Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1896-11-26
MISCELLANEOUS.
Out Of Date Money.
QUEER OLD-FASHIONED CASH FLOW
ING INTO UNCLE SANS TREAS
URY FOR REDEMPTION.

The hard times are forcing people
to rake in every odd corner for cash
Everywhere they are extracting an
cient boards from stockings and tea
pots, and much queer and out of date
money thus put in circulation is now
finding its way to Washington. Sus-
picious-loOking notes, doubtful coins
and even fragments of old green
backs, are received by the Treasury
every day from the owners, who
want to know if they are worth any
thing, writes Rene Bache.
During the last twelve months the
Treasury has received and destroyed
S3367 in fractional currency. This
exceeds the record of the previous
year by nearly four hundred dollars.
Most of that sort of cash comes
from the estates of old people, who
leave small quantities Of it stuffed
away in disused pOcket-books and
other odd places. The heirs send
i'm the queer little pieces of money
for redemption. Last week hand
kerchief full of this currency ar
rived, consisting of the earliest is
sues in fine condition, each note
signed by General Spinner's own
hand. The collection was worth far
more than face value, if the owner
had known it.
Sometimes the fractional currency
reaches the Treasury even now in
the shape of blocks of sheet from
banks, which have held the money
unused for a quarter of century,
perhaps. 1t was issued in sheets
originally, the notes being cut apart
at first with scissors. Afterwards
they had perforations like postage
stamps, so as to be torn apart. There
is now outstanding S15, ,273,7 791 worth
of this currency. In 1870 Congress
estimated that eight million dollars
worth had been lost or destroyed,
and this sum was transferred to the
funds for payment of pensions. 1t
ia now believed that this reckoning
was a mistake, and that none more
than million dollars have passed
out Of existence. The remaining
fourteen millions are supposed to be
held to-day by collectors and private
individuals. Ever SO many persons
have put away a few specimens OF
the fractional paper for curiosities.
Out of date United States coins
are flowing into the Treasury in
small quantities. Among them are
some of the old three-cent and five
cent pieces, which used TO be con-
temptuously designated as fish.
scales" 1t was a relief to the Off
cials in charge Of Uucle Sans c0f-
fers when they were withdrawn
from circulation. Counting them was
fearfully hard work. Assistant
Treasurer Meline tells how he once
had to count about a peck of them
i'm the sub-treasury at Baltimore
The labor was rendered much greater
by the fact that nearly every one of
the little pieces had been bent by
biting, so that they overlapped on
the flat counting-board like veritable
fish. scales. For some reason un'
known, people could not resist the
temptation to bite these email silver
coins.
The melting-pot at the mint is the
bourne toward which all the out-of'
date coins that reach the Treasury
travel. Among them are the silver
twenty cent pieces, which were au
thorized by an act Of March, 1873
They only ran for three years, be
cause they make themselves abnoX
ious, being so frequently mistaker
for quarters. Even more objectiona
were the nickels with a big V or
which the word cents" did not ap
pear. OF these, two million wer
thrown into circulation before thei
dangerous character was perceived
Then they were altered. Persons o
an initiative inclination gilded then
and passed them off for five dolla
gold pieces. The nickel three-cen
pieces, ninted from 1865 to 1890