Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-02-18
Woman Clerk in the Treasury Who
Sorts Old Money.
DIFFICULT And IMPORTANT DUTIES
Piecine Together the Fragments
If Mutilated Notes.
E FORTS TO AUD


/ tHShlaNieh just after the beSlDnlDE OF the
year did not have the customary seasoning.
1t is usual to put treasury notes in the
| treasury vaults for six months or more TO
dry before Issuing them In the experience
Of the department notes which are not
| thoroughly seasoned are likely to smear
That happened to the last lot OF new notes
| Issued by the government, and 1t was the
| source Of great many complaints.
But the public demand for the withdrawal
! OF the last issue was so great that no time
was to he lost; so the new notes were hus-
tied out after only thirty days of delay.
| and now the old notes are being called in
as fast as possible and destroyed.
| In the calling in of the old currency and
| the putting out OF the new two Of the bu-
| reau chiefs ar" conspicuous. They are
| James A. Sample of the issue division and
Albert Relyea of the redemption division.
One of them supervises the putting out OF
the new notes. while the other has charge
| CT taking in the old. Under these men some
| OF the best-known characters of the public
| service are employed. one OF these is a
| famous woman clerk. Women were first
| employed by the government in the treas
1 ury service. and this woman has the most
| responsible position of any in the service
| of Uncle Sam.
Financial Experts.
There are several experts employed by
| the government to inspect the currency Of
| fered for redemption. In fact, every per
| son employed I'm the bureau. from Mr.. Rel
yea down, is in some degree an expert, be-
cause each one OF them has to pass on the
genuineness of the money presented for re-
denption. and this Is difficult task Re
| member that this money comes TO the
treasury, as rule only when IL is so bad
ly worn that II Will not pass current This
dirty. torn, greasy. ragged money the ex-
perts of Mr. Relyea' $ office have to handle
and decide whether IT was issued by the
government and should be redeemed at its
face value or whether II Is the work of
counterfeiters and should be rejected. IL
Is not at all to the discredit of the experts
of the bureau that some bogus money has
got past them and been detected in one of
the offices to which the pieces of the money
go for further examination. This does not
occur often.
The peculiar province of Mrs Brown is
| not TO detect bad money-though she is an
expert at that-but 10 put together torn
pieces of money sent In for Identification
and redemption.
Accidents to Money.
These pieces Of money come from all
parts of the country and arrive under most
extraordinary conditions This is not sur
prising in view of the fact that they come
from experiences with fire and wafer and
gastric juices and many other powerful
agents. A not fnfrequent accident to money
IL 10 De ieII IN q stove. whence IL Is taken
In badly charred condition. with only
ashes to represent the greater part of it,
OFTEN II is used by rats to make their nests:
or. buried in the dampness of a cellar It
rots away; or. swallowed by a cow. 1t is
rescued from her stomach Shiny mass of
paper.
Here are the rules of the treasury for the
redemption Of mutilated money: For a
piece of currency greater than two-fifths
and less than three-afths of the original
note, one-half the face value of the note is
given, For piece great as three-fifths
the whole value Of the note is given or a
piece two-ffths In size of the original, moth
ing is given. But this last provision is limit
ed by the law, which gives discretion to the
Treasury Department to give full value for
a note II the owner can prove to the salts
faction of the authorities that the note or
the missing part of 1t. was destroyed I ais
last provision opens the door To possible
fraud, and many are the efforts made by
dishonest persons to take advantage of il.
In the Hands of Experts.
The fragments OF money which come to
the treasury are turned over to one of the
experts-in difficult cases to Mrs. Brown
and sorted out under the microscope for
Identification. They are picked apart, and
each tiny piece Is assigned TO its place like
part of 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
WueCneT there Is tWO-UftlS OF flrep-flftlS
of the note identifiable, or whether il is so
little that the owner can recover nothing
Sometimes Ii is a very serious matter to
the owner; but the poor are not the only
applicants for assistance to recover dam
aged money. At the time w X Wander
bits beautiful home at Newport was
burned Mrs. Vanderbtlt-row Mrs. Belmont
sent In about 81, 600 in mutilated currency
out of which Mrs. Brown was able to iden-
tffy for redemption all but fraction of the
sum.
1t is not alone mutilated money that
comes TO the tres sury, but dirty and worn
money of all kinds. The national bank
notes go to the redemption agency espe-
eially maintained for them. This agency
handled more than $1,000 600 In national
bank notes last year In the same period
Mr.. Relyea's division handled $40 900 Ubo
and more or this $50 543. op0 was IN sill
yer certificates and about $50, 600 600 in cur
rency certificates
Temptation to Crime.
Sometimes, as l have said, counterfeits
get past the experts In this bureau, and are
caught IN the other bureaus to which the
halves are sent when the packages of old
notes have gone under the knife and been
divided up for counting and Identification
before they are destroyed. But this is not
the most frequent form of attempted fraud
The mutilated money offers the easiest
path TO this sort Of crime
Some of the experiences of the redemn-
eioi uiNisiOu WIFI NOufU-De thieves In
teresting. Ono man In Kansas sent TO the
treasury 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 fence, and that the coat had been
burned, to the destruction of part of the
notes. 1t happened that the treasury had
redeemed the other halves OF these notes
rust two and a half years before for a
money broker on the Bowery I'm New York,
and, thinking the case suspicious, had kept
an eye out for the possibility Of attempted
fraud The Kansas man was a person of
good business standing, and his bankers
threatened the treasury officials with dis
missal If they questioned his affidavit. They
put the case IN the hands of the Depart
ment of Justice and eventually the man
plead guilty and was fined $1,000.
Specimen Cases.
A bank I'm Alabama received from a de-
positor a fragmsnt of $40 bill and the
treasury people paid So for It Later came
claim accompanied by the other part Of
the bill, little charred, with an affidavit
saying the sender had burnt the remainder
OF the note by mistake