The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-01-27

ceived and pocketing the difference II
is difficult TO convince q man that he has
made . mistake unless tho evidence i
under his eyes.
, just now the redemption division Il
s., 500 900 behind in TIA work, and Sec.
rotary Carlisle has asked congress ts
make q special appropriation for the
employment Of experts to bring the
work UP to date The Office has been
running behind for long time, and
each year has added a little to the de,
ficicncy. Tho increase in working
force has not kept pace with the wori
which grows with tho increase n the
circulating medium. II the money re.
ceived eame to the treasury. as it come,
TO tho banks and the subtreasurieS
there would be little trouble In keepins
everything running smoothly. Bet
much Of 10 comes in various stages ot
dlap;dation-
There Is Q story attached TO each
piece of curiously mutflated currency
handled by the treasury Department.
md the record Of all of them would
fill an entertaining book. Aszy bring
with them the tale Of the death Of
pet aninsl. A man IN Spring vsiIey
O.. last year dropped O sec bal on sue
floor and his dog in . playful sYirY
chewed It and swallowed II. Tie MAJ
did not hesitate long. BE killed the
dog and cut him open The gastric
juice had bleached the note, and 1t wat
in a very unpresentable condition. but
it was deposited with bank that sent
st to the subtreasury at Cincinnati, and
thence It was sent TO the treasury de
parturent, where the expert succeeded
IN identifying it, and It was redeemed
This is one of many 'dog notes" 70
deemed. :.
A workman in . silver factory las;
year let tsn-dollar note fall on plsts
of silver as it was going under the
roller. The note was Embedded in the
silver and the man sent the whole thing
70 the treasury for redemption. The
government returned his sheet of silver
and ten dollars.
Evidences Of family quarrels are found
redemption by man and wife. In q
case of this kind each receives one-hali
OF the face value of the note Some
time ago tho department received the
halves of the same note on the sans
day, from different parts of the eoun'
try, with elaborate statement In each
case of the way the other half had been
destroyed. The department had some
trouble adjusting the matter, but IL
finally paid the face value of the note
10 one of the claimants who seemed to
have TIE stronger case. and left The
other mar to make fight in the courts
If he chose. There was evidence that
one, if not both, intended to defraud
the treasury. But not all the false
claims are made with intent to dsfraud.
A man sent In a claim for 5000 with
bundle of scraps Of currency one day.
and the treasury experts on exernina.
ton found that they represented more
than $1,000. IN another case a farmer
claimed several hundred dollars which
had been partly destroyed, and he VERT
fed the amount of the claim By his re-
rnombrance Of thesum for which he had
sold bis crop. The scraps proved TO
repreeenA Just twice the sum. In both
cases the honesty of the claimant was
not questioned. and he received, not the
amount of bis claim. but the larger sum.
In another case the government de-
clined to pay anything. A man sent IN
scraps which he said represented sew.
eral hundred dollars which had been
gnawed by the mice. Examination
demonstrated pretty plainly that he had
taken about $50 worth of small bills
and torn them into fine pieces. He got
nothng-except the remains Of his
torn bills. He threatened TO bring suit
against the government, but that was
tho last heard of the matter. Another
claim came from q youth employed in
Philadelphia bank, and was accom-
panied by a mass of pieces of bills.
which on examination proved 10 be The
corners and torn edges of a great many
notes OF different denominations. The
claimant had busted himself picking up
the scraps of notes which fell from the
tellers' desks, and he expected TO realize
at least their proportional value. An
other claimant wrote that he would
send the remains of large sum by ex-
press, but his package was received
empty. Possibly no expected the gov.
eminent to make the claim against the
express company for the amount. The
treasury people wrote asking IL he had
forgotten TO inelose the rcmains. and
be became frightened and did not an
swer the Acknowledgment Cor. Phil
adelphia Times.