Middletown transcript., 1899-04-22

There are several experts employed
y the government to inspect the cur
rtrcy offered for redemption. In fact,
every person employed in the bureau is
! in some degree an expert, because each
one of them has to pass on the genuine
ness of the money presented for re-
| demption. and this is a difficult task.
| Remember that this money comes to
/ he treasury as rule, only when it is
/ 20 badly worn that it will not pass cur
/ rent This dirty. torn, greasy, ragged
! money the experts have to handle and
! decide whether it was issued by the
government and should be redeemed at
it's face value or whether it is the work
Of counterfeiters and should be rejected.
1t is not at all to the discredit of the
experts of the bureau that some bogus
money has got past them and been de-
tected in one of the offices to which the
pieces Of the money go for further ex-
animation. This does not occur often.
The peculiar province of one expert
is not to detect bad money-thougb
she is.an expert at that-but to put to-
gether torn pieces of money sent in for
Identification and redemption. These
pieces Of money come from all parts of
the country and arrive under most ex-
traordinary conditions This is'not sur
prising in view Of the fact that they
come from experiences with fire and
water and gastric juices and many 9TH
er powerful agents. 4 not infrequent
accident to money is to lie left in
stove, whence it * taken in I, badly
charred condition. H.th aEiy ashes to
represent tac greater :..:i IL ii. Often
it is used by rats toiu..s' Ilssr rests,
or, buried in the daniTli4 a5 4 ccIGr. il
rots away, or; swallowed = su0:. iyis
rescued from her sta,zceit: /; .i..1J pl;i :
Of paper.
Here are the rr!as u Tie t-:f:::s,yl7...' ;;s,'-
the redemption 81 ,41tii,ttea i..uufE
For a piece CT cnr.vnty gre:;t,r than
two-fifths and less than thre2-ff.hs of
the original note one-ha!f the face value
of the note is given. For a piece as
great as three-fifths the whole value of
the note is given. For 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 full value for a
note if the owner can prove to the satis-
faction 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 persons TO take ad
vantage of ii.
The fragments cf money which come
to the treasury are turned over to one
Of the experts and sorted out aader the
miscroscope for Identification. They are
picked apart, and each tiny piece is as
signed to ats rlacs Ike q l.@rt Of a pi;E-
zle This is usually don1 "a tiasi, and
the fragments are ~ .'.l>.;.ii5 pat he
tween pieces OF Siass to hOli ti.e.n to-
gether while thsy re Ijcaaured to sec
whether there il t.7a-ffths q three.
ffths Of the note iie.sGi!:.. ..t.la or whether
it iss1 little tiit Ia oN.ar can recover |
nothing t.a.Ie sirits il Is IL Wy serious |
matter to tls o1n.r hut tie poor are |
not tho oaiy ar7isea. Is for ;:Gsistance /
to rccove- t,l.!-.i.. ..;@-i t:i,lay. At Tie time |
W K Yaraarc:!t : bea- ,is2i home at !
New pGtt vas E..rned Mrs. Vanderbilt !
sent il s.,r5; j.;33 in INITIATED cur
re1..y. ext ~ E::i.,l tt!3a c-.-i;eTt was able
to il, fli:y fyr l.,@lll ti-n all bat a
fraction Ct - ,s.isl
Ititi4 n,i @iune u.ut;iated money |
that cJG,cs /, -tla treasury, but dirty |
ard vor3 .r4ceE Gf'a.I kinds. to the ex-
tent u :. ~ !;ovj, ,1aJ, 000 year.
Some. cn.ntc,feits get past the |
expcrts il t-::.. hreaa and are caught |
in the otter i.rYeads To which the halves !
are scrtvAa he packages of old notes |
have gene 5isider the Knife and been di-
vided Up fer cuinting and identification
before they a-e destroyed. But this is
not TIE I13oSt i,-,.Pr1ent form of attempt
cd fr4nd GAe nutllated money offers
the easiest pata to this SORT Of crime.
Some of tie experiences of the re-
demption division with would be
thieves are interesting. One man in
Kansas sent to the treasury the halves
of some small bills with the edges nice
" 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 I
burned, to the destruction of part Of |
the notes. 1t happened that the treasury |
had redeemed the other halves of these
notes just two and half years before
for money broker on the Bowery, in
New York. and. thinking the case sus-
picious, had kept an eye out for the
possibility of attempted fraud. The
Kansas man was person of good bust
ness standing; and his bankers threat
ened the treasury officials with dismissal
if they questioned his affidavit. They
put the case in the hands of the depart
ment of justice, and eventually the
man pleaded guilty and was fined ST.
900.
A bank in Alabama received from
depositor fragment of $40 bill, and
the treasury people paid So for it.
Later came claim accompanied by the
other part of the bill, a little charred,
with an affidavit saying the sender had
burned the remainder of the note by
mistake.
A Chicago man sent in fragments Of
two $40 bills and one $40 bill with an
affidavit telling how the other halves
had been destroyed, and in the same
mail the other halves of these notes
came in from Chicago bank. A spe-
cial agent caught the maker of the aff-
davit, who proved to be the tool Of
some swindlers, and he was sent to
prison for year and a half.-Wash-
ington Star
Remarkable Rescue.