Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1893-02-21
MUTILATED MONEY.
HOW DAMAGED CURRENCY 10 RE.
DEEMED Ry THE GOVERNMENT.

wesdsrs Worked By Ms. Brown. tAs
rrsassry Expert In wsshiagtssr-A rev
casss In which Biiis Were Apparently
Hepsisssiy Destroyed.
The redemption division Of the treas
hry department Is one Of the most inter.
esting Of it, branches. II Il here that
mutilatsd money comes for identifies
hon, and the form In which II comes
tells to the chief Of the division many .
romance and many . tale Of woe. There
IL much that Il humorous and much
that IL pathetic In Mrs. Browns public
experience. That experience ranges over
nearly eighteen years now. and In that
time millions Of dollars have passed
Through her hands, most Of II In such
condition a. to be beyond Identification
by ordinary means.
There u hardly any way you can think
of In which money Il not mutilated or
partly destroyed. Men light their ci.
gars with It when they are drunk; rats
gnaw II into tatters, and fire crisps 1t
Into brown ashes. Whenever there Ii o
sudden cold snap at the beginning OF
winter the redemption division has .
perfect harvest of mutilated money. One
Of the favorite hiding places which WON.
en- have for their savings Is the oven.
When o cold day comes the woman
probably forgets all about the money.
builds fire In the stove and cooks the
bills to what Is known In the cookbook
% "rich brown"
An interesting case Is that Of woman
living near Hamilton. o.. who was
burned to death. She had pocketbook
with her containing seventy dollars.
Her children sent the pocketbook with
its charred contents to the treasury do
partment, and Mrs. Brown picked out
the seventy dollars and identified II. A
great deal Of the money that comes In Is
partly burned. Wherever part Of the
burned money can he identified and Q
satisfactory affidavit Is furnished as to
the facts the government restores the
amount to the owner. But II note Ia
entirely destroyed tho government Is just
90 much ahead.
Much Of the money which comes In for
redemption has been damaged In rail.
road wrecks. When u car IL burned In q
railroad wreck no attempt Is made by
the express company " remove the
money from the safe. The safe Is sent
direct to the treasury department and
opened there. The money Is usually In
pretty badly charred condition. II Is
taken out, and the treasury experts go
over It and identify as much Of 1t u, can
be recognized. Two years ago pack.
age containing s22.O0 was taken from q
wreck near st. Louis, and all Of the
money was identified and restored to Its
owners.
Afavorite hiding place for money with
men who have no faith In banks Is In
their cellars. A Philadelphia man sent
$3.50 which no had buried In q tin box
under his cellar floor. When no took up
the box he found the money mildewed
and rotten. The package as 1t came
i,,.c A. prou,,a hands lookod like n
h,'S o 30 .ohoo.o ioayas II was almost
impossible to distinguish the character
prown was n;ct;nr anart the nieces bit
hv NJ, snJ arranoino them on slina Al
brown naner cut TO the size of a dollar
bill. She said that she expected to iden.
tify the whole of II.
Ono man sent in some time ago forty.
two dollars which had been taken from
the stomach Of goat. The goat was not
worth forty.two dollars, 30 he was sacri.
ficed. The Identification Of this money
was not a very nice task, but It was com.
naratiyely an easy one. When Mrs.
brown dropped the sticky mass into a
basin NJ water the bills came apart and
were very easily identified. This Is not
tba only goat case which has come 10 the
rsdemntion division. and II has happened
tbat even cows and piRs have been sacri.
6ced 10 recover money which they had
swallowed. There is one case ON record
where a baby swallowed some bank
notes. and an emstic saved the money
and possibly the baby. Babies do not
often swallow an entire bill, but many
aftidayits are received accompanying por-
lions Of bills which say that the missing
nortions were swallowed by babies and
,,thsrefora wholly DESTROYED"
IT.roiIv when mutilated money IA sent
..,,., an. o,,,ro- has . ,Iosa
80 10 ~. ,ors.nt ,daa ~ ths amount which
:. rsnrsssntsd hint one old German In
The west sent in some wears ago what he
claimed 20 be the remains Of 5000. and
after a long, long investigation Mrs.
BROWN fuIly identified s7lO0 In the
nacLago a secret service agent was
.~,,i5 5;so,,,ar ,otbino that uould throw
:, - a. .-.e.. IL = ar. ii.