The evening times., 1896-10-22

I
water. wasa considerable
sum in cash.
! When il got to the Treasury not one
OF the clerks was willing TO handle 1t.
Finally the chief of the Redemption Di-
vision was obliged to count 1t him self,
after sprinkling 1t literally with cologne
| and disinfectants.
| on March 27, 1898, package containing
$S7 900 In Treasury notes was received
| from the assistant treasurer at New York.
| II was counted in the usual manner and
| found correct
| FiiUy-one of the notes We're for 81 900
each These We're done up in a package
bythemselves. Holeswcrc punched through
the package for cancellation. and 1t was
then cut in two in the customary fashion.
one set OF halves being sent to the office
Of the Secretary of tie Treasury and the
other sent to the office OF the register.
Both sets counted up only $4,000, In
stead of So il 900.
MR.. NEBEKER WAS GENEROUS.
or course. the per son who did up the notes
and marked them So 900 was responsible;
but it is hardly practicable TO subtract
| ST 900 from the wages of clerk who
gets only $1,000 year. She was dis
| charged. and the Treasurer of the United
States, Mr.. +. II. Nebeker, made good the
| Sum out of his own pocket. If any money
! disappears anywhere in the accounts or
the Treasury Department, the TREASURER
| must go down into his clothes and sGuareit
| Frauds ON the Redemption Division of
the Treasury are constantly being tried.
What are called drawer scraps are pre-
! spnted almost every day with demands for
new money in exchange. These are torn
off fragments OF notes which are found IN
| tiils and ca lSh drawers. a young man em-
| poyed in n New York bank once sent In
| box full of them, claiming $500. They
We're the result OF many swecpings care
fully accumulated.
| Unfortunately, they represented 81 600
or more, if anything, and the youth was
| lucky to escape prison. An Ohio woman
| not long ago mailed to the Treasury num-
Der of rolled-up pellets Of papers, which she
said represented a SO note torn up by
child. The pellets We're Strengthened out
and found 10 be thirteen centcr-strips cut
! Iengthwisc from as many So bills. 1t is
nardly necessary TO say that the woman
| got nothing in return. People Seem 10
think that Uncle Sam is precious green;
at the same time, the redemption division
does get cheated now and then, undoubtedly.
ERRORS DESPITE CARE.
Late In the year s92 it was discovered in
the redemption division that the full num-
ber of $500 notes OF the series OF 1874 had
been redeemed. Nevertheless, notes of
this series We're still coming in for redcnlp-
| tiOn
| At first it was thought that there had
been an overssuc 10y some strange mistake.
| Accordingly all OF these notes from that
| tune on were withheld from the customary
destruct ion, and their numbers were regis
| tered for the purpose of seeing If duplicates
/ would appear. But no duplicates did ap-
| near, and II is now believed that the trouble
| arose from an error on ne part or the Of
! ficials appointed to act as destruction
| committee They must have made ms
| take in their record OF notes destroyed, put
| ting down the figures 1874 instead OF those
of some other year.
No business concern in the world is more
carefully managed than the United States
| Treasury, but its operations are on such
| a gigantic scale that occasional mistakes
| are unavoidable. Not long ago tendoiiar
| silver certificate received by the redemp-
ton division exhibited a strange freak,
its number being stated differently on the
upner right-hand corner and the lower LETT
| hand corner. Similar errors in printing
have occurred several times in the Bu-
reau of Engraving Another ten-doliar
silver certificate of the series Of 1891
omitted the legend" entirely.
COULD NOT EXPLAIN.
The Bureau of Engraving could give no
satisfactory explanation of the phenomc-
| 81. a.. vol
a large number of these certificates with
the signature of d. n. Morgan, Treasurer,
we're defective in this respect. One of the
many steel plates used for printing the
bills evidently lacked the Trcasurers' name.
On one occasion it was found that mum
ber of United States rifty-dollar notes OF
the series of 1880 bore the legend OF 1874.
In this instance the trouble was evident
enough. The Bureau OF Engraving under
took to alter the plates OF 1874 for the
1850 series. and in one Of them The
change in the legend was forgotten.
National bank notes AZ frequently found
lacking the signature of the bank officers.
Such notes are always signed by hand,
whereas the signing of Treasury green
backs and certificates is accomplished by
printing In the old days Of the national
currency the signatures we're by hand. and
history states that Gen. Spinner Mas proud
to put his eccentric autograph upon the
fractional shnplasters during the war.
But even he found this too laborious finally.
Fractional notes bearing his autograph in
real pen and ink fetch high prices today
NINE BILLS OUT OF EIGHT.
Speaking Of fractional currency, there
was received ON June %. 1894, from the
National Exchange Bank. Augusta, Ga,
the sum cf S5l2. As, brand new fractional
notes. That is to say. they had never been
used. They were done up in the original
brown paper straps, wAieh bore the in
scription, Counted in the pivision Of issue,
Treasury Department. The notes had
been held like So much collateral, without
disturbing them. Every now and then
cons ignments of fractional currency are
received by the Treasury in this condition..
though the bulk of this money arrives in
samIl lots and in all stages of dilapidatiOn.
Millions of dollars worth OF it are yet
outstanding. and much of ii has doubtless
been destroyed in one way or another.
On July 2, 1894, a package OF $40 notes
arrived from the sub-treasury at New
York. 1t was one bill short, and In place
Of that bill was found q slip of brown
paper bearing the words Good for So
written in pencil. This seemed very odd
but the explanation was easy. The clerk
in New York who had counted the package
put in the brown paper slip as memefan'
DUN. He forgot afterward to replace II
with the requisite SO note. OF course, he
| had to make it good