The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-02-12
THE MORNING NEWS SATURDAY. FEBRUARY - 1898

sheet Of three-cent shinplasters. 1t had
been preserved for many years, and then
presented for redemption. But the great
amount Of currency never redeemed IS
lost or burned just IS Mr. BisseIls money
was lost. 1t was either utterly destroyed
or was so burned that the holders thought
1t was past redemption and never pre-
serV4t the ashes. The government is the
beneficiary, but not through any unwi-
lingness to pay all its obligations
One Of the cleverest appeals Of this
character was presented to the treasury
department last fall, signed by a Michi-
gan lady. 1t may have been fictitious or
genuine. The treasury officials do not
know which. They, however, admit the
force of the argument, but also their in
ability to follow the suggestion. II 1t is
a genuine case 1t is similar to that of Mr..
Bissen. The letter is as follows:
Decatur, Mich, Nov. g. 1Ss7.-Dear
Uncle Sam: No doabt you will say 1 am
crazy, and in my own estimation am at
least foolish. l sat by the fire this morn
ing looking at Two s. bills, reading the
statement upon them, and thinking or
your wise and complicated financial sys-
TEN. At this moment my mother came
in with some interesting mail matter:
was so delighted that ! never thought OF
the precious bills again, but just gather
ed them up With the scraps and put them
in the stove. Now dear uncle, you have
ten silver dollars in your treasury which
will never be called for unless you choose
to take my word in this matter know
that you have a great many expenses,
and that you are obliged to account Tor
all the money you spend. But l am not
asking you to give me anything; l acci-
dentahy destroyed your promise to pay,
and ask you to make IL good. l pledge my
word of honor as a teacher and servant
of the Great Teacher that if you make 1t
good no one but my mother will ever
know. l also pledge my word of honor
| that If ever those bills should rise from
| the ashes Qhey never wild after you have
made the loss good, l will destroy them
or send them to you as you may direct
Your most humble servant
"Addie Sherwood"
Uncle Sam IS, however, not careless
about such matters. No debtor ever took
more pains to make good his promise to
| pay. The treasury department has in its
! redemption division experts who with re-
markabe skill and patience are able to
| identify money from ashes. Mrs. Brown is
| one of the most skilled of these experts.
She has been in the department for many
years, and she knows every mark on the
currency so well that she has been able
! to make out case for those whose money
| has been burned, even from the ashes, and
she is held in such high esteem by the
| government that her ward is accepted in
all sach matters. There is probably no
! other employee in the government whose
word stands for money as does that of
| this white-haired lady who sits in the
| corner of the redemption division of the
| treasury department, and with patience
| handles under a glass the ashes and scraps
| of paper which once represented money.
| Had Mr.. Bssen carefully preserved the
ashes of his. burnt currency, Mrs. Brown
| might have saved much of ii for him.
Yesterday she received box of charred
bills, black and ready TO crumble to dust,
| but the bills had been in a roll, and while
| completely burned, the ash was still in the
roll when 1t reached her desk. She was
| able to follow the tracings marked by the
ink, and so familiar is she with every
| form of currency that even a small section
of these tracings enabled her to identify
each and every bill. This box came from
| Chicago, and the money will all be re-
| deemed, because the ash still carried the
| tracings of the ink. Another box reached
| her from Chicago this week. on which she
| is al work. 1t is accompanied by an atfi-
| davit that there'twas 500 in silver certih-
! Gates. The charred remains were in scraps
not more than half an inch wide and an
inch long. To the ordinary observer they
were simply charred bits of paper, but TO
! Mrs. Browns prac:iced eye there appeared
on one tiny scrap the plated tracing on
the back of the $40 silver certificate. The
fire had completely destroyed the paper,
| but the ink presented the tracing, as it will
do in the ash Mrs. Brown was able to
certify that there was $40 silver certif-
cate in the box of ashes. She will probably
find other bills before she gets through
with the box, and she may be able 70
redeem all the money burned. She hardly
expects to do that however.
/ / .1- IL -
currency found on the lake front in Chi
| cago several years ago. She has been
! able to put together these scraps so as
TO make good two $500 bills, one $50 bill
and several of smaller denomination, but,
as this money was found and the govern
ment does not redeem money that has been
| found, for fear that the loser may put in
a claim, the bills remain in Mrs. Brown S
desk unredeemed. She received a package
| from Chicago yesterday containing a num-
Der of bills, amounting to $780, which were
rotted by weather. exposure. They bore
] every evidence of having been found, but
the sender did not vouchsafe any explain
| ations and what can be determined will be
redeemed. Here is one phase of the case
! where honesty Is not rewarded by Uncle
| Sam. If you find money which has been
! torn to pieces, as in the lake front case,
| Just send it to the treasury without ex-
| PLANTATION or confession. 1t will be re-
| ueeIleu But IL you Confess tnaL 1t was
found Uncle Sam will keep it. And if your
money is burned do not handle the ashes.
| Just gather up the whole mass of ashes
as carefully as possible, try not to break
| up the lump, and send it to the treas
| ury. Mrs. Brown will dig out the denomi-
nations and redeem them if 1t is possible
Most such unfortunates are like Mr.. Bis
sell. They either try to sort the ashes
and scraps and put them together in their
own way. or they take for granted that
| they are beyond detection and redemption.
That was Mr.. BisselPs mistake. He sent
! an affidavit Of his loss. He should have
sent the charred mass, including gold and
| silver and bills. Had he done so he might
have been able TO redeem several thou
sand dollars, instead Of the $500 represent
| ed by the gold. His ignorance has lost
linn more than 5000 and appeal. will be
in vain.
/