Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1894-08-03
I've OF BANK RUNNERS.
V Tasks of Messengers Who Handle
 rAansands of Dollars.

*<ts cAanssnds of Dollars.
 ,oore yariegated assortment o1 ,s.....a nitv than the bank messengers, .sr,,nners.p of Wall street, it would
 srd to find. There are old men, ~sszvn gray in the service, who have s.ssn running about the same streets ssa ,n and out of the same offices fol she Ttss last forty years. Then there ars sbe youngsters, boys just out of school, ssho fael very large to think they are < ssdoUn town" And between these two sxfremes of youth and old age are s1sssetion of men from every walk of s;1s from the bankrupt broker and un. xsz<unate business man to the awk. sysrd raw-boned farmers boy, sent to 4be city to win his way
 They are started out in the morning .he,,t ten o'clock with fifty or sixty pa .,2~s 4o collect. There are sight drafts, s,otes coupons and miscellaneous IA of other matter that must all be eoilected before three o'clock in the sffernoon. These papers are arranged s,,srroner order before the messenger roes out. and the head of the depart soant knows exactly what each man has in his possession, and can come nretty near locating him at any hour of the day. Every runner, young or ald is supplied with large leather .1,,cltetbook, generally strapped or shaiued to his waist, in which he car rigs his papers and the money and checks which he receives.
 It is no uncommon thing for a man &a collect three to six thousand dollars ;n cash, while the amount in checks runs way up in the hundreds of thou s,nds It can be readily understood what temptations are put in the way of these underpaid, hard-worked mes sengers, and their honesty under the c;rcnrnstances is little short of surpris- ing.
 The salary of these men ranges from 4qelye to hundred dollars a month. Tbey have to report early in the morn inq. and after being on their feet all day are often obliged to stay until nine or ten o'clock at night. If they return a,.not good" check a minute late and uayment is refused they are merciless- 7v hauled over the coals, and a repeti- ton of such all offense is sometimes followed by dismissal. Yet a great deal depends on these same runners and frequently their quickness and forethought save the bank thousands of dollars.
 As many people know. every bank xhat belongs to the clearing house has 4 humber, and their respective runners Instead of being called by name are Erected with Hello, 2tP' or Hurry up, 33p' It is an understood rule that messengers business must be attend Cd to before anything else, and long nne at the paying teller's window will often be kept waiting when some gray Bearded man CT rosy-eheeked boy rushes sn and thrusts forward a bundle of ohecks-"Sent wrong to 23i'
 One of the most interesting institu- Hons in the city is the clearing house, and few outside of the business would eyen know what the name implies. It is one of the greatest labor saving ar Engagements ever thought of, for it is zhere that the banks return to each other their respective checks.
 The clearing house is situated on the eorner of Pine street and Nassau, just over the Chase national bank. In a large room are four rows of desks, all zseing the same way, like a school. Each desk is numbered and belongs to a certain bank. and is presided over by clerk sent from that bank. Another elerk stands in front of the desk with large bag containing the cheeks to be returned These are done up in bun dles with the total amount and name pf bank on the outside of each. and the clerk also has slip with these totals aown in proper order.
 Precisely at ten o'clock gong rings snd the procession starts, all moving In the same direction and stopping long enough before each desk to drop 8 package and get a signature opposite the amount on the slip. In eight min ptes it is all over and every bank has received it's own checks. If a bank sends its checks even a second late it is lined three dollars, so, as a rule. every body is on time.
 Frequently checks will get into the wrong bundle and, of course, go to the wrong bank. Here again is more work for the runner, for these are the sent wrong" and must be returned to the proper banks before three o'clock the same day.
 The first of January and first of July { are, however, the times the messengers dread. 1t is then that the interest on most semi-annual bonds is due and tho runner is kept racing from one office to another as hard as he can go.
 Altogether the life of Wall street messenger is not pleasant one. and the hours, ten to three, displayed so conspicuously in all the banks, have little or no meaning for him.-N. Y. Herald.
 Color in Horses.
 "A good deal of importance is at saehed by expert horse buyers to the color of horses, particularly with re- gard to their legs, said a western tn,.lgy l.