The evening times., 1900-07-02
SHEETS OF MONEY STOLEN.
Eight Notes Taken From the Bureau
Of Engraving and Printing.

For the second tine since It's creation
the Bureau OF Engraving and Printing has
suffered loss By theft. During the past
month one of the e1apIoyes in the count
ing room succeeded in stealing eight SO
national bank notes. They we're all com
plete. save for the imprint of the red seal
and the Treasury numbers. The ROBBERY
was discovered airrcst Immediately, but
the Secret Service Official. working on the
case have been absolutely bamed. The
thief. the officials say, was certainly one
OF the 1G0 employes. chiefly gir.s. in the
counting room. but tAere is absolutely 10
clew 20 the offender. The notes were pat
in circulation at once. ard despite the TACT
that the money was unEtamped, it e.rcu-
lated readily. Al the certificates have been
recovered.
The robbery Is one OF the most caring
that has ever come before the attention
OF the Secret Service people. The bu-
reau, which employs z,5o0 people, has been
in existence since the VAR. During al
that stretch Of neatly forty years, but
one other attempt al robbery was ever
made.
Some time ago one Of the workmen
walked out Of the place with a package
most at once and is aow serving his sen
tenee.
The system OF counting and Of counter
checking is so nearly perfect that up TO
a month ago the loss OF the postage
stamps was the only one ever incurred by
theft
In March a sheet Of four 90 bills was
destroyed in the workT0Oms and no trace
OF il could be found. The amount was
81.
the counting-rOom- There was no suspi-
cion Of wrongdoing. and IL IS believed that
the money was carried away IN the rubbish
Of the place. However, even such an event
as the loss Of a sheet was so remarkable
that il caused much excitement. Interest
In that affair. however. was lost sight OF
on an afternoon early in June when II was
found that eight SO bills were missing.
Instantly the whole force in the counting
occurrence. All Of them denied knowledge
of II. Then there was a hasty search
through every conceivable place where the
money might have diss ssppeared The hunt
was futile
To appreciate the daring Of the thief.
it is necessary 10 know the care which is
exercised in printing the Governments
money. From the moment thar the paper
pulp is formed. there is the most rigid
are to be used for conversion into money
Il is mao in the mills al Massachusetts
under Government control. and. jealousy
guarded il is conveyed here to the Treas
ury Every morning the Treasury off,
cials order the printing Of a certain num-
Der Of bills Of each denomination. The pa
per is then transferred 70 the Bureau Of
Engraving and Printing, which Is charged
up with the face value the sheets viii
have after being printed On an acreage
this amount is nearly a million dollars
day. On the return OF the notes proper
Il printed. the bureau is credited by the
Treasury with the amount and the account
ends
The notes, however. are not completed at
the bureau. They are not legal money un-
~ the red seal OF Tie Treasury and the
Treasury numbers have been added to
them. That is done at the Treasury itself
after the return Of The. notes from the
bure&I.
The money IS printed on sheets OF paper
each Of which contain four notes. They
are cut apart az tie Treasury
The counting room where he sheets
were stolen is the last department at the
bureau through which the money passes
in the process OF printing There IL is
counted and recouuted before being dellv-
cred 20 the Treasury. On the day in which
the loss occurred the last formal count OF
the SO packages had been completed. One
Of the examiners. however. in looking over
bundle. found two sheets missing that
represented $50.
Despite the fact that The money was un-
stamped and un-nUmbered. the robber al
once cut the notes apart and put them n
circulation. The Secret Service people
found i've Of them in she hands of banks,
which had accepted them readily. One OF
the others was turned in TO the change
clerk at the Treasury itself Many people
viii remember the advertisement three
weeks ago in which search was made for
the persons handing such-and-such moneys
to the change teller at the Treasury OF
the previous day. The advertisement IVES
aimed 10 reach the man who had turned
in the money in hopes that he could tell
where il came from. But he never re-
sponded. All Of the eight notes have been
found. and the Government is no loser, bu,
the hunt for the robber continues. Thus
far there is no clew whatever.