Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1895-09-20
AN UNPAl I'D CHECK.
An Interesting Relic of Olden Times
Discovered Some Time Ago
on OnesOf the Streets.
A Check For $500 Drawn to Gen.
G.. A. Custer on the Day OF
the Massacre.
1t Appears to Have Been Lost at the
Time, and Has Been Sent to
Mrs. Custer.
An Interesting Relic.

An Interesting Relic.
A letter was forwarded Monday to
Mrs. Geo. A. Custer, containing a relic
Of Older times, which will serve to bring
back and brighten memories of a past,
which while, the passage of time may
have dimmed it somewhat, can never be
forgotten 81 long as life lasts. The en-
closure was a check for $1,000, drawn to
Gen. Geo. Custer or bearer, and signed
by B. L. Smith, assistant paymaster of
the army. The check was dated June
25, 1876, and was doubtless in part pay
ment of the salary of the general as an
officer of the United States army. It is
not SO much the simple check is valuable
as a memento, but some Of the circum-
stances surrounding it's possession. First,
there is the fact that it could never have
come into the possession of the person
to whom it was drawn, for on the day of
it's making, June 25, General Custer and
his command met death at the hands of
a savage horde of Sioux, in that we'll
remembered massacre Of the Little Big
Horn. 1t was no doubt forwarded to
Fort Lincoln or to Bismarck before
knowledge of the fate of General Custer
reached the department headquarters.
The check has not been negotiated by
anyone else, for it bears no endorsement,
and is still an unpaid draft on one of the
United States repositories for S $500.
The history of the bit of paper would
be an interesting one could it be known.
It was drawn and doubtless sent on
from headquarters, June 25, 1876. It was
found near the corner of Main and
Second streets in February of tLis year,
by Mike Francis, in whose possession it
has been since. Its appearance at the
time of finding showed that it had not
lain outside for the years intervening
between the two dates. For it was in a
fair state of preservation, almost as leg
ible as on the day it was written, and not
much soiled or discolored. Indeed,
there was not much to indicate its age,
except the creases where it was folded,
which were worn nearly through, SO that
the check had to be pasted with three
bits Of paper to hold it's different parts
together. What became of it, after it
reached it's destination, it a mystery.
Had it reached those who had charge of
the dead soldiers belongings and effects,
it would doubtless have been sent back
to the paymaster, and another sent which
could have been negotiated by the heirs
OF the dead officer. 1t is apparent, how
ever, that no such disposition was ever
made of it, from the fact of it's being
without any sign or mark, to indicate
payment or cancellation. It must have
been under shelter somewhere, up to q
brief time before it was found, or it
would have been so beaten and worn by
the elements as to have been illegible.
It may have been swept from some
building where it has lain, unknown to
the owners, for years.
The check was enclosed in a letter as
stated, and sent by Mike Monday to
Mrs. Custer, with an account of it's
finding. The sum of money for which it
was drawn has dou btless been paid
through some other method ere this, but
the bit of paper will be a relic of value
to the wife of the dead general, from
the circumstances surrounding it.
Christian Endeavor Union.
At the meeting of the Christian En-
deavor at jamestown, Secretary Fitch
gave the following figures of the Union:
There are now Ill societies in the state
"a gain Of IS over last year-with q
total membership of 3,1S4. There are
81 senior and "a junior societies. James
town has the distinction of possessing
the banner junior society-7O members
and Wahpeton, the banner senior So
ciety-58 members. There has been an
increase in membership in all societies
OF 624. During the year 1919 have been
contributed to foreign missions, $346 to
home missions, and s72O to other pur-
poses "a total of S1,444. The denomina-
tional affiliations of societies is as fol-
lows: 80 Presbyterian, SO Congrega-