The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1893-02-17
Advertising Rates.
the matter.

the matter.
Mr. Barlow, mentioned above as be-
ing connected with the cashiers Office
in the post Office department, has
great many applications for assistance
in getting mutilated currency re-
deemed, and as he prepares the afii-
davits for the parties he makes him
self thoroughly acquainted with the
circumstances of each, and can narrate
some interesting cases An old man
living out in this county came in one
day heartbrolxen over the loss of sew
eral thousand dollars which ne had
placed under the hearth for safe-lIeep-
ing. and which mice had almost totally
destroyed. 1t took some correspond
ence, but he finally got new bills for
the old ones Another man had twist
ed up wad of paper without looking
at it and lighted his cigar. when he
found that his new cigar-light was a
ten-dollar bill An interesting case was
that of an old negro from down in one
of the adjoining counties, who was at
the Union depot about n year ago
buying a ticket home. He had n roll
of bills in his hands and a
couple of St Louis toughs jumped
on him and tried to rob him.
In the scramble that ensued the bills
were torn to shreds and the pieces
strewn over the floor, but the old ne
gro held onto most of his wealth, while
the thieves. failing in their attempt.
made their escape. The Africans
walls over his misfortune brought the
suggestion from some one that maybe
the treasury officials would help him,
and he went up to inquire. a few
affidavits and a little time brought him
an entirely new lot of bills in exchange
for the pieces. Mary Davis, an elderly
negro woman living over on Morgan
street, came to Mr. Barlow some
months ago ''in peck o. trouble" She
had a twenty-dollar bill, which she
was treasuring as the apple of her eye,
and being about TO make visit one
Sunday afternoon she thought the best
place for her fortune would be in the
oven of her stove, where she carefully
placed it. Returning late in the even
ing she built fire without thinking
of her treasure, and il was some time
afterwards that she attracted the at
tention of the household and her
neighbors by dashing water over the
hot stove and screaming at the top of
her voice. The charred remains of the
water. but enough was saved to sat
isfy the government as to tho truth of
the story, and Mary got brand new
twenty-dollar bill
Perhaps the most interesting case
that has come up before the depart
ment in 81. Louis was the one of young
Miss H., which was taken before Mr..
Barlow for an affidavit some months
ago. Her father, who lives out on Dor
cas- street, and is an employe in one of
the wholesale drug houses, had made
her presents of little sums till she had
sixty-five or seventy dollars saved
up. Her pet dog one day got hold of
il, and when his young mistress came
in it was all torn TO pieces and most of
il chewed into pulp. She was in terri
BILE distress, and not wishing her papa
10 know of her loss, she, at the sug-
gestion of a friend, applied to the sub
treasury. Part of the pieces were
large enough to come within the three
fifths rule, and SO about one-third of
the amount was caShed at once. The
rest had TO go through the process of
satisfactory proof, but in due time she
received draft from Washington for
the full amount
Instances like the foregoing could be
given in great numbers, though the in
stances in which the losers pocket"
their losses, to use an old but common
expression. are much more numerous.
The amounts range all the way from n
one dollar bill lover which sum one
man of some means spent two months
of correspondence year or so ago) up
TO packages containing thousands of
dollars. Perhaps the largest amount
ever redeemed at St Louis after total
destruction was the instance which oc-
Cured about four months ago. The
treasury at Washington had shipped
by express to the sub-treasury at that
point n package of currency amounting
to forty thousand dollars. The express
car with all its contents was burned,
and the express company was RESPONSE
ble for the loss of the forty thousand
dollars under its contract. Realizing
this, the company took Chief Clerk
Kicker of the 'sub-treasury and
had him present when the safe was
opened very carefully, and the charred
remains of the money examined. The
packages could be plainly seen and
identified as to the amounts, as paper
when burned will sometimes retain its
lettering, and so these bundles of
burned paper were carefully shipped To
Washington, from which point forty
thousand dollars in crisp new bills
came back
When we realize the immense amount
of money that Is lost or destroyed every
year, and never found or made good
we can appreciate what sum Uncle
Sam has constantly accommodating for
the right side of his profit and loss ac-
count OF course many losses occur
which are total and cannot be made
good, because IL would be practically
impossible in some of the cases 20 sat
isfy the United States treasurer to such
an extent as to preclude the posi-.
bility of fraud. But there are also
many losses of money occurring all the
time which could easily be made good
If the parties were aware of the law
and the methods of procedure The
grand total of these losses, which are
clear profit to the government. runs up
into the millions -Globe-D Democrat