The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1898-07-16
BANK NOTE STORIES.
REMARKABLE ESCAPE OF A
SLAVE OF THE DEFY.
Frauds Practiced on the Bank of Eng
land-In England Hundreds Suffered
Death for FOrgery-HorrOrs Caused
by Executions. o


sessed of a fiVe-pound Bank of Eng,
land note, to which a curious history
was attached. Some eighty years age
the note was paid into a Liverpool
merchants office, in the ordinary
course Of business and the cashier
while holding it up to the light to test
its genuineness, noticed some faint red
marks, which on closer inspection
proved to be semi-effaced words
scrawled in blood on the blank mar
gin and between the printed lines of
the note. Extraordinary pains were
taken to decipher the partly obliterat-
ed words, and eventually the following
sentence was put together: If this
note should fall into the hands of John
Dean of Long Hill, near Carlisle, he
will learn thereby that his brother is
languishing a prisoner in Algiers. .
The holder of the note promptly COM
municated with Mr.. Dean, and the lat
ter appealed to the government for aid
and assistance. The prisoner, who, as
it subsequently appeared, had written
the words with splinter of wood dip
ped in his own blood, had been a slave
OF the Dey upwards of eleven years
when his message attracted attention
In the manner l have described. His
family had long believed him dead. His
brother with the aid of the British
! authorities in the Mediterranean, sue
ceeded in rescuing him from the
clutches of the Dey, and brought him
back to England. His constitution,
however, had been irreparably injured
by exposure, privation and cruelty in
the galleys, and he survived his re-
lease only very short time.
A bank note being payable to the
bearer on demand, must be paid on
presentation by the bank by which it
is issued. After the expiration of
forty years from the date of issue. all
Bank of England notes are treated as
lost or destroyed, and are written off"
the books of the bank, which thus
makes a profit. Any bona fide holder,
however, possessing such a note, and
proving his title, can, nevertheless. de-
mand payment. This rule, before now
has produced some very remarkable
consequences. A Jew having purchased
t2O,OOO worth of notes of a bankers
clerk, which he must have known to
have been stolen, presented them six
months afterwards, at the bank. and
demanded payment. This was refused
on the ground that they had been
stolen. The Jew, a wealthy and ener-
getic Shylock, deliberately went to the
exchange, and publicly stated the bank
has refused to honor their own naner
Tor 100000 Their credit, he said, was
gone-their affairs in confusion. They
mad, Tor all practical purposes, STONED |
payment. Shylock produced the notes |
In confederation Of his statement
asserting they had been remitted Tn
him in course Of business from Holland
His statement was believed. Informa-
tlon carefully spread by Shylock) hay
ing reached the bank that he intended
to advertise their refusal, the directors
sent him private message that the
notes would be paid on presentation.
need hardly tell you this hapDened Of
a comparatively early period, when the
reputation Of the bank was NOT CO
nrmly established as it is at this mo-
ment. But very much stranger case
happened, the mischief in this instance
originating with bank director In
lI4O' this, gentleman took home a F3O-
900 note, with which he intended 10
pay FOR an estate he had lately mr.
chased He placed it on a table over
night whence it mysteriousIy disap-
peared. Bank directors do not labor
under the disadvantages of simnecun-
lous people. AS it could nowhere ba
found, believing it had fallen into tha
lire, he next day obtained a dun1icoto
note from the bank, pledging himself
10 restore the original (when foundl
Or to refund the money should it be
presented for payment. Nothing was
heard or it for thirty years. when tn
he amaZement of the bank authorities |
t was presented by man who said he II
had received it in course of business |
rom abroad, and who appeared tn s
lave a legal claim to the money In s
he end it was discovered the note had {
allen into the fire. Instead of being '
consumed, however, it had been caught {
Up by the draught and lodged in the /
,orner of the chimney, where it had c
yer since remained. In course Of time '
he director died, his house was sold +
nd purchased by a builder for the g
purpose of taking it down, and build I
ng another with the materials. This c
nan found the note, and made the dis I
overy an instrument for robbing the ,
ank. Although the latter had to nav Il
he money, it could not recover il
rom the directors executors, who