Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1899-08-21
NEW MONEY FOR OLD.
AN EXCHANGE FOR MUTlLATED AND
WORKOUT BILLS.


rency OF cred 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-
dcmption. and this ia difficult task
Remember that this money comes to
the treasury, as Il rule, only when it is
so badly worn that il 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
its face value or whether it is the wolk
of counterfeiters and should be rejected
1t is not at all to the discrelit 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--thoHgb
she is AZ expert at that-bnt 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-
traor}inary conditions This is not sur
ur. ~ IN view of the fact that they
come from experiences with fire and
water and gastric juices and many 9th
err powerful agents A rot inilequent
accident to money is to be t in
stove. whence it is taken Ill badly
charred condition, with only ashes TO
represent the greater part Of it Often
it is us,d by rats to make their nests,
or, buried in the dampnoss Of cellar, 1t
rots away or, swallowed by a COW, it is
rescued from her stomach Il Shiny mass
Of paper
Here IRE the rules of the treasury for
the red .lption of mutilated money
For IA ,Her, G.. currency greater team
! tyo.ifth4 and less than thrt '-fiIths 81
the orininal note one-half the face value
| Of thu note is given For Il piece az
great a. throc-Hrths the whole value Of
the note IL sive:. Fora piece rWOsuitIis
in siz a. the or ginaI nothing il given
| But til :. last provision is ii}nlted ty tile
| law vluch gives discretion 10 the treas
ury Il tment Il give full value Tor d
note /. .owntr can prove to the aitls-
fiction of the authorities that the note
or the missing part of it, w sdr5troyed
This last provision opens the door to
! possible fraud. and many are TIM tnorts
made by dishonest persons to take ad
vantage OF it
The flaements of money which come
to the ,t9..ury are turned over to ole
of the experts and sorted ont under the
miscroscoDe for identification They are
picked apurt and each tiny piece ~ IA
signed to it's place like a part of puz
zle This is usually done on glass ahc
the fragments are eventually pat be-
tween r,'orAs of glass to bold ttem to
gether while they are measured to see
whether there is two-tifths or three
tiftbs of the note identifiaE,o or whether
it is so little that the owner can recover
nothing Sometimes it is il very serious
matter to the owner, but the loor are
not the only applicants for assistance
to recover damaged money At the time
w X Vanderbilt's beautiful home at
Newport was burned Mrs Vanderbilt
sent in about 81 900 in mutilat,d eur
rency. out of which the expert was a"it
to idcntify for redemption all tut a
fractiou of the sum.
1t it i, not alone mutilated money
: that comes to the treasury, but dirty
and worn money of all kinds, to the eH-
tent of early $500, 900, 600 year.
Sometimes counteTfeits get past the
experts in this bureau and are caught
in the Of her bureaus to which the halves
are sent when the packages of old notes
have GONE unuor the knife and been dl
vidod up for counting and identification
before they are destroyed. But this Ii
not the most frequent form of attempt
ed fraud The mntilated MOI ctfer'
the easiest path to this sort OF '.-a
Some of the experiences OF lie re
=, demption division with would b'
q thieves are Interesting One man IL
, Kansas sent 10 the treasury the halve
: of some small bills with the etsges nice
/ " charred, accompanied by an ai1CaVi
: from the sender that he had phi tt
= money in his pocket, hung his coat u
G a fence and that the coat ,.ld boel
burned. to the destruction of part u
the notes 1t happened that the treasur.
Il had redeemed the other halves Of thes
n notes inst two and IA half years beIor
u for a money broker ON the BoWtry /
q New York. and thinking the case >a-
d piviuus had kept an eye ndt tol IN
= possibility OF attempted fraud In
II Kansas man was person OF good busl
T. ness standing and his bankers threat
VI ened the treasury officials with disnlssi
If they questioned his affidavit The
mt the case in the hands Of the depart
., ment of justice and eventually r.
rs man pleaded guilty and was dned III
re 600
Is A bank in Alabama received from
'e deDoHitor fragment OF a $40 Dill. an
W the treasury people paid 50 for l
Later came a claim accompanied - "
other part Of the bill little char
Is with an affidavit saying the sender
l. burned the remainder OF the note |
y mistake
T. A Chicago man sent in fragments
l. two $40 bills and one $40 bill with
,e affidavit telling how the other hlv
le had teen destroyed and in the san
is mail the other halves OF these not
T. came in fron Chicago bank A sp
ar cial agent caught the maker OF the at
al duvi who proved to be the tool
q unH "a sent