The Coalville times. [volume] (Coalville, Utah) 1894-1923, 1894-12-28
"SHARPSHIN" MONEY.
IT PASSED As CURRENCY ONCE
IN THIS COUNTRY.
The Paper Money Of the Revolution 3D.
AMER That Pounds, DouBioons, Ducats.
Moidorss. Joes, ristaroeus, aud sous
without Coinage.

rcncy had come 10 be- Of such plight f.
that Il seemed no Tor nothing else but
burning. The Continental paper
money which had largely contributed
to win liberty had been disabled, like
most Of the soldiers and sinking from
par to l,O0J for one. had gone out
~ use.
After this revolutionary paper
money had passed out Of existence
there remained only for the transac.
ton Of business personal notes Of hand
and the debris Of specie currency,
10 which all the civilized nations Of
the world. except the United States.
had contributed Mr.. Roosevelt, In
his life Of Morris" we'll describes
these times. lie says
I'VE had no proper coins Of our
own: nothing but hopelcssly deproci-
atcd paper bills. a mass Of copper. and
some clipped and countorfeitcd gold
and silver coins from the mines of
England. France. Spain and even Ger.
many Dollars. pounds. shillings,
iouboon-. ducai-. moidorcs. ioes.
crowns. pisiarecn-. copper. and sous
circulated indincrcntly. aud with va.
rious values In each colony. A dollar
was worth slN shilling- In Mas-achu-
sets. eight In New York. seven aud
-ixpencc IN Pennsylvania, six again
In Virginia eight again In North Car
olina. 32l IN south Carolina and five
Ia Georgia
In this condition Of affairs the clip
/ ping and sweating Of silver coins was
carried to an extent which would now
be- deemed impossible and The figure,
or shape Of the coin. originally In
tended 10 bc circular. was sometimes
20 grotoHquo ~ To excite murrimCnt ~
Il pissed from hand To hand. serving
the ordinary uses Of currency. Change
had 10 be- made and In default Of small
coins. larger coins were cut into parts.
and these parts served 10 make the
current change needed In the small
transactions Of business. This. Of
course, was open 10 an extensive
fraud Fair dealing In the cutting Of
'oin- soon became the exception and
iot the rule.
These cut triangular fractions Of
coins were called ''shurp-hins. from
their pointed shape They were often
cut 10 irregular that their value could
only be- guessed A "sharpshin''
worth i've cents to n sober man would
easily bc passed ON half drunken
man for ton cents. and, ~ a. the
South "rcckon" l. the synonym for
"gucss." those pieces which had once
been named "drink rcckoncr." came
to h. called for short "drinkuns
"Sharpshins, Of which the name
Of sharp shin alley. adjoining the
Alexandria market. Is n memorial.
came Ia hc less and les. exact. Gen
eral Washington. In u letter written Ia
Grayson IN l7ss. makes this vehement
complaint, we are without u coin
age. and unless some stop can bc put
, To the cutting and clipping Of money
our dollars. pi-turccn-, &c., will b.
converted ~ league says. into iiy'
quarters: and q man must travel with
\ n pair of scales IN hls pocket or rur
Z the risk Oi receiving gold ~ on'
fourth less In weight than'lt counts.
From this chaos Of currency, ~ wei
~ chaos In other public matters, th'
constitution Of the United States cam'
. In 1897 20 deliver the people; ~ u
y gave TO the congress tho power 4
, coin money. regulate the value There
. III, and Of foreign colns' To provide 70
. the punishment OF countcrfeiting th'
securities and current coin Of IN
United States; and forbade any stat
10 coin money. emit bills Of credit. .
10 make anything but gold aud silvo
. coins tender In payment OF debts
u Alexandc' Hamilton brought ordc
out Of the chaos OF the currency; bu
r, Governor Morris had preceded him !
n proposing that decimal scale shout
Q be- established for tho United State
money Morris had proposed that th
II basis OF currency should b. ono-fourt
= of one grain Of silver. and his pla
It proposed the following table OF Unite
States money: Ten quarters make on
4. POM. 10 pcnns make one bill, 10 bill
g make ~.
II but Hamilton's plan was adopte,
IS and the coinage act provided u
present United States money; Tt
4, cents make one dime. 10 dimes mai
.. one dollar. 10 dollars make ono cagl
,n Preparations for coinage were
"A once begun. Then the act esiablis
ing the United States mint was pass
-. April .. 1899. aud In the summer
ho that year plain brick building W
Az erected In Philadelphia al site on q
M east side Of Seventh street Hbo
Sugar Tree alley. afterward call
Farmer and now filbort street. Day
y, RittcnhOuse had bcon appointed
=" rector Of the mint ON the lith
70 April. l792. and he nj once order
w colning presses from England. The
.'' reached Philadelphia in Septomb'
and in the early part of October l7'
re- the coming began upon six pounds
ar old copper which had been purchas
Ter as preliminary TO tho bulli
De- which was aftcrward brought 10 I
'er mint One old horse moved the n
me chlnery Of the mint and was the 70
'N' runner Of the steam and electric
which have since been used for
nts purpose. The first return Of coins
OF ever made consisted Of lbs cents
zen Hysterleal Persons.
ow An authority on hypnotlsm 81
No that historical persons are very
ms 0cult 10 influence. They are 10 "