Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-01-13

!:
1 WkbktM LfW
| owners appear Uncle
| -Fe Sam has got to pay
mi USW =" LMf them over, no matter
| ~ lWEl|G how many years
| ANke have passed by. This
money is due on
| bonds long ago call
| ed in. Some Of them
have Lever been cashed by the holders
On the "oid debt" which embraces all
| loans made to this government up to 1887,
$121,OO0 is still owing. Since that date more
than $1.O0O.OO0 has accumulated, being un-
called for by the persons entitled to it.
| whether through negligence or for other
| reasons.
| considerable fraction Of this great sum
| Is now held by the treasurer Of the United
States in the shape Of checks. Interest on
registered bonds is paid by check in every
case to the person whose name appears on
the face Of the security. But people are
constantly changing their addresses. and
not infrequently it happens that track is
| lost for while Of an individual bond
| holder Under such circumstances the
| quarterly interest checks are retained as
they fall due and in the course of time pile
| up. They are kept for an indefinite period
| and are good forever.
Checks That Are Always Good.
| There are such checks in the treasurer's
| office now which have accumulated during
more than ten years. On the other hand.
knowing that they are always good for the
money they represent, people often keep
| these interest checks. putting them away
and boarding them just as If they were SO
much cash. Only the other day a batch OF
forty checks for 81 each was received at
the treasury. Each of them represented
| the Quarterly interest on per cent bond
I 1hn t,aA -tr BOO,
| away as they came in year after year.
They never did him any good, but were for
| warded to Washington by the executor of
his estate.
The Rich Bondholder.
The millionaire is commonly represented
| as engaged in clipping coupons from bonds.
This is an egregious error. Rich men as
rule do not hold coupon bonds. The reason
is quite obvious. Such bonds are not safe
property. They are always payable to
| bearer. like treasury notes. If lost the
government will not replace them. Accord
ingly, for the sake of security, people are
constantly exchanging them for registered
bonds. Thus the sum total of coupon bonds
outstanding which is now about $1O,OOO,OOO.
! is all the time diminishing. They are most
ly in the hands Of small holders.
| With the registered bonds 1t Is quite diff
ferent They are rich mems property par
worth of them is held by private individ-
uais. OF this great sum $SI,0Oo,0o0, or not
far from one-half. is owned by LOCO per-
sons roughly speaking, whose holdings av-
erage $SO,UOO. The names OF these fortunate
individuals are kept secret by the treasury.
Some Of the fortunes possessed in this
| shape are enormous. Some OF the greatest
belong to the Vanderbilts Old William H.
Vanderbilt had S45,OOO.OOO In registered
bonds at one time.
ROnd Romance.
| United States bonds, prosaic enough in
! themselves, have been the keynote to many
| a romance. About twenty years ago $780,
| 600 worth of the consols Of 1865 and 1867
| were stolen in Havana. The thief altered
| them by erasing the name from the face
and sold them to ignorant persons. They
were for 81. 900 each. Ever since then they
have been coming in to the treasury through
| banks and otherwise or course. they were
useless to the holders. being registered and
only payable to the original owner. Not
| long ago a lawyer in Portland, Me-. wrote
| to Washington about one of these bonds.
| Being informed that 1t was no good. he
would not give 1t up, and 1t was only Sc
cured by employing the secret service. 1t
had been purchased long ago by a sea cap
| tain, who left it to his widow when he died.
Nearly all of these stolen consols have been
recovered.
The original owner lost nothing, of course.
All he had to do was to notify the Secre-
tary of the Treasury. giving an affidavit
and bond of indemnity, and the stolen
consols were replaced. That is the adj
vantage of registered bonds. The number
of such bonds that have been lost and stolen
is astonishing. "A list of them, numbering
| nearly 1000. is printed and circulated by
the government. 1t Is called the "caveat
others against accepting securities of the
numbers mentioned. AS soon as a register
ed bond is reported missing, 1t is put on this
list.
Some time ago a report came from In
dianapclis of bond that was said to have
been destroyed Atidavits, ETC., being fur
| nished, a new one was issued to replace 1t.
Ten years later that identical security was
forwarded to the treasury from Holyoke,
Mass. 1t had been found in a lot OF waste
paper at paper mill. There was no Ques-
ton of fraud in this case; the owner lost
| 1t and supposed that 1t had been burned.
In MANY Instances bonds have been re-
issued on what was deemed satisfactory
evidence of their destruction, and the orig
| inals have turned up afterward.
A Mysterious Disappearance.
Once upon q time an odd thing Of this
sort occurred at Emienton, Pa A lady de-
posted a bond for $500 in bank. She left
it there for ten years. When 1t was called
in she went to get 1t. 1t could not be
found, though the cashier looked high and
low for 1t. Oddly enough, the DOCKS OF the
bank seemed to show that the bond had
been delivered to her. 1t was mystery,
for she declared that she had never re-
| ceived It. She applied to the treasury at
Washington for payment, and her case was
made so clear that the controller ordered
her claim to be paid. On the very day that
the check was mailed to her the bond
reached the treasury. The bank at Emlen-
ton, in tearing down a vault. had found it.
In some way it had slipped down behind
masonry.
Good Stories, but
An interesting story has been printed re-
Gently about an aged man from a New
England state, who, when Mr.. Folger was
Secretary of the Treasury. brought to the
subtreasury at New York s7OOOO worth of
'old debt bonds. He had found them
among the papers of a defunct uncle They
were yellow with age. He had offered them
/ to banker in Boston for 5000, but that
financial expert was so green" on the
subject of government securities as b re-
fuse the bargain. This proved extremely
fortunate for the aged man aforesaid, who
presently walked out of the subtrea sury
with $4,000 in good United States DotaS ~,