The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1895-08-09
FORTUNE INA COIN.
The Owner Did Not Know It When He
Was Starving.


The Owner Did Not Know It When He
Was Starving.
From a case brought before Judge
Fitzgerald in the general sessions
court some days ago q peculiar ci-
vii suit has arisen and is now on
the calender in the fourth district,
says the New York Herald. Chas,
Schultz was arraigned for larceny
of a coin of great rarity from Felix
Schultz. The thief and his victim
are not related and were strangers
to one another.
Charles was in bad straits and
asked Felix Schultz for assistance.
Felix took him home, fed him and
allowed him to stay over night,
The next morning Charles disap-
peared with Felix's trousers and
some money and coins that were
in his pockets. Felix notified the
police and Charles was arrested.
When the case came up for trial
Felix begged Judge Fitzgerald to
migitate Charles sentence if he
would only tell what he did with
q certain heirloom, silver dollar
of the coinage of 1904, that he
priced highly, not so much for its
intrinsic value as for the family
association that it bore, it having
been handed pown through several
generations of Schultzes.
When Judge Fitzgerald asked
the prisoner what he had done
with the coin Charles replied that
as the coin seemed to him to have
more value than appeared on it's
face, he took it to the Scott Stamp
& Coin Company, Of No. 1873 Broad
way, where he was offered $95 for
it. Believing it to have more value
he tried at the Twenty third-street
Office of the company, and there he
was offered 800, which he accep.
ted.
The court was amazed and asked
Lawyer Thomas e. Gibbons, ap'
pearing for the prosecution, what
it all means. The lawyer replied
that it was an entirely new de.
velopment in the case, and ex.
planned that his client had valued
it highly because of the length oi
time it had remained in his fam
lily. From generation to genera.
tion it has been employed as q
'teething piece" for the children.
The prisoner, Charles Schultz,
being unable to restore the coin,
was sentenced to two years and
three months imprisonment at
Sing Sing. On Friday he sent a
letter to Felix reierating his pre-
vious story. When the coin was
demanded Of the Scott company,
however, it it was peremptor-
refused. with the statement that
they never saw either Schultz or
the coin in question. Felix Schultz
now brings suit for its return
against the company in the fourth
district court, and as the coin is es-
timated worth nearly $1,000, hot
fight is expected between the con-
testants.
The history of the 1904 dollar is
as follows: In 1903 congress
passed measure for the coinage
Of the usual amount of money met
al, but in the bill the word ''dol-
lars" was omitted. The mint, how
ever, had coined 10000 Of them be-
fore the omission was discovered,
and when the issue was recalled all
but IL were recovered. One of
them is now in the Berlin museum,
onetin the.British museum, one was
sold at the Even collection sale in
Boston, realizing $4,000. One was
sold abroad recently for 5000. The
others are scattered in this coun-
try.
When Felix Schultz was inform
ed of the value Of the coin he had
SO long in his possession he de-
clared: "Time and again have we
been starving for bread. We never
knew what we had in our posses
sion."