Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1893-10-05
IN WOMAN'S BEHALF.
WOMEN IN THE TREASURY
Their Eficient Work as Clerks, Account
ants, and Counterfeit DctectOrs.

Their Eficient Work as Clerks, Account
ants, and Counterfeit Dctectors.
A little over thirty years ago not one
woman was employed in the United
States treasury. To-day there are six
thousand women on the roll. Then
Gen. Spinner was treasurer. He had
been banker, and as such had discov-
cred that his daughter could trim bank
notes better than the clerks could He
accordingly suggested to Gov Chase,
then secretary OF the treasury, that a
woman be allowed to try her hand at
the governments shears.
He selected Miss Jennie Douglass,
who was both brawny and bright, and
gave her pair of shears that would
cut the length of a sheet with blow.
One days work settled it, and the male
clerks employed in clipping bank notes
gave place to women. With this sue
cess to encourage him Gen. Spinner, in
October, 1862, secured the nomination
of seven women as money counters.
Two of these are still employed in the
treasury. The women detectors of
burnt and counterfeit money are
claimed to be the most expert in the
world. This is the most unquestioned
reputation of Mrs. w. A. Leonard and
Mrs. L. G. Brown.
According to phrenologists, form, col
or, and distance are strongly developed
in Mrs. Leonard. The record shows
that this unrivaled counterfeit detector
has handled in three years $4,000, 000,-
000.. In one day no less than Sl2, 900, 900
passed through her hands. From $780,
900 to 100000 is the daily average. AL
second time during her treasury serv-
ice she was not allowed to resign, be-
cause she was considered Invaluable. 4"
In 1875 Mrs. Brown began counting
fractional currency, but when the iden-
tification of burnt money became a sep.
arate department she was made its
chief After money has been identified
by detector and paid by the govern
ment the detector must bear any loss
which has been sustained through her
mistake Mrs. Browns infallibility
may be judged from the fact that, dur
ing her whole thirty years of service,
she has had to refund only 25 cents.
Her work is the most interesting in the
redemption division. All mutilated
bank notes are sent to the treasury ac-
companied by voucher, drawn up by
notary, certifying how the money was
injured. Notes burned to a crisp, notes
that have been partly digested by ami
mails, money that has been gnawed into
bits by mice, rotted by damp, or turned
into pulp by water, all pass through
Mrs Browns hands. If there is any
thing left to identify she is sure to sue
ceed.
BY means of piece of glass the size
of bank note, marked into twenty
four squares, the face of the bill is de-
termined. If sixteen of these squares
can be covered by the mutilated bill,
the whole value is paid; if less than
sixteen and more than twelve, half the
value; if less than twelve, it is rejected
entirely. Twenty-Five dollars found
in the nest of mouse were recently
sent to the treasury in condition that
defied recognition by the naked eye.
Mrs. Brown went to work with micro
scope, and patiently sorted ont the
whole amount. One hundred and
eighty dollars, which went through
the Vanderbilt fire at Newport, came
to Mrs. Brown as a charred mass of
paper, which she, however, identified.
When an express cat is burned, the
safe is sent unopened to the treasury
department. There it is opened by
women experts, who empty the con-
tents, often only mass of ashes, and
sift them through sieve. The charred
bits of money are then picked out and
submitted to microscopic examine
ton. Not long ago twenty-five tiny
diamonds were recovered by sitting the
ashes a third time before burning them
The vaults are often filed with the
stencil of money recovered from dead
bodies in pestilent districts, as during
the prevalence of yellow fever in the
south. Such money is furnigated, and
no diseases have ever been communi-
Gated to employees
Gold and silver are also counted by
women, and women manipulate the
machine which has taken the place Cd
shears for trimming notes The ma
chine which stamps the bank notes is
also in charge of women.
In the treasurer's Office is the last OF
the original seven women employees
Miss Elizabeth Stoner. She keeps the
payrolls of the navy. Her work neces.
states the reducing of every variety OF
foreign money to our values. For
thirty years Miss Stoner has occupied
almost the same desk room, and many
time has she heard ''heelers" ousted
with small ceremony when they came
to urge the treasurer to discharge her
to make room for voter-N. Y. Sun.