St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-08-11

the chief. 1.-THE money all comes to us
done up in packages from the banks.
The amount in the packages Is marked
and the woman who counts it is re-
sponsible for the amount she receives.
They come In packages of hundred
bills. II the packages are not as
marked the woman must report them
at once to the chief, and the bank
stands the loss. If she makes q mis-
take or. passes a counterfeit she must
make the mistake good. After the
money is counted it is cut lengthwise
In halves, and one-half goes to the
the counters of the registers office.
Here it Is recounted, and there is, in
fact, no chance for the slipping out
of bills, as you call it. We had, how
womanl who did it probably stole thou
sands Of dollars from the government.
This woman's name was Mrs. Ernes-
tine Becker. She had been in the de-
she was appointed through the In
huence of President Johnson. She was
considered a very good counter, and
up to. my taking charge of the re-
demption bureau she was not sus-
pected. Toward the last of her career,
however, she grew reckless. She spent
a great deal of money. She came to
the department every morning in her
carriage, with her driver In livery. Mr..
Hyatt was treasurer at that time, and
he and I usually walked down to-
gether, because we were too poor to
afford carriage. 1 saw this woman,
and it seemed strange that she should
live so we'll on $1,000 a year. She had
a house in the city and one in the
country, and she had sent her boy to
Europe to be educated. Upon inquiry
it was stated that she had received
fortune from the death of relatives.
cion was the fact that it was discov-
cred that she had one name in the de-
partment and another outside. She
had been married twice, and on the
treasury rolls her name was Mrs.
Becker, while outside she was Mrs.
Smith. Well, one evening we found
an error In our accounts. and this err
ror was traced to Mrs. Becker's desk.
tending to give her little scolding for
her carelessness. She was not present;
she had remained away from office
her papers to be examined, and for the
money she had counted to be gone
over. There was only the account of
three days which had not yet been sent
had counted during those three days
we found that she had stolen 1910, and
she had probably been stealing for no
one knows how long at the rate Of 5000
plished her thefts in a curious way.
She would take ten bills, and by tear
ing and FASTING, SO manipulate them
that she would make. ten short bills
she would put the tenth good bill in
herpocket. I don't know whether she
didaher work at home or at the depart
ment. have understood that this
war. There is no telling how much she
stole. She had a lover, who. I think,
was the chief devil in the plot He was
q married man, and it was shown that
money. The woman died Of cancer not
long after she was discovered. do
not7thfnk she was ever sent to prison"
EXPRESS ROBBERIES.
The most of the money which comes
to the United States treasury from the
banks is sent In by express. 1t is
ola square loaf of bread, and the bank
that sends the money puts it's seal on
both lends. If it accepts it, and the
mopeyts short, it is question whether
1t was stolen by some of the employees
Of the department or by one of the
bank clerks. A number of instances
are known of such packages being
opened, and of nothing but strips of
newspapers being found in the. place
press company cannot prove that the
theft took place at the bank or at the
treasury, they pay the bill and refund
the money. The chief of the redemp-
a package of $4,000 worth of such
money. It came from national bank
at Bridgeport, Conn. He showed me
how the express messengers. some
tines took q hot knife and raised the
seal, aid were thus enabled to get out
In t Relsu places bahdIss Sa NEWSPAPER
Slips. He says that this form of steal
ing grows less, however from year to
year, and that the express companies
now nut such baoKageS in safes which
are not opened upfn they reach their
destination. Not long ago package
Of 5000 came looking apparently all
| right On being opened 1t was found
to contain only S504 the other $500
Il s k. -