The Indianapolis journal., 1893-09-10

entered the treasury. Despite q second mar.
riage while in the service. she was retained
because she was considered Invaluable"
Thirty years service has enabled Mrs.
Leonard TO build n pretty house IN WASH
ington and educate three bright children,
besides handling o pungent pen IN the I'D.
vocscy of w0man's interest In 1876 Mrs
Brown began counting fractional currency.
When the identification or burned money
became a separate department she was
made its chief. She is a minister's wife.
and halls from New York. When asked
how much money she had been obliged 20
refund the government through mistakes
made curing her eighteen years service.
the dainty little woman dropped her brown
eyes and modestly piled. 25 cents" Hef
work is one of the most interesting in the
redemption division.
All mutilated bank notes, mutiiated by
fire or animals. or IN any way. are sent TO
the treasury. accompanied by voucher
drawn up by notary. certifying how the
money was destroyed. These notes. after
proper Identification, are redeemed 40
whole or part value. Notes burned 20 q
crisp. notes that have been partly dlgested
by animals. money that has been gnawed
into bits by mice. money that has been rot
ted by damp or turned into pulp by water,
all pass through Mrs. Browns hands. and
whatever or it can be identified is returned
by her as so much money Identified. IL
there Is anything left 10 identify she 10
sure tc succeed.
BY means of q piece of glass the size
Of a bank note, marked into twenty-fouf
squares. the face of the bill Is determined.
Unless sixteen of these squares can be Cow
cred by the mutllated bill, only one-haf OF
the face value of the note can be redeemed.
Less than one-half is rejected. Twenty
two dollars found in a mouse's nest was
recently received in q condition that de-
fed recognition by the naked eye. Cut
ting brown paper into the size of notes,
yV IA Sal N A
and patiently sorted out and pasted the
gnawed morsels until the whole
sum was identified. One hundred
aud eighty dollars. part or
that destroyed w. NanderbIlts summer
home at Newport. came TO Mrs. Brown u
chsrred mass of paper, TO be redeemed upon
her identification. Railroad wrecks and
holocausts. like the Chicago fire. are
among the causes that operate to keep the
redemption division from stRgnation.
When an express car Is burned in a rail-
road wreck no attempt Is made oy the eX-
press company 10 remove the money iron
the safe. The safe Is sent direct TO the
Treasury Department and opened there.
Not unlike a coroner's Inc nest IS the Rrue-
some interest such an arrival occasions.
Expert women carefully empty the con-
tents. often mass of ashes. which are
carefully sifted through sieve. The
money Is then separated from papers and
other debris. The charred bits are picked
out and submitted TO microscopic examine
tion. Not long ago TWENTY-FIVE tiny dia-
monds were recovered by sitting the ashes
for the third time before consigning lt TO
the fire. The vaults often reek to
heaven with the stencil of moneys
recovered from dead bodies or
pestilent districts. as during the
yellow fever In the South. Such moneys
are fumigated. and no diseases have ever
been communicated to the EN- ploy es by the
germs. After the burnt money has been
identified and classified IL Is sealed and
submitted To what Is called the 'Durnt
committee" which includes three women
experts: Mrs. Rosenberg. of the Treasur.
er's office: Mrs. Rabbit of the Secretary's
office, and Mrs. Galway. of the Registers
office. On the verdict OF these three
women the United States treasury redeems
eli mutilsted money.
Gold and silver are likewise counted by
women; and women manipulate the hinge
machine that has now superseded the
shears IN cutting the notes. The machine
that stamps the bank notes that come crisp
from the Engraving Bureau 10 also man
aged by women. A record Is kept OF their
accuracy, and it's credits 20 to them In the
clvil-service examination.
In the Treasurer's Office Is the last of the
original ''seven"-Miss Elizabeth Stoner.
Hers is the exactinR duty OF keeping the
pay rolls of the United States navy. The
work necessitates the reducing of every
foreign money TO our values. Thirty years
this Xpert Mathematician has served the
government, occupying almost the identi-
cal desk room as at frst There she has
heard old General Spinner vehemently oust
political heelers who used him to displace
q woman TO make room for a voter.
MISS Stoner is president. as Mrs. Leonard
Is the recording secretary of the Gen. Spin
ner Memorial Association" which proposes
the erection OF a statue at Washington IN
memory of the man who so slgnally opened
new possi bilities TO women. Here Is n mag
Co.. . h. a,.afn HnR IN
of women's clubs. which represents forty
thousand women, 10 come TO the aid of the
little band of treasury clerks by contrib but
ing q mite 10 the fund. It is proposed to
invite the women sculptors of America to
compete for the design and execution or
the sfafua