The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1893-03-07

tIotsi.,sl. tn-trot.i.
The redemption division u the i
1Fv departing 1t il auEnf tie most
asting Of its branches. L Is here
muiil.tel muatey caiaes III i.ea .et-
ton. and Tire form IN which it esat
tells 70 the cl1iaf af the diy!sioa mr.. =
ro!n;.nee and many a tale Of woe. GaaTf
IS much that il humorous aud neea
that is pathetic III s;r,. Browns pu1iir
experience. iaaf experience r.,ascs uyfr
ueI.ly eighteen wears now. ana N tHti
,l1ie millions OF dollars have T., 1
| through her hands. most uf it nj suJl
condition as IL lie beyond identification
By ordinary means,
Their. is E.rdi, any way You can thinh
If IN Which money i, not mltilatai or
partly destroyed. llnn light their ci-
CARS with it when they aie drunk: rats
ynaw it into tatters, and fire c~riS,~ it
into brown ashes. Whenever there is Il
sudden cold snap at the beginning of
winter the redemption division has "a
perfect harvest of muti!ated money. One
Of the fnvorite hiding places which WON
en- nave for their savings is the oven
When Il cold day comes the woman
probably foryets all about the moG"r.
build. "A fire in the stove and cooks The
bills to what is known iii the cookbook
AZ ii rich brown"
An interesting case is thar of IA woman
living near Hamilton. o.. who wis
burned 10 death. She had II ,.,ckrtbooh
with iicr containing seventy dollars.
Her children seIt the pocilethook with
its v.!nrrel contents to the treasury de,
pIi:nant. and Mrs. Brown picked II
tn. evenly dollars and Identified it. y
great deal OF the none, HAT comes i'll is
partly burned. Wherever a part Of the
burned money can be ilentit,ea and y
satisfactory affidavit IS furnished as to
ti" facts the government restores the
amount to the owner. But If a note is
entirely destroyed the government is just
50 much ahead
Much Of tn" money which ome III for
redemption has been damaged IN rail-
road wrecks. When Il car is burned mi
railroad wreck no attempt Is made by
the express company 10 remove the
money from the safe. The safe is sent
direct to the treasury department and
opened there. The money is usually in
Il pretty ba,ily charrei condition. 1t il
taken out and the treasury experts 90
over il and identify as much of it a can
be recognized. Two years a ,ac!;-
age containing 2 1000 was taken from II
wreck near It. Louis. and all of tie
money WAS identified and restored to its
owners
\ ~favorite hiding place for money with
men who have no faith in banks is in
their cellars. \ Philadelphia man sent
$3.50 which he had buried in IA tin box
under his cellar floor. When he took no
the box he found the money mildewci
and rotten, The package as it came
into Mrs. Browns hands looked like Il
bunch OF tobacco leaves. 1t was almost
impossible to distinguish the character
of the notes with the naked eye. Mrs.
Brown vas picking apart the pieces hit
by bit and arranging them on slips of
brown paper cut to the size of a dollar
bill. She said 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.
the stomach of "a goat. The goat was not
worth forty-two dollars. so he was sacri-
feed. The identification of this money
was not a very nice task. but it WAS iii
paratiyely an easy one. When Mrs.
Brown dropped the sticky mass into a
basin of water the bills came apart and
were very easily identified. This is not
tl,a anlx, ,r,,t ..nca x,,Ii.l, h,o conn, m thu
redemption division, and it has happened
that even COWS and pigs have been sacri-
feed TO o money which they had
swallowed. There is one case on record
where a baby swallowed some bank
notes. and an emetic saved the money
and possibly the baby. Babies do not
often swallow an entire bill, but many
affidayits are received accompanying por-
tons Of bills which say that the missing
portions were swallowed by babies and
therefore wholly destroyed"
Usually when mutilated money is sent
in for redemption the owner has q close
il not perfect idea of the amount which
is represented. but n old German in
the west sent in some years ago what he
claimed to be the remains Of q, Zoo, and
after u long. long investigation Mrs.
Brown fully identified *1.1OO in the
package. A secret service agent was
sent out to investigate the case, but he
could discover nothing that would throw
light upon the mystery, and SO the mis-
take was charged up to the old mans
stupidity. and the department sent &. 100
to him.
The redemption division receives very
frequently pieces torn from bills, ac-
colnpanied by afiidavits saying that the
remainder of the notes has been destroy
ed by mice. But the experts of the
treasury department a tell in a minute
whether "a piece has been torn off or eaten
of. and these petty frauds are never sue
cessful.
Treasurer Sebeker has a five dollar
bill in his Office made Of sixteen pieces
cnt from five dollar notes matched g.
nicely that the ordinary eye would moi
detect the fraud. I'll composite mote