The morning times., 1897-02-28
Experts Who Handle Burnt
and Mutilated Paper Currency

4 Il ap$A ISUEY
There is change In the air at the
| capital, but there are some positions in
the girt or the government with which
even the highest officials do not think
oI heddilng- a specialist in any department.
cannot be produced in a few weeks. aua
theFe are certain experts who have worked
! half a lifetime to attain the skiu which
'ney nave now reached Such as these
rest confident in the assurance that nothing
but death or detected dishonesty Will de-
prlve them or their weII-earned positions
none are more secure ia this respecs
'han the women Of the Treasury DeDarr
ment-onginaIly because they were women
ana supposed to be outside the politicaI
pale afterward because they were nut IN
der CIVIL service rules, but most OF all
because nobody else can do the work which
they do.
suppose you should die tomorrow.
or be retired for twenty-five years ser
vice IN accordance with the bill that il
now pending" I said TO Mrs A. E
Brown, the burnt-money expert. s.Is
there anyone who could take your place.
oh, yes" She replied There are
four OF US who could. temporarily at least.
III each others pCsitiCns and then there
are our assistants, some OF whom show
great aptitude for the work which we do.
These younger women VIII some day take
our places My assistant. Miss l. B.
smith, or Jersey City, n. J., is learning
TO detect burnt money very rapidly
AS stood there talking 70 her she
opened packet which had been received
mn FUau a. .
tained the remains of $50 which RAD been
sent Tor redemption by James j COTbett
The prizc fighter had accidentally dr9Dued
this roH OF bills into the fire as he stood
IN fIont OF an open CRATE. There seemed
TO be no doubt of the value or the money.
but the accompanying affidavit and Ger
t1icate of good character which are fndsf-
pensable requisites in obtaining new bills.
had not been made out in sufficiently
explicit form.
MIS- Brown has been in the employ OF
The Treasury Department twenty-one years.
She is the best expert in the cIassjfica-
ton OF burnt money in the Treasury. She
can take the remains OF bills that have
been burnt up in letter. for instance.
separate the remains OF the common paper
from that OF the money. and if it is all
there, she Will account for every cent of
the money. II she finds all sle pieces Of
bill, or even three-fifths. the fun face
value is redeemed. For less than that
half is allowed, but for less than two
firths the owner receives nothing. as
this would encourage fraud Not only
can she detect the value OF the hiII. but
even the date of the issue. But the couu-
terfeiter cannot burn his mock money and
hope TO have the charred remains slim
past the sharp eyes OF Mrs. Brown OF her
assistants. Such a rUSe is ike an oD,.u
book 10 women who know the differences
between the ashes OF roses and those of
thistIes
Il suppose you have some very funny ex.
periences IN Your life here, do you not.
Mrs. Brown?''
Yes, some funny, and some very pa
tnetic. Poor women whose savings have
been accidentally destroyed write the. most
hedrtrending appeals for the redemption
Cfthe fun amount. Sometimes we can find
1t all, and nothing gives Us more pleasure;
but more often the remains have reached
Us in such bad condition or have been So
scattered about before they were sent tc
Us at all that we cannot find more than
half or a third OF the money claimed II
the owners would only send Us the money
just as it is, without trying to do any
thing with it themselves we might often
do much better for them
y striking instance OF this is on the
records kept by Mrs Leonard, the ex-
pert in counterfeit money. An Ohio
farmer, who buried his money instead
OF banking it, found one day that the
elements were rapidly decOmposIng il.
Instead OF sending the jar, with its
contents undistuTbed, 10 the Treasury
for redemption, he emptied the money,
brittle with decay, into a pillow case,
which he found around his body under
his clothing, and then started FOR Washing
ton as deck passenger on an Ohio River
steamboat, sleeping on bales and tOxes Is
best he could When he reached the Treas
Ury the II oney was in a fearful condition,
but the expert TO whom the money was as
signed was able TO identify all the United
states notes and gold and silver CeItifi-
Gates 10 the amount OF $19 Geo only leav-
ing unTtdeemed few national bank notes,
OF which neither name Of bank, number
nor official signature remained ReCeiv-
ing the bills, instead OF draft, which he
refused, the owner returned home, but on
the way was robbed of the whole amount
Mrs. Browns predecessor in the burnt
money division was Mrs. Lydia E. Rosen-
berg. Whenever a train is wrecked and
the express safe exposed TO fire, or when
a big fire has ragged and fed on money,
then she and two assistants are allowed q
loom to Themselves, where they carefully
but surely prepare the charred money for
redemption, UnerTingly selecting it from
the equally charred masses OF other paper.
Mrs. Davidson deals more with torn