Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1899-06-01
MUTILATED PAPER BILLS
SCHEMES FOR CHEATING THE Gov
EMINENT BY THEIR REDEMPTION.

There are several experts emplo yed
by the Government to inspect the cur
rency offered for redemption. In
fact, every person employed in this
bureau at Washington. from Mr..
Relyea down, is in some degree an
expert, because each one OF them has
to pass on the genuineness OF the
money presented for redemption, and
this is a difficult task. Remember
that this money comes to the Treas
ury, as q rule, only when 1t is so badly
worn that it will not pass current.
This dirty. torn, greasy, ragged money
the experts of Mr.. Relyea's office
have to handle and decide whether
it was issued by the Government and
should be redeemed at its face value
or whether it is the work Of counter
feiters and should be rejected. 1t is
not at all to the discredit of the ex-
perts 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 20 for further
examination. This docs not occur
often.
The peculiar province Of Mrs.
Brown, one of the most famous
specialists in the Treasury Depart
ment, is not to detect bad money
though she is an expert at that-but
to put together torn pieces of money
sent in for identification and redemp-
ton. These pieces Of money come
from all parts of the country and
arrive under most extraordinary con-
ditions. This is not surprising in
view of the fact that they come from
experiences with fire and water and
gastric juices and many other power
full agents. A not infrequent accident
to money is to be left in stove,
whence it is taken in badly charred
condition, with only ashes to repre-
sent the greater part of it. Often it
is used by rats to make their nests;
or, buried in the dampness of a cellar,
it rots away; or, swallowed by COW,
it is rescued from her stomach Shiny
mass of paper.
Here are the rules of the Treasury
for the redemption of mutilated
money For piece Of currency greater
than two ifths and less than three
fifths of the original note, one-half
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
o piece two-ffths in size of the original
nothing is given. But this last pro-
vision is limited by the law, which
gives discretion to the Treasury De-
partment to give full value for note
il the owner can prove to the satisfac-
ton Of the authorities that the note,
or the missing part OF it, was de-
stroyed. 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 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 identified
ton. 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 whether there is two
fiths or three-fourths of the note iden
tifable, or whether it is so little thai
the owner can recover nothing. Some
times it is very serious thing to the
owner; but the poor are not the only
applicants for assistance to recover
damaged money. At the time W. K
Vanderbilt's beautiful home at New
port was burned, Mrs. Vanderbilt
now Mrs. Belmont-sent in abou
$1,000 in mutilated currency, out o
which Mrs. Brown was able to identif,
for redemption all but fraction o
the sum.
1t is not alone mutilated money tina
comes to the Treasury, but dirty ant
worn money of all kinds. The ma
tional bank notes &C to the redemption
. agency especially maintained TO
them. This agency handled NOR
than $97, 100000 in national ban
notes last year. In the same perio
Mr.. Relyea's division handled $40,
900, 900 and more. OF this $3.50, 543,
900 was in silver certificates an
. about $50, 00O.0 900 in currency certif
Gates.
Sometimes counterfeits get past tn,
experts in this bureau and are caugh
in the other bureaus to which tn
: halves are sent when the packages O
old notes have gone under the knit
: and been divided up for counting an
: Identification before they are dc
stroyed. But this is not the mos
!, frequent form of attempted fraud
> The mutilated money offers the easIes
! path to this sort OF crime.
!. Some of the experiences of the re
= demption division with would-b,
thieves are interesting. One man il
Kansas sent to the Treasury tn
. halves of some small bills with til
edges nicely charred, accompanied b
;, an affidavit from the sender that b
had put the money in his pocket, hun
: his coat on fence, and that the COS
= had been burned, to the destructio