The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-12
district. would call and demand an explana-

district, would call and demand an explana-
| ton.
This threat made the treasury officials
angry. They were not going to be bull
| dozed. They promptly notified the Depart
ment of Justice. Word was sent to the dis
trict attorney FOR Kansas. He replied that
prosecution would be hopeless. The farmer
was not only wealthy and highly respect
ed citizen, but a director of the bank
through which the affidavit had been sent,
and it would not be possible to convict him.
The Department of Justice was in favor OF
dropping the case; the treasury insisted on
trying it. Finally the man was indicted,
and Mr.. Relyea was notified to attend the
trial. On the day on which he was to
start West a telegram came saying the
highly respected farmer had pleaded guilty
and paid fine of $1,000.
A good many years ago a bank messen-
ger sent in for redemption a cigar box full
of scraps of money He made affidavit that
they were all that was left of some money
which had been destroyed by mice 1t took
the experts only few minutes to tell that
the scraps bore no relation to each other.
Each belonged to a different note. Evil
IDENTIFY the messenger had been picking up
scraps of bills around the bank for many
years. and saving them for a fraud on the
government. On another occasion two
halves of note came in from different men
in the same city on the same day, each ac-
companied by an affidavit telling how the
other half had been destroyed.
OTHER SWINDLES.
This sort of thing is going on all the
time. AS 1 sat in Chief Relyea's Office a
few days ago one of the clerks brought to
him the mangled remains of what seemed
to be s. bill. 1t was pasted on piece
of heavy brown paper. In the lower left
hand corner the serial number was clearly
defined; in the upper right hand corner,
where the same figures should have APP
peared, the note had been scraped so as to
blur the number, and a weak attempt had
been made to suggest with India ink the
first of the figures on the number below
The two pieces evidently had belonged to
different notes. Alone they were valueess,
because neither was as large as two-fifths
of the original note; together the owner
had hoped to make them appear to belong
to the same note and so get $3.50 for them.
The attempt at fraud was weak and futile.
The treasury clerks have keen eyes and
they make few mistakes They have been
known to pass counterfeits, and undoubted-
ly some counterfeit notes have been re-
deemed by the treasury, but cases of this
kind are rare. When the notes come to the
redemption division they are counted by ex-
pert women, and then cut in half, the upper
half being sent to the treasurer's Office and
the lower half to the registers. Each
package of half notes is marked with the
initials of the original counter. 1t has hap
pened that the counter in the treasurer's
or cfa Off 10.
terfeit In that case the original counter
has been obliged to make up the loss to the
government because the treasury pays out
the amount OF the notes on the certificate
of the first counter.
Some years age there was employed in the
redemption division bright-faced youth
who was a great favorite with the clerks.
No one knows that he stole any money, but
these facts are beyond dispute Money dis
appeared while he was employed in the of
flee, and the disappearances stopped sud
denly when he was transferred to the vault
room. Not long afterward he was caught
stealing silver from the vaults, tried and
convicted. Under the conditions, the in
ference that he stole from the redemption
division is fair.
The first money which was missed in the
redemption division was a five-dollar bill.
The clerk having charge of the money made
up the amount. Then $25 was missing. This
was pretty heavy loss. The expert clerks
in the redemption division receive only 81, 900
to $1,000 salary, though they are held re-
sponsble for millions of dollars during the
year. A subscription was taken up in the
Office to make up the $25. One day a one
thousand-dollar bill disappeared. Then there
was a commotion. The responsibility was
too heavy for the office. The treasurer of
the United States had to make good the
shortage and go to Congress for redress.
There is little doubt in the redemption divi-
sion that the young vault thief got that
one-thousand-dolar bill.
This incident was used by the treasurer
to point the moral of recommendation to
Congress for additional clerks. He recon-
mended that force be employed to keep a
register of the numbers of the notes of large
denomination sent in for redemption. No
Congress refused to make the appropriation
the record is not kept now. There is no
doubt that it should be. No business man
would pay his notes and destroy them with
out keeping some record of the transaction;
yet the government each year pays millions
Of it's obligations and destroys the notes
which represent them, and 1t cannot state
to-day what notes are outstanding and what
have been redeemed.
GEORGE GRANTHAM Balm.
4-O-S