The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1901-08-07
A case With i the last three week

i county ~ o.. who, Y bile stoOpIng
lover to feed bis hogs dropped his
purse inside the pens. An hour
later. when he missed the purse he
found the leather receptacle inside
the pen, but nothing Of its contents.
There was slanghtering, but
which it had been his intention not
lto have until several days later.
| What resembled the remains OF the
money was found and sent On to
Washington Three hundred dol
lars were returned to the Missouri
farmer.
| is now the custom Of the de-
partment to return mutilated money
found BY any person to the finder it
| it IS REASONABLY certain the case is
Ia bona-fde find. This was not the
ease formerly. Two negroes who
found 81, 500 IN bills torn into small
bits on the lake front at Chicago six
wears ago turned it into the Sub
Treasury at Chicago for redemption,
lconfessing that they had found the
amount 1t was forwarded to Wash.
| ington, but the ruling Of the de-
partment was that it could only be
redeemed when one established pos
session of it.
Burned money is the hardest for
the government experts to work on,
with the exception of the money
that has been gnaWed by mice. One
day there came into the department
a cigar box full OF money which had
been sent from Philadelphia with.
the necessary affidavit showing that
it had been inside of a poorly con
structed safe and had been burned
to the condition in which it was
forwarded. Evidently with the
idea that the original package ought
I not to be broken, the sender in
closed the charred pieces with some.
silver. coins which had also been
badly burned in the same safe. Dur
ling the passage of the money through
| the mails the heavy silver was
Ishaken through the charred bills
until there was hardly a piece left
big enough to cover more than the
head Of a pin. Each of the pieces
| looked as if taken from CRATE into
which papers had been thrust. Mrs.
| Brown, who is in charge of the ex-
perts who handle mutilated money,
1all Of whom are women, did not des-
pair. although she deplored the
/ thoughtlessness which had allowed
lsilver and charred paper to be
packed together. She called two
/ of her assistants and the three, by
the. aid Of magnifying glasses, soon
brought out four $50 bills, and
/ within an hour recommended that
they be redeemed by the treasurer.
1 Secret service officers have been
frequently called upon to learn if
the. stories which are told Of the
way in which bills become mutilated
Iare true. Within the last week a
/ Washington darky came to the de
partment in great distress, bring
ling pieces of bill s, which he said,
represented $500 Of hard earned
money He declared that he had
hid the money behind mis- home by
1 burying it in a tin can. He ex-
/ planned that his wife was given to
great extravaganza and he was OBJ
.Eliged to hide the money to keep her
4 from spending it.. When the ex-
4 perts laid out the money they found
that there was over 500 A secret
service officer was then sent to es
4 tablish the facts as to the matter,
and gravely reported that the ne
gro's story was correct one, even
to the claim that his wife was ex-
traVagant.
Last Wednesday an elderly Ger
imam woman came to the department
from Baltimore in great distress.
/ She had charred remnants Of some
money which was, she said, the
savings Of 40 years. She thought
that there were at least $500 in the
original roll. On the evening be
fore, as she knelt at her devotlons,
i a lamp IN the room adjoining had
! toppled over and set FIRE to dress
4 skirt il which she had the money.
ID,