The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-11-10
RoMANCES OF REDEMPTION.
STORIES OF MONEY SPOILED IN
QUEER WAYS.


Pieces-QuOng Sings Money Bank
in Stove PiPe-Cash in a Dead
woman's Burned skirt-A Costly
Birds Nest-Two Dollars struck by
lightning.
From the Hartford Times
The redemption division of the treas
ury is forever productive Of new ro-
mances. Hardly a week passes that
something odd and novel does not turn
up there. Not seldom it is an incident
that might afford to a novelist a theme
for a romance Spoiled money, which
people are naturally anxious to have re-
placed, brings to light many phases Of
human nature. both comic and tragic.
Only last week one of these romances
reached its denouemenA 1t had been
running along for more than two years;
for Il was as far back as September,
1893, that a New York dealer in old coins
and currency sent TO the treasury the
| equivalent of S25 1t was in rather queer
/ shape, consisting of the right hand halves
of one SO and two $50 bills. 1t was EVIL
dent that the original notes had been
deliberately cut in two with a knife or
a pair Of scissors.
OF course the half-notes were redeemed,
the treasury returning S25 in crisp, new
bills to the New York dealer. Under the
! law, a spoiled note is redeemable at full
value II as much as three-dfths of it
Is presented. If the fragment is less
than three-fifths or more than twO-fifths
of the whole, one-haf Of the face is paid
for 1t. Less than twO-tifths of bill is
worth nothing, unless 1t can be proved
that the balance has been destroyed.
| Such proof must consist of a thoroughly
credible story supported by the affidavit
of the loser, and by testimony OF repu-
table citizens as to his character. Even
with such precautions, the government
Is sometimes cheated without GoGpti
but, though fraud OF TINS klhd Il ire
quently attempted, IL Is almost certain
to be found out and punished.
Ordinarily the spoiled money that mas !
been redeemed is promptly destroyed by
boiling and grinding II 10 a pup. but
in any case that looks supicious the rag
ments are filed away ana preserved, 10
cover the possibility that something may
turn up later to shed light on the puzzle.
That is what was done with the halVes
| of $50 received from the New York
dealer. They were put on snelt Ior
reference, and for the time being the
matter dropped out of sight; Two years
elapsed and they were practically forgot
ten, until the otheb day a fresh conslSn-
ment consisting of the left-hand halves OF
one $40 and two $50 bills reached the
treasury. They came all the way IRON
ing them was clear ana succlnct enough
wel-to-do farmer in Kansas present
ed at his town bank the three nalt-hotes
described which bore MARKS OF burning
along the edges toward the middle OF eacn
bill He explained that ne mad been en-
gagged in burning brush in Held. be
| mad taken of his waistcoat and hung It
on a fence. 1t fell down, and, in his abb
sence from the spot, the hre, spreading
through the grass, partly burned the
WaiscOat and the money in the pocket
! The cashier of the bank, being notary
| public, wrote out an affidavit reciting
| these circumstances, which the farmer
/ then forwarded to Washington with a
/ claim for the full value OF the damaged
| bills-ffty dollars.
On the face of it the story was entirely
| credible and well calculated to accom-
plsh its purpose, but there was a contln-
/ gency on which the farmer could hardly
| have reckoned. What cause had he to
/ imagine that the other halves Of those
! same notes might be on shelf in the re-
| demption division of the treasury Mr..
! Relyea, the chief, went to the hles ana
! put his hand upon them in moment. Inc
/ halves sent in by the New York dealer
| and those received from the Kansas farm
| er had belonged TO the same bills orig
| inally. The artless agriculturist had
! caught himself in his own trap.
| The matter was at once put into the
hands of the United States district attor-
| ney for Kansas. That official began an
! investigation, but hesitated to prosecute
| the supposed guilty man because the lat
| ter was an old settler, large property
! owner, and bore an unimpeachable charac-
| ter Nevertheless, the treasury insisted
! on pushing the case, and a warrant was
issued for the farmers arrest on the
| charge of trying to defraud the govern
| ment Mr.. Relyea was notified that he
| would be required to appear with the
| haived notes and the original AFFIDAVIT,
| which were expected to furnish complete
! evidence of perjury on the part OF the ac-
| cused. Last week, however, he received
| a telegram from the district attorney stat
| ing that the farmer had pleaded guilty.
The story seems to end at this point; but
| a very interesting part of it remains as
| yet wholly enveloped in mystery. How did
| it happen that the unfortunate person in
| Kansas became possessed Of those halves
| of $50? only one theory suggests itself.
| The irrepressible activity of the green
! goods propaganda is well Known 1t is
| safe to say that no well-todo farmer in
| the United States has failed to receive in
| Viting circulars, Offering counterfeit mon
| ey, printed from stolen government plates
| and of so excellent quality as 10 be be-
| yond detection by experts. Of course, the
| green-goods people have no counterfeits
! to sell; all they want is 10 get hold of the
| transporting Mr.. Hayseed and fleece him.
! A favorite method OF theirs IS to cut a
| good note in two, and send half of it, as
| a sample of their goods, ~ 10 the intended
| victim. 1t may be that the Kansas farmer
| nibbed at such a bait. but he refused
| finally to bite, retaining the divided cash
| that had been forwarded 10 him. The
green-goods men in New York disposed of
the halves which they had retained by
| selling them to the dealer aforesaid, while
| the farmer held on to his for some time
| before he could decide what to do with
| them. Probably, if he had not come by
them in this dubious way, he would have
| presented them for redemption in a legiti-
| mate fashion. AS it was, if he had done so,
| 40 questions would have been asked, and
he would have come out just S25 ahead
| of the green-goods enterprise.
So here is a mystery accounted for cas-
| lily enough, surprising the theory to be cor
| rect. Much more difficult is it to explain
how in June of this year the sum of 81 $50
| came to be scattered along the lake-front
| OF Chicago, torn into small scraps in such
! a manner as TO leave no doubt that the
| destruction Of the cash was intentional
| Early in the morning Of the twenty-eighth
| day of that month two coored laborers
named Brown and Campbell were walking
! along the shore south of Twenty-fOurth
/ street, when they noticed some scraps
of green paper blowing about. Looking
| further. they discovered d good many
| more pieces. which were distributed FOR
| a distance Of a couple of blocks After
some hours of patient search, they had
| gathered enough to represent in a res
| pectable manner two notes for $500 each,
/ two more for $50 each and one for SO
They took the fragments to the sub
/ treasury. supposing that they could claim
the face value of the money Imagine
! dfcp1lef when fhax inc 4