The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1893-01-12

bill An interesting cxAs y 10
that Of an old negro from d. wn In one
Of the adjoining counties, who was a.
the Union depot about Z year ago
buying ticket home. He had q roll
of bills in his hands and
oouple 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 may DO
the treasury officials would help him,
and he went up to inquire. A few
affidavits and 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 lin peck o. trouble" She
had twenty-dollar bill, which she
was treasurlng us the apple of her eye,
and being about to make a visit one
Sunday afternoon she thought the best
place for her fortune would be in tho
oven of her stove. where she carefully
placed it. Returning late in the even
ing she built fire without thinking
OF her treasure, and it was some time
afterwards that she attracted the at
teution 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 tho
bill were nearly destroyed by the
water. but enough was saved to sat-
isfy the government as to the truth of
the story. and Mary got a brand new
twenty-dollar bill.
Perhaps the most interesting case
that has como up before the depart
ment in St. 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 employee in one of
the wholesale drug houses, had made
her presents Of little sums till she had
sixty-dve or seventy dollars saved
up. Her pet dog one day got hold Of
it. and when his young mistress came
in it was all torn to pieces and most of
it chew into pulp She was in terri
BILE distress. and not wishing her papa
to know of her loss, she, at the suq-
gestion of a friend, applied to the sub
treasury. Part of the pieces were
large enough to come within the three
tifths rule, and SO about one-third of
the amount was cashed at once. The
rest had to 60 through the process of
satisfactory proof, but in due time she
received draft from Washington for
the full amount.
Instances like the foregoing could DO
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 q
one dollar Eill 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 a package of currency amounting
to forty thousand dollars. The express
car with all its contents was burned.
and the express company was RESPONSE
bic 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 cbarred
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 &C.
count OF course many losses occur
which are total and cannot he made
good, because it would be practically
impossible IN some of the cases to 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 mone! 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.