Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-09-16

IueHtIiIeu. accordingly, the consignment was
returned to the owner. He was very indig-
nant and said that he was going to apply
70 congress for reimbursement. That was
the last heard Of the matter.
Work of the ParlOr Stoves.
This Is the season when burned money
reaches the redemption division in large
quantities. That Is because the parlor
stoves are being lighted, cold weather hav-
ing begun. In those receptacles thousands
OF housewives all over the country deposit
their boarded cash. considering them more
secure than banks, especially at this pe-
Rod OF financial depression Also it is
supposed that the heating apparatus IN the
which robber would be likely to look for
casn. But, when chilly autumn days ar
rive flre is wanted and the presence of
the wad in the stove is forgotten. 1t
serves as fuel, or perhaps undergoes q
gradual reduction to crisp in the oven.
such things often happen for the reason
that all the members of a househ Did have
not been made acquainted with the Place
or concealment. AT all events, the money
Is reduced to condition more or less ap-
preaching cinders.
AS has already been implied, there are
many other ways of destroying money, but
IN effectiveness none of them approa ches
the parlor stove AS a rule il reduces the
cash to condition that is hopeless, even
from the point of view of the axpar.s at
washington To them absolute ashes are
kinds, such as pill boxes and even thin
bles, but 1t goes without saying that they
cannot make anything out of material of
that sort There are about 100 cases of this
KIND every fall 1t is an i'll wind that blows
nobody any good, and what is lost in this
way by people is much rain for t;ncle
Sam. Every dollar wiped out is 81 in the
pocket or his striped pantaloons, to sreak
hguratively. To him collisions on the rail
are sources of great profit Such acct
dents are almost Invariably followed by
hre. If there Is express car on one of
the trains it is burned up and the contents
or the pOrta BILE express safe are irciner-
ated. Safes Of this kind are not fire proof.
This happens almost every day, and incl
dentally vast amount of paper cash is
destroyed.
In such cases the safes are sent uuopen-
ed to Washington. Here their contents are
examined and the money they contain is
identified and redeemed when practicable.
Usually part of it at all events can be
restored. The worst instance of this sort
on record was that of an express safe
which went through fire and flame in a
tunnel down in Kentucky. A passenger
train and freight train loaded with iron
and coal tried to pass each other there on
the same track. The experiment was not
successful and there was a wreck which
burned. with the help of the coal Cor fuel
for thirty hours. In fact the tunnel was
for the time being transformed into a fur
mace. Nobody could get near enough to
put 1t out, even IL sufficient water had
been on hand: the iron from the freight
train melted and flowed about in a molten
condition. In the express car attached to
the passenger train was a safe which con-
tanned $1,000 in paper money, besides a
quantity Of jewelry The latter was Of
some use afterward bullion, out only
500 Of the 81 600 in cash could be redeemed.
1t took some mighty clever work to get
that much out of the ashes.
Money That Has Been Buried.
good deal of money is sent into the
treasury that has been buried. That sort Of
treatment does not hurt coin, but 1t Is very
bad for bills The latter soon get rotten
under such circumstances. Sometimes they
are so much decomposed that their remains
have to be handled with the utmost care and
delicacy so ready are they to tumble Dead
bodies are quite frequently dug up for the
purpose OF securing cash that has been in
TERED with them. a wad from the decom-
posed body of a murdered man not long ago
afforded to the treasury experts one OF the
most unpleasant tasks in this line which
they have ever been called upon to attempt
Another one. almost equally disagreeable.
was furnished by a roll of notes taken from
the pocket of a woman who had been
burned to death.
People will insist on hiding money under
floors. There it is quickly found by mice
and Is soon converted into material for
nests. Even the floor and walls of the cellar
serve the purposes of safe deposit, where
damp corrupts. Small children who have
passed the perlOQ baDVnO00 0enght in
tearing money when they get hold of IT, and
even more childish victims of alcoholic slim
ulation publicly exhibit their Indifference to
wealth by lighting their cigars with s. bills.
These last repent afterward and frequently
seek to have the value restored to them by
sending in the ashes.
OF course, the great bulk Of the paper
money sent into the treasury for redemp-
ton is in fairly good condition. The total
amount of it averages $1,000 a day. The
spoiled cash which requires the work of ex-
perts for its Identification makes only
small fraction of the whole. The bills and
notes for redemption are mostly received by
express. Some of them arrive by mail, and
a few are handed in to the treasury by indi-
viduals. All the paper money that pas
ses through the treasury in the ordinary
and every bill that does not look quite as
good as new is rejected, in order that it may
not go out into circulation again. Each
package of notes sent In for redemption is
receipted for in a register kept for that
purpose. The parcels are then distributed
to the counters, who are women.
Processes of Redemption.
On receiving a package. the counter signs
for it in the register book. She then care !
fully examines the contents, to see if they !
include any counterfeits. After sorting the |
bills by denominations and issues. she puts |
them up in packages of 100, cauceling them |
thereupon by punching four holes through |
then all. Next she makes entry of the |
amounts due to the owners after allowing |
for discrepancies, such as counterfeits |
shorts" and lovers" Finally. each pack
age Is cut in halves with a big machine |
knife. One-half is delivered to the Office of |
the Secretary of the Treasury and the other |
half of the register of the treasury In |
both offices the halves are recounted and |
If the counts agree the amount represent ID |
is credited to the account of the treasurer |
of the United States.
All of these halved bills must be destroy |
ed. So the national bank notes are put into |
Treasury building. where they are chopped |
use to anybody. All of the other paper
money is conveyed in a vehicle built of |
chilled steel to the bureau of engraving and
printing, where 1t is boiled in big watts with !
hot water and alkalies until it is reduced to |
an unrecogniZabe pulp.
Subsidiary and Minor Coins
There is a law which obliges the treasury
to redeem in lawful money the subsidiary
and minor coins. when offered In quantities
not less than $50 This is the reason why
there are at present lying in the vaults |
$l0eo0,oVo or more worth of such lesser
pieces Of metal cash, which have lost so |
much of their value by abrasion that they
are worth intrinsically about per cent Iess
than when they were mnted, or nearly SO on |
every $l.OOO Most of them are half-dolIars
for the reason that 50-cent pieces are not in
nearly so great demand as quarters and
dimes. Minor coins so defaced as not to he
readily identified, or punched or clipped. are