The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1893-03-18

HOW Ds"tcEo CURRENCY IS AZ
DEEMED BY THE GOVERNMENT.

Hupeles.ly Destroyed.
The redemption division Of the trees-
ury department is on Of the most inter
esting of its branches. 1t is here that
mutilated money comes for identiiica-
ton, and the form in which it comes
tells to the chief of the division many "A
and many II tale of woe. There
is much that is humorous and much
that is pathetic in Mrs. Browns public
experience. That experience range over
nearly eighteen Years 10Y and III that
tine millions Of dollars have passed
through her hands, most of it in such
condition as TO be beyond itlentiticatian
by ordinary means
There is hardly amy way vou can think
of in which none, is not mutilat.l or
partly destroyed Men light their c-
gars with it when they are drunk: rats
gnaw it into ~tatters, and Ere c~risI,e II
into brown ashes. Whenever there is a
sudden cold snap AT the beginning Of
winter the re temption division has a
perfect !arres of mutilatel money. One
of the fayorii hiding places which woia-
en- Rave for their savings l. the oven.
When il cod dag comes the woman
probably ftrget> all about the money,
builds a fir in the stove and cooks the
bills to what is known in the cookbook
as "A 'rich brown
An interesting case is that of a woman
living near Hamilton. o., who was
burned 10 death. She had a p~ocketbook
with her containing seventy dollars.
Her children sent the pocketbook with
its chagred contents to the treasury de.
paftrnent, and Mrs. Brown picked ont
tiie seventy dollars ard identified il. 4
great deal of the money that comes in is
partly burned. Wherever a part of the
burned money can be ilentited and q
satisfactory affidavit is furnished as to
the facts the government restores the
amount to the owner. But # a note is
entirely destroyed the government is Just
so much ahead.
Much of the money which comes in for
redemption has been damaged in rail.
road wrecks. When il ear is burned in &
railroad wreck no attempt is made by
the express company to remove the
money from the safe. The safe is sent
direct to the treasury department and
opened there. The money is usually in
"A pretty badly charred condition. 1t is
taken out, and the treasury experts go
it and identify as much of it as can
be recognized. Two years ago a pack
age containing $4,000 was taken from a
wreck near st. Louis, and all of the
money was identified and restored to its
owners.
A favorite hiding place for money with
who have no faith in banks is in
cellars. A Philadelphia man sent
$3.50 which he had buried in a tin box
under his cellar floor. When he took up
the box he found the money widowed
and rotten. The package as it came
into Mrs. Browns hands looked like a
bunch of tobacco leaves. 1t was almost
impossible to distinguish the character
Of the notes with the naked eye. Mrs.
was picking apart the pieces hit
by bit and arranging them on slips Of
brown paper cut TO the size of a dollar
Dill. She saiG that she expected to iden.
tify the whole of it.
One man sent III some time ago forty
TWO dollars which had been taken from
he stomach of a goat. The goat was not
worth forty-two dollars, SO he was sacri-
iced. The Identification of this money
Was not a very nice task, but it was COM
oaratively an easy one. When Mrs.
Brown dropped the sticky mass into a
BASIN Of water the bills came apart and
very easily identified. This is not
he only goat CASE which has come to the
division, and it has happened
hat even COWS and pigs have been sacri-
ICED to recover money which they had
There is n case on record
vhere a baby swallowed some bank
lotes, and an emetic saved the money
nd possibly the baby. Babies do not
ften swallow an entire bill, but many
1idavits are received accompanying por-
ions of bills which say that the missing
were swallowed by babies and
therefore wholly destroyed"
Usually when mutilated money is sent
for redemption the owner has close
! not perfect idea Of the amount which
. represented, but one old German in
hs west sent in some years ago what he
laimed to be the remains Of 5000, and
fter . long, long investigation Mrs.
lrown fully identified t7,1OO in the
ackage. A secret service agent was
ant out to investigate the case, but he
ould discover nothing that would throw
upon tho mystery, and SO the mis-
lks wa charged up to the old mans
tupidity, and the department sent 81. 100
0 him.
Tho redemption division receives very
frequently pieces torn from bills, ac-
ompanied by afidavits saying that the
smainder Of the notes has been destroy
. By mice. But the experts Of the
rsasury department can tell in q minute
. piece has been torn OF or eaten
Z, and these petty frauds are sue
Treasurer Nebeker has a five dollar
i'll in his Office made Of sixteen pieces
pt from Eve dollar notes matchad 70