The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1899-04-14
PATCHING UP MONEY.
WORK OF GOVERNMENT TO
REIMBURSE INDIVIDUALS.
Odd Cases OF Mutilation-Cheatlng the
Treasury of the United States Is Free
quentiy Attempted and Sometimes
Achieved.

NASASo v 1SoCAApIlou. LII ldIS,
every person employed in the bureau is
IN some degree an expert, because each
Il Of them has to pass on the genu-
lneness Of the money presented for re-
uemptlon, and this is a difficult task,
says the Washington Star. Remember
that this money m to the treas
uiy, as a rule, only when it is SO bad
ly worn hat it will not pass current
ms dirty, torn. greasy, ragged money
the experts have to handle and decide
whether it was issued by the govern
ment n should be redeemed at its
face value Or whether it is the work OF
cOunterfeiters and should be rejected.
1t is no. at all to the discredit Of the
experts of the bureau that some bogus
money has got past them and been de-
tected in n of the Offices to which
he pieces Of money go for further eX-
animation. This does not occur often.
The peculiar province of one woman is
not to detect bad money-thCugh she
is az expert at that--but to put to-
gether torn pieces Of money sent for
Identification and redemption. These
pieces OF money come from all parts OF
the country and arrive under the most
extraordinary conditions. This is not
surprising, in view Of the fact that
they come from experiences with fire
and water and gastric juices and many
ether powerful agents. A not infre-
Guent accident to money is to be left
in a stove, whence it is taken in a bad
ly charred condition, with only ashes
to represent the greater part of it.
Often it is used by rats to make thoi:
nests; or, buried in the dampness of a
cellar, 1t rots away; Or, swallowed by
q COW, it is rescued from her stomach
a Shiny mass Of paper. Here are the
rules Of the treasury for the reIemp-
ton Of mutilated money: For a piece
of currency greater than two-ffths and
less than three-ffths Of the original
note, one-half the face value of the
note is given. For a piece as great as
three-ffths, the whole of the note is
given. For a piece two-fifths in size
Of the original nothing is given. But
this last provision is limited by the
law, which gives discretion to the treas
ury department to give the full value
for a note if the Wner can prove to
the satisfaction Of the authorities that
the note, or the missing part OF it. was
destroyed. This last provision opens
the door to possible fraud, and many
are the efforts made by dishonest per
sons to take advantage Of it. The rag
ments Of money which come to the
treasury are turned over to one Of the
experts and sorted out under the mi
croscope for identification. They are
picked apart and each tiny piece is as
signed to its place like a part of 8
puzzle. This is usually done on glass
and the fragments are eventually put
between pieces OF glass to hold them
together while they are measured to
see whether there is two-ffths or
three-ffths Of the whole note identifa-
BILE Or whether it is so little that Tit
owner can recover nothing. Sometimes
it is a very serious matter to the OWL
err. but the poor are not the only ap-
plicants for assistance to recover dam
aged money. At the time W. X. Van
derbilt's beautiful home at Newport
was burned Mrs. Vanderbilt-now Mrs.
Belmont-sent about 81, goo in mutilat-
ed currency, out of which it was able
to identify for redemption all but a
fraction of the sum. Some of the ex-
periences of the redemption division
with would-be thieves are interesting.
Ono man i'm Koncoo cact 70 w. $685.,
ury the halves Of some small bills with
the edges nicely charred, accompanied
by an affidavit from the sender that
he had put the money in his pocket,
hung his coat on a fence and that the
coat had been burned, to the destruc-
ton of part Of the notes. 1t happened
that the treasury had redeemed the
other halves OF these notes just two
and a half years before by a money
broker in New York, and, thinking the
case suspicious, had kept an eve ont
for the possibility of attempted fraud.
The Kansas man was a person OF good
business standing, and his banker
threatened the treasury officials with
dismissal if they questioned his afi-
davit. They put the case in the hands
of the department of Justice. and
eventually the man pleaded guilty and
was fined $1,000. A bank in Alabama
received from a depositor a fragment
of a $40 bill and the treasury peonle
pa2 IS for it. Later came a claim ac-
%companied by the other part of the
bill, a little charred, with an affidavit
saying the sender had burned the re-
mainder of the note by mistake A
Chicago man sent in fragments of two
$40 bills and one $40 bill, with an afti-
davit telling how the other halves had
been destroyed; and in the same mail
the other halves of these notes came
in from a Chicago bank. A special
agent caught the maker of the aft
davit, who proved to be the tool of
some swindlers, and he was sent 10
prison for a year and a half.