Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1899-12-15
GAMES OF SHARPERS.
TWO LATE ATTEMPTS TO CHEAT
THE GOVERNMENT.
Schemes Such as the Officials of the
Redemption Division of the Treas
Mry Have to Be Always or; the Alert
to Frustrate.

The Indianapolis Journal prints a let
Ter from Washington about the at
bempts, successful and unsuccessful
mostly unsuccessful-to cheat the Uni-
ted States Treasury through it's Ne
demption division, so called, the dlvl-
sion which has to do with redeem!ng
partially destroyed government cur
rency. We quote the story of such a
wicked and foolish undertaking:
Not long ago doctor in Alabama
sent TO the emptionVdivision one7half
Of a ten-dollar bill, accompanied by an
affidavit saying that while ON spree"
he had used the other half to light
cigar The half which he forwarded
was nicely charred along the inner
edge, and the story would have been
very plausible If the redemption divi-
sion had not received within twenty
four hours from an Alabama baDk the
other half Of the same note.
The theory OF the Treasury officials
was that while more or less intoxicated
the doctor had struggled for the posses
sion of the bill with some one, who had
wrested half Of 1t from him; that the
despoiler had turned the half into the
bank and received five dollars for It;
that the doctor, recovering his senses,
had found the other half in his pocket,
and not wishing to lose his money had
conceived the plan of singeing the edge
Of the note, and saying that the other
half had been destroyed. So he COM
mited perjury in an attempt to rob
Uncle Sam of five do.lars.
A short time ago man in Chicago
sent an aft fidavit to the Treasury, ac-
companying the singed half of two
twenty-dollar bills and one ten-dollar
bin. This affidavit was typewriter
and in perfect form. 1t stated that the
depo1lent was a commercial traveller;
that after returning from journey he
had been cleaning out his travelling bag
when, inadvertently, he had thrown
Into the fire an envelope containing
fifty dollars in bills; that I'm accord
ance with section so-and-so of the
law of such date he would like to
have the money restored to him, etc.
The clerk who brought this docu-
ment to Mr.. Relyea commented ON it's
lucidity and completeness.
"The story seems unnatural" said
Mr.. Relyea. Hold up the claim for a
time"
Twenty-four hours later big ship
ment of mutEated currency came from
the sub-treasury at Chicago. Mr.. Rel
yea asked If there were any half-notes
in the shipment. In four or five min
utes a clerk brought him the missing
halves of the bills which the Chicago
man had sent in.
The attempt to defraud was plain.
The matter was put at once into the
hands of the Secret Service Bureau.
An agent was sent to Chicago. The
young man who had made the affidavit
was put under arrest, and the story of
his crime came out. He was of decent
family, but had fallen into bad COM
pany, and had been persuaded to at
tempt the fraud by oder companions.
They furnished the money and pre-
pared the affidavit. They cut the bills
in halves, and for one-half of them OBJ
tanned twenty-five dollars. The other
half they singed and attached to his
affidavit. When he was arrested they
fled.
The gross profit of the swtndle could
not have been more than twenty-five
dollars, and i'm trying to cheat the Gov
ernment out of that amount the young
man forfeited his liberty for a year and
a half.