The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-10-25
QUEER TREASURY TALES
TOLD OF HANDLING THE NATIONS
PAPER CURRENCY.

PIo,UOO OF buried Treasure-SOme
Strange Mistakes Made In Print
ing the Bank NOtes-Hapless- Fate
of Thrifty Lady Clerk in the
Treasury-Made Nine Bills Out of
Extreme Care.
From the st. Louis Globe Democrat.
ThesUnited States treasury is rich and
virgin field for future novellsts. Up to
date no writer of romance seems to have
thought of working it, though, in return
for little scratching with the pen, 1t
might be made to laugh with harvest of
joyous anecdotes. Strange and amusing
things are constantly popping up to dis
tract the attention of the officials from
the dull routine of money counting.
Out in Ohio lives a farmer named Jason
B. Smith. His home is in the nelghborhood
of Ypsilante, and among his neighbors he
is reputed to be somewhat "near." A while
ago he buried a considerable sum in notes
and certificates believing Mother Earth
to be more trustworthy than bank. Co
ing one day to examine his treasure, he
reducing 1T to dust. For it is a fact that
paper money when buried in the ground
| quickly decays.
This state of affairs alarmed Mr. Smith,
and he promptly Withdrew the cash from
safe deposit. But, instead of forwarding
| it to the treasury in the jar that contain
ed it, and without disturbing the semi
| decomposed bills, he emptied the whole
business into pilloW-case. Tying the lat
ter around his body next to the skin, he
started for the national capital. Being of
a frugal turn of mind, he made the trip
as far as possible as a deck passenger on
a river steamboat, sleeping on bales and
boxes.
He got to Washington safely presented
himself at the treasury and stated his
| case The next thing was to remove the
cash from his person. and this was
matter of some embarrassment. A mes
senger was assigned to the duty OF as
sisting in the task, which was accom-
plished with no little difficulty by reason
of a lack of trustfulness on the part OF
Mr. Smith. Finally the money was hand
ed over to one of the ladies in the re-
demption division to be counted and iden-
tilted. She found 1t very much crumpled,
but succeeded in Identifying about $4,000
| all but $1,000 of the total sum repre-
scented.
the shape of a draft but he would not
take it that way. He chose notes of large
denomina ton and went off with them and
a strong sense of gratitude to the ladies
of the redemption division. To them he
sent a newspaper filled with grapes, to-
gether with the following poem:
Since the ladies' are skilfully at work
Counting the money,
Wish TO say to them truly am none
So much any one elses honey.
Performing so laborious a feat,
viii kindly accept a few grapes to eat?
Mr.. Smith departed joyfully for his
western home. On his way thither he was
robbed of the entire $4,000.
Another buried money case was that of
a colored man near st. Louis, who put $156
in tin can and inferred the latter in a
field near his house. Soon afterward he
was taken i'll and spent several months in
a hospital. On being cured and discharg-
ed he sought his bank and found that the
farm in which it was located had been
sold. Not only that, but it had been clear
ed, so that every landmark was oblitera-
ted. The new owner, an honest German,
promised to look for the treasure, and by
good luck he did actually find it., turning
It up with his pillow. The cash was much
rotted, but all of 1t was redeemed by
the treasury, except one $50 national bank
note, of which only the outer rim remain
ed. If this note had been an ordinary
greenback or certificate, the amount would
have been recovered, but in the case of a
bank note 1t is necessary that the name
of the bank shall be known in order to
secure redemption, and in this instance
both the name and the signatures of the
banks officers had disappeared. In one
way, therefore, greenbacks and certih-
Gates may be considered safer property
than bank notes.
Not long ago, in the interior of New
York state, wretched tramp died in a
barn. He was evidently of German BIRTH
and inquiry disclosed the name he went
by. A few lines in the local papers were
copied by the Stats Zeitung in New York
and from that source the death notice was
recopied into newspapers in Germany
The brother of the dead man saw it and
wrote on the subject to the German con-
sui at New York. He said that his broth
er could not have been a pauper mas
much as he had received a large sum of
money a short time previous. Accord
ingly, the body was exhumed, and be-
meath the underclothing was found belt
containing over 5000. The cash was sent
to Washington, and its condition was
such as to make the clerks weary of life
while going through the necessary pro-
cesses of counting and Identifying the
notes.
Cases of this sort are by no means in
frequent. On one occasion some village
children in a northern state while playing
In the woods found a dead man. They re.
ported it, and the coroner made an inves-
tigation. Little more than the skeleton
remained, and it was never ascertained
who or what the man had BEEN Beneath
him was portion of his clothing, which
contained $780, The money reached the
treasury in a decided crumbly and nasty
condition. But that was by no means so
bad as a consignment which was the
fruit of a steamboat explosion on Lake
Michigan. This was a number of years
ago. The loss of life was great, ana
among the killed was the clerk whose
body. after natures chemistry had done
its work. was found floating on the water.
In the coat pockets was a considerable
sum in cash. When it got to the treas
ury not one of the clerks was willing TO
handle 1t. Finally the chief of the re-
demption division was obliged to count
1t himself, after sprinkling 1t literally
with cologne and disinfectants
On March q, 1893, a package containing