The Washington times., 1901-11-10
TALES TOLD ABOUT MONEY
Bankers Relate Quaint Exper-
fences With Odd Customers.
Incidents with Borrowers That Arc
Both Comfca1 and TraEic-How
Lost Money Was Once Secured.
The 5000 Mistake of q Cashier.

The <SoD mistake OF q tasniers
lone of the best bank stories ever
heard or read said Charles L Farrell.
Assistant Cashier of the Capital National
Bank, was related by Gov. J. Hoge Ty-
Ter. of Virginia. in an address OF well
come made to the American Bankers As
sociation in annual convention at Rich
mond. Va, October 2, 1890. As I remem-
Der 1t the story went about like this:
Soon after the war. when banking rates.
or discount rates. were high. an old coun-
try friend in one of the southwest coun-
ties, farmer went to the bank TO secure
a loan of $1,000 for five years. OF course.
this made the man behind the grating
open his eyes and look at him with wonder
and astonishment, and the farmer was
told that they could not make provision
for such loan as that unless they had
the most satisfactory collateral that could
be obtained.
The old fellow asked, 'Collot what?
I" Collateral the banker answered.
Well. what Is thatT the farmer
asked
THE banker went on to describe tho
| stocks and bonds and securities that are
meant by the term collateral. The old
farmer said. Well. IL had those things
wouldn't want any money. They are
better than money.
Well said the banker, you can't get
the money unless you succeed In getting
| some Of those coIlaterals, and then we
| might discount your note
We'll. the farmer succeeded In getting
some collateral and in getting some per-
sonal endorsements, and also in getting
his own name upon the paper and his
wife's as well, and obtained mortgages
on everything he had. He came and
dumped his collateral down on the bank
| erS desk They were satisfactory, and
the cashier made out his note for him
| to sign it, which the farmer did. After
signing the note be passed 1t over. Then
the cashier counted him out s2s752. The
! old farmer calculated, Come on
No. SIR said the cashier, that Is all
you can get on a note of 1900 for five
years at our present rate Of discount
Dis what? said the farmer.
| DISCOUNT said the cashier; that is
| all you can get
'' What do you mean said the farmer.
Why said the cashier, we take of
the discount for the first four months
and the next four months. and so on. and
then. at the end of five years your note
Will only make S2S7.52'
''I am glad I did not ask you to lend
the farmer. or you would have had me in
debt and 1 would have to pay you SON :
thing for asking you to lend it to me- -
W. w. Woollen, of the banking firm of
| Woollen. Webb e Co., was the hero of
an incident that involved considerable de
| tectiye acumen. One evening in an effort
to obtain a trial balance" Mr.. Woollen
found. to his disnay. that his cash was
| short $1,000. Try as he would, he could
not locate the missing amount.
| The next day he instituted a rigid en-
| quiry among the other persons about the
| bank in the vain hope that he might OBJ
tain some clue that would aid him in
| locating ths money. The messenger boy
spoke up promptly when he heard OF the
loss and said: Il noticed yesterday, when
you were cashing check for a fellow
| that looked like he might be a farmer,
that he had a man with him. and when
he was counting over his money he
chuckled and nudged his companion and
then both of them ehucKled good DEAL
With this slender clue Mr.. Woollen be-
gan his investigation. He went carefully
over the checks he had cashed the pre-
vious day and came across one that he
believed to have been the one in question.
Going to the man who drew the check,
he asked for the residence OF the payee.
When he secured this information M.
Woollen hired buggy and drove out into
the country several miles to the farmer }
place. Arrived at his house, Mr.. Woollen
approached the farmer and said abruptly:
Il came after that thousand-dollar bill
L paid you by mistake the other day.
The man turned red and stammered
something about not having any thous-
apd-doIlar bill, but Mr.. WooIlen pressed
him so closely that he finally put his hand
into his trousers pocket and drew out the
bill.
| Another story in which a thousand-doI-
ar bill figures prominently involves a cit
izen whose sensitiveness will not permit
the use of his name. This man was act
ing as a trustee during the panic Of 1898
and had the trust fund on deposit in the
Indianapolis National Bank. A day or
two before the bank closed its doors the
man received a warning that the insti-
tuition was doomed. He accordingly has
tened over to the bank and drew out the
money which he held in trust for anoth-
er.
When he received the money, which was
: in bills, he rolled it up and placed 1t II
his coat pocket, where he carried it fol
several days. One day Harry c. Adam!
came into his place of business and said
Have you such a thing as a hundred
dollar bill about you? 1 need one right
away" The man reached in his pOck-
} ct, pulled out the roll of bills and taking
of the top bill handed it to Mr.. ADAMS
Great Heavens calculated Mr.. Adesirs
when he observed that the bill called
for 81, 800, you surely don't carry thous-
and-doIlar bills around loose in your pock-
ct, do your
| Il have no thousand-doIlar BILL retort-
ed the man.
) ''Id ike to know what you call that,
J said Mr. Adams. holding up the bill SO
as to show plainly the figures 1000 on its
face.
The scene changes to the indianapolis
National Bank The man enters carry
ing the thousand-dollar bill in his hand
Did you find any shortage in your cash
the other day?" he asked of Cashier
Rexford.
..pfd u" exclaimed Bir. Rexford- We'll,
; T should say did l was short $500. and
have lost hours OF sleep ever since Try
/ ing to locate tAat shortage
.sIyeII. YOU can take a little rest now.
answered the man, for here is your
= money. You paid me $1,000 bill for
slO0 bill the other day
THE cashier suddenly found that he
had business outside. and it is said that
money was put into circulation at a
neighboring refreshment stand, although
this part OF the story is not clearly sub
| stantiated
when | used to work in the Meriden
National Bank, which was aftCrward alb
sorbed by the Merchants. said another
hank official. y relieved Albert Kopp. the
paying teller, one day during noon hour