The Coconino weekly sun., 1893-09-28
IN WOMAN'S BEHALF.
WOMEN IN THE TREASURY.
Their Efficient Work as Clerks, Account ants, and Counterfeit Detectors.

Their Efficient Work as Clerks, Account ants, and Counterfeit Detectors. A little over thirty years ago not ont
 woman was employed in the United
 States treasury. To-day there are si, thousand women on the roll. Ther 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 al
 the governments shears. rI
 He selected Miss Jennie Douglass,
 who was both brawny and bright and
 gave her Il pair of shears that would
 cut the length of a sheet with a 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, 1s62, 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 unprecedented
 reputation of Mrs. w. A. Leonard and
 Mrs E. 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 $2,OOO, 00O,- . 0O0 In one day no less than Sl2, coo, 900 passed through her hands. From S20O,- 900 to S40O, coo is the daily average. AL though Mrs. Leonard has been married second tiEle during her treasury serv- ice, she was not allowed to resign, be- cause she was considered invaluable. !"
 In 1875 Mrs. Brown began counting fractional currency, but when the iden- titicatiOn of burnt money became a sep. arate department she was made it's chief After money has been identified by detector and paid by the govern mcnt the detector must bear any loss which has been sustained through her mistake. Mrs. Browns infaIlibility 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 a voucher, drawn up by q notary, certifying how the money was injured. Notes burned to a crisp, notes that have been partly digested by ami mals, 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 cccd.
 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-two dollars found in the nest of q 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 out the whole amount One hundred and eighty dollars, which went through the Vanderbilt fire at Newport, came to Mrs. Brown as charred mass of paper, which she, however, identified.
 When an express car is burned, the safe is sent unopened to the treasury There it is opened by women experts, who empty the con tents, often only mass of ashes, and Isift them through sieve. The charred bits of money arc then picked out and submitted to a microscopic eXamina- tion. Not long ago twenty-two tiny diamonds were recovered by sitting the ashes third time before burning them. The vaults are often filled with the Stench of money recovered from dead bodies in pestilent districts, as during the prevalence of yellow fever in the south. Such money is fumigated, and no diseases have ever been communi- cated to employees. 70
 Gold and silver are also counted by women, and women manipulate the machine which has taken the Llace of 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- sitatcs 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 Il time has she heard 'heelers" busted with small ceremony when they came to urge the treasurer to discharge her to make room for voter.--N. Y. Sun. THE SUPERIORITY OF WOMEN.