The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-08
SEVEN MILLIONS A DAY
PAPER MONEY RETURNED To THE
TREASURY FOR REDEMPTION.
A Large Portion of 1t Comes in Frag-
ments and IndistinguishabIe Pulp
What Is Done with 1t.
New York World.

not an lnconSluerdDle portion Colles III
fragments or almost indistinguishable pulp.
Where the numbers on the bills are not adj
destroyed-and all paper money has the
number at both ends-and a satisfactory
explanation is given, the Treasury Depart
ment issues new money for the half-de-
stroyed bills. An accurate account is kept
of the bills, the cause of their loss and the
numbers.
Uncle Sans paper cash suffers from
depredations astonishingly varied Not
year passes that the omniverous goat and
the gentle COW do not have considerable
sums set down to the credit of their Ape
tites the books of the redemption divi-
sion. AS for pigs. they eagerly seize all OPP
portunities to devour the currency Of the
realm and some of the most unpleasant
jobs every undertaken by the government
experts in this sort of business have con-
cerned wads of bills recovered from the
stomachs of reluctant porkers.
Only the other day the treasury received
from Texas a. small wooden box containing
what was alleged to be $210. Any persons
not specially trained in the Identification of
half-digested money might have been ex-
cused for failing to recognize it. The sender
declared In an affidavit that he had sold a,
bunch of cattle for $40, receiving the
equivalent in crisp new bills. He put them
in big wallet in the rear pocket of his
trousers While talking a calf came up be-
hind him and proceeded to eat the notes
which stuck out at one end of the wallet
The meal was interrupted in time to re-
cover $26O, but the rest only became avail
able Dy cutting open the animal
., IN TINS case the money was all redeemed
DelHS replaced with fresh notes. Often the
treasury experts do not succeed so we'll
and more or less of the cash devoured
proves a loss.
There was one case not long ago wherein
q goat got away with $40 at one meal In
another instance the sum involved was $42
Al small bills. IT was evidently bolted at
one sulp, possibly under the influence of
pursuit The animal was not worth as
much as $42 and so in the course of time
t t1e Eash arrived sticky soggy lump, at
DasRn 1t was soon resolved into recogniza-
bic notes.
PUPPIES, RATES AND MICE.
Puppies are not specially fond of cash, but
they will chew up anything that comes in
their way, and so it happens that they are
classed among the most destructive of
greenback consumers. They are credited at
the treasury with about $500 per annum.
most Of which is never recovered.
Mice and rats are worse than puppy
dogs. They get away with at least So. 900
annually Indeed, this is very low esti-
mate 1t would not be so bad if the ami
mails would take the bills as they find them.
put their invariable method is to tear the
money into extremely small scraps so as
TO make it almost impossible to put the
pieces together and set a proper valuation
upon them. Unfortunately also thew carry
the bills into such inaccessible places that
IN a majority of instances recovery is never
accomplished even if the authors of the
Ingenious persons sometimes imagine that
Uncle sam is easy and SO forward an as
signment or torn scraps of small bills, de-
clarlng that 1t represents a large sum
chewed up by mice. The experts in Wash
fEgton, however, can tell torn scraps from
chewed, scraps as easily as small boy
can tell lemonade from mintstick. Not
long ago a st. Louis man sent in a lot of
such pieces which, as he claimed. repre-
worth more than Sc, If that A detective
was put on the case and he discovered the
claimant in the act of trying to pawn his
Watch-a rather remarkable thing for a
man to do who had just lost SO, 600. The
money was not paid
great deal OF paper money is destroyed
by crazy people. Naturally, this item va
ries very much from year to year. but q
conservative estimate puts it at Sc, 500 an
nually. When well-to-do persons go insane
they are more or less apt to tear up or
otherwise destroy their money. 1t was not
so very long ago that one man burned up
amount disposed of beyond redemption.
PROBABLY the mystery will never be
solved. but seemingly to such a cause must
Chicago a little more than two years ago.
Early in the morning of June Is, 1895. two
colored taborers were walking along the
lake 'front.'. They saw some bits of green
paper blowing about and they picked some
of them up. To their surprise they dis
covered that the bits of paper We're pieces
of treasury notes. For some time they
searched finally assembling nearly all Of
the fragments of two $500 notes. two $40
the subtreasury. If they had made no ex-
PLANTATION they could have obtained the
equivalent eventually in new bills Unfor-
edged that they had found the money. This
meant that 1t was forfeited under the law,
for such treasure trove is always the prop
Scarcely a day passes that some intoxi-
Gated individual does not light his cigar
The next day he is sorry and sends such
fragments OF the money as he is able to
find to Washington for redemption
EATEN BY BABIES.
Infants eat a good deal of money in the
course OF year. say $500. They chew the
paper currency which they find in their
mothers workbaskets or elsewhere Not
the actual babies, be it said, but the chill
dren who are just emerging from baby
hood and who are looking about for mis-
chief in small ways. Large bills are rarely
accessible and their depredatons are mostly
restricted to 81 and 81 notes. Afidavits are
often presented saying that the missing
portions of bills offered for redemption
have been swallowed by children.
Set down $4,000 year for burial People
will persist in putting money under ground
They have a notion that mother earth Is
the best possible bank. The truth is quite
the opposite, inasmuch as buried paper
cash rots at a surprising rate 1t is a mis-
take to suppose that the floors and walls
of cellars are good places of storage for
greenbacks the latter are quickly corrupted
by the dampneSs.
Every now and then a body is dug up for
the purpose of securing money that has
been buried with ii. Such incidents give
occasion for the most unpleasing work at
the Treasury Department. Some of the
people thus eXhumed have been murdered.
A steamboat explosion on Lake Michigan
caused the death of a purser who mad $50
in bills on his person. He foated about for
some weeks, at the end of which the cash
was recovered and sent through bank for
redemption. A German tramp died in a
barn way up in the northwest part of the
State of New York. He was buried
in Germany led to his elimination and
5000 was found in a belt beneath his I'M
derclothing. The money was redeemed, but
this was small consolation to those who did
the work
The rich as well as the poor are subject
la of w X. Vanderbilt at Newport was
burned and $500 belonging to Mrs. Wander
bilt reduced to a char in a bureau
drawer. OF this amount the treasury eX-
perts identified $3.50; the word of a Wander
bilt as TO the balance of $50 was not worth
ished citizen.
Once there appeared at the treasury a
thin plate OF pure silver into the surface
OF which a $40 silver certificate seemed ac-
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