The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-01-02

which were distributed for distance of
couple of blocks. After some hours
of patient search they had gathered
enough to represent in respectable man.
ner two notes for $500 each, two more for
$40 each and two for $40 each. =
They took the fragments to the sub
treasury, supposing that they could claim
the face value of the money. Imagine
their disgust when they were informed
that the fact of having found it gave
them no title whatever to the cash. 1t
was evident that they were honest men,
and memoranda of their story were taken
down. Later a fisherman picked up sew.
eral other pieces of the same notes on the
lake front in the same neighborhOod and
these also were handed in at the sub
treasury. All of them were forwarded
to the redemption division at Washington,
where they are now held and awaiting
claimant. They have been pasted to-
gether on sheet of paper in such way
as to show what parts are present and
what are missing. There is not enough
left of the los and 2O's to make it prac-
ticable to redeem them, but the two notes
for $500 each are all right. The owner
has only to present the requisite evidence,
and $1,000 in new money will be paid to
him. W..
MUST HAVE BEEN ON A SPREE.
Up to date, however, no claimant has
appeared. This seems very extraordi-
nary. Why should not the owner demand
what belongs to him, no matter how the
loss was incurred? There seems to be
only one plausible theory. 1t sometimes
happens that man of ordinarily regular
habit goes on what is known in Chicago
as a bender" Alcohol makes him reck-
less; he lights cigars with bank notes and
commits various imprudences. Next day
heis sorry and if he can find any fragments
of the burned bills he sends them to the
treasury for redemption. Afiidavits re-
citing such a method of loss frequently
reach the redemption division. In some
such fashion it may have come about
that a Chicago citizen of wealth and
good repute tore up his ''wad" and scat
tered it along the lake front on the night
of June y last. He prefers to let the
money go rather than to own up to so
insane a frolc
The first "stove case" for this season
reached the redemption division last
week Quong Silg, a New York laundry
man residing at 1872 Sixth avenue,
about a fortnight ago wrapped $426 in
silk handkerchief and put it into steve
the Washee-washee business, not know
ing that the money was there, built
fire in the stove one chilly morning and
the bills were partly destroyed. Enough
of them was left, however to make
identification easy, and Quong will get
his cash back. He is a lucky Chinaman.
or, as the records of the treasury show,
the domestic stove is the most complete
destroyer of money in existence. -Peo-
pie, especially in rural districts, will in
sist upon employing it for the purpose
OF safe deposit. and sooner or later the
family savings are apt to go up in smoke.
Nearly always the bills are reduced to
hopeless ashes, involving total loss.
About 100 cases of this kind are referred
to the redemption division every year.
WILL REFUND SPOILED MONEY.
The government is always willing and
even anxious to replace spoiled money if
it can possibly be identified. The skill
OF the women employed in this work at
the treasury department is little short of
marvellous. One lady, Mrs. Brown, at
tends to all the burned notes. Patiently
she picks out scrap after scrap from u
mass of charred Fragments such as any
ordinary person would regard as hope
paper, assembling the pieces of each note
olra sheet by itself, and trying to restore
the greenback, as Il naturalist would
build up an extinct animal from few
fossil remains. Even Il portion that is
hardly more than an ash may still show
the engraved design. When she is done
it remains to be determined how many
of the bills shall be considered as prop
erly identified. In the case of a bank
note the name of the bank must be ascer-
tanned.
In this kind of labor powerful magnify
ing glasses are often called into reQuiSi-
ton. A note that has been chewed up
by a baby is apt to be a diffiuclt subject
to tackle. Babies destroy a good deal
of money in this way in the course of
every year, and the same may be said
of puppy dogs. They have an equal
disregard of value represented by cur
rency. Goats eat money now and then,
and so do cows. Mice are particularly
destructive. They like to make nests
out of paper cash, and this practice is
encouraged by people who hide their
savings in walls and under floors.
Birds would seem to have a similar in
clination, judging from rather odd hap
pening of only few weeks ago. An
employe of the subtreasury in Cincinnati,
named Turpin, was shaving himself one
sunny afternoon. when Il robin flew in
at the window. 1t flew out a moment
later. and it did not occur to Turpin to
suspect the bird when he discovered that
a $40 bill which he had taken from his
waistcoat pocket and placed on the cen
ter table was gone. a few days later,
however, a storm blew a robins nest
out of tree near the front porch. 1t
was picked up and the missing bill was
found Incorporated in it's material.
Though n good deal damaged, it was re-
deemed subsequently.
DON'T BURY PAPER MONEY.
One day last summer lightning entered
the house of farmer in Maryland. In
frolicsome mood it flashed through a
cupboard and burned slice out of a 81
silver certificate. The strip burned was
nearly two inches wide, lengthwise
through the middle of the bill. The
latter was redeemed afterward the num-
Der and the seal being entirely legible.
To bury paper money is a mistake, be-
cause under such conditions it rots. Now
and then person is burned to death, and
cash removed from the clothing of the
corpse is sent in for redemption. The
contents OF the wallet dug up with the
body of murdered man afforded a
rather disagreeable subject for investi-
cation not long ago. A few months back
an old woman named Groth died of Il
contagious disease at Rockford, ILL.,, and
her clothes were burned. Subsequently
it occurred to the heir to search the