand five hundred pen
in the lot Barrie & Saladin receive
check for fifteen dollars aud seve
rom five cents as premium. Then e'