Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1898-06-24
BANK NOTE STORIES.
REMARKABLE ESCAPE OF A
SLAVE OF THE DCY.
Frauds Practiced on the Bank of Eng
land--In England Hundreds Suffered
Death for Forgery-Horrors Caused
by Executions.


countries. In this way he became pos
sessed of a five-pound Bank Of Eng
land note, to which curious history
was attached. Some eighty years ago
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 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 profit. Any bona fide holder,
however, possessing such note, and
proving his title, can, nevertheless, de-
mand payment. This rule, before now,
has produced some very remarkable
consequences. A Jew having purchased
100000 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, wealthy and ener-
getic Shylock, deliberately went to the
exchange, and publicly stated the bank
has refused to honor their own paper
for 100000. Their credit, he said, was
gone-their affairs in confusion. They
had, for all practical purposes, stopped
payment. Shylock produced the notes
in confederation of his statement
asserting they had been RENTED to
him in course of business from Holland.
His statement was believed. Informa-
ton Carefully spread by Shylock) hav-
to advertise their refusal, the directors
sent him a private message that the
notes would be paid on presentation.
need hardly tell you this happened at
a comparatively early period, when the
reputation Of the bank was not so
firmly established as it is at this mo-
ment. But a very much stranger case
happened, the mischief in this instance
originating with a bank director. In
1740, this gentleman took home $780,
900 note, with which he intended to
pay for an estate he had lately pur-
chased. He placed 1t on a table over
| night, whence it mysteriously disap-
peared. Bank directors do not labor
under the disadvantages Of impecun
ious people. AS it could nowhere be
found, believing it had fallen into the
fire, he next day obtained a duplicate
note from the bank, pledging himself
to restore the original (when found),
or to refund the money should 1t be
presented for payment. Nothing was
heard Of it for thirty years, when, to
the amazement Of the bank authorities,
1t was presented by man who said he
had received it in course of business
from abroad, and who appeared to
have legal claim to the money. In
the end it was discovered the note had
fallen into the fire. Instead Of being
consumed, however, it had been caught
up by the draught and lodged in the
corner of the chimney, where 1t had
ever since remained. In course Of time
the director died, his house was sold,
and purchased by builder for the
purpose of taking it down, and build
ing another with the materials This
man found the note, and made the dis
covery an instrument for robbing the
bank. Although the latter had to pay
the money, 1t could not recover 1t
from the directors executors, who
were protected by statute known to
lawyers as the Statute of Limita-
TONS" What happened to the felonous
finder (who, I need scarcely tell you,
was thief in faAt as we'll as in law),
do noSykn'Jw. Thh first forger of bank;
notes vas one Richard William vaugh,