The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1901-07-13
ODD ROMANCES IN MONEY.
CASES SETTLED BY THE TREAS.
uRY's REDEEMINC DEPARTMENT.


Work Of Feminine Experts-A Memory
of the Galveston FIood-How Identified
ton is Accomplished Continental Bills
Offered For Redemption.
There was received at the redemption
division of the Treasury recently, says
the Washington Post, an envelope coll
tanning mass of greenish paper dried
and hard, but showing evidence OF hay
ing once been water-soaked. The letter
accompanying explained that the sub
stance had once been money, and that it
had been found among the debris left by
the storm at Galveston, Tex. 1t was Of
fered for redemption.
There was undoubtedly much money
destroyed in the Galveston storm, but
comparatively little of it has been re-
covered. A half dozen or more install
menfs have been received, but in all it
has amounted to but few hundred dol
lars. Most of it was in fair shape, and
the senders received the full amount in
crisp, new bills. The man who recover
ed the last lot received, however, was
less fortunate. 1t was turned over to
Mrs. E. A. Brown, the Treasury expert
on mutilated money, who soaked the
mass and picked it apart, discovering
at once that it was composed of worth
less Confederate bills.
Mrs. Brown and her assistant, Miss
Elizabeth D. Smith, have to deal with
money under many queer conditions. 1t
comes to them burned until only frag-
ments of charred paper are left, rotted
and widowed, gnawed by mice, eaten
and discolored by acids, and in a thou
sand other forms. Their knowledge Of
money is reduced to a science. By a
glance at a mere fragment of bill they
are able to tell from its geography
by which is meant the particular style
of engraving year of its issue and
the denomination of the note of which
it is part.
A case Mrs. Brown now has in hand
called forth all her ingenuity. The Mora
Wan National Bank, of Moravia, N. Y,
sent a package of money that had been
burned until only black and shriveled
paper remained. The burned bills were
supposed to amount to $I25. Mrs.
Brown was able to identify more than
$Ioo, and as there remained consider
able amount of the charred paper which
had been crushed until it was unrecog-
nizable, the full amount will be paid
upon an affidavit from the bank that the
sum was destroyed.
A couple of weeks ago a roll of burn
ed money was received from a small
town in Virginia. The sender explained
in his letter that the money belonged
to an aged woman who had been saving
it to pay her funeral expenses. Her
house caught fire and her little horde
was destroyed. The old lady was no:
quite sure of the amount that had been
in the roll, but she thought it was be-
tween $40 and SIS. Investigation show
ed that there was $I3o in the package
and that amount was forwarded for the
benefit of the funeral fund.
Among the receipts recently was d
large package of fractional currency ir
circulation during the civil war. 1t had
evidently been stored away in vault
that was not overdry, and was badly dis,
colored, but was yet in such condition
that it could be redeemed. A good deaI
of this fractional currency is received
Nnuch of it almost as bright and clean q:
on the daSssaFe Kept on hand and sold at
face value to collectors. -
A week or so ago there was received
a number of Continental bills, issued by
authority of the Continental Congress
during the war of the Revolution. The
law does not provide for the redemption
OF this money, and the bills were return
ed. Ignorant people in the South and
elsewhere, particularly negroes, fire.
quently send in large quantities of Con-
tederate bills, believing the Government
will redeem them.
The Government formerly held that
the finder of money was not entitled to
have it redeemed, and when turned into
the Treasury it was kept there for the
owner. This rule has now been changed
and the finder of money is the one who
profits. A few days ago a Washington
colored man took to the Treasury two
$50 notes, which he said he had found
on an ash heap. Although badly soiled
the notes were easily identified, and the
negro got the 500.
Another Washington negro not long
ago took to the Treasury a large pack
age of bills, which had been buried in
the ground and were badly water-soaked.
The bills were generally of small de-
nomination, and the task of separating
the pieces and patching them together
was big undertaking, as the amount of
the resurrected roll was more than S7,-
500. The negro explained that he had
buried the morey to get it away from an
"extravagant family" and that when he
went to the & ace Of burial to get out :;
small amour: he found that the entire
store had been ruined,
The work of identifying mutilated
money is not always pleasant. One day
last week an instalment was received
from Florida, with the explanation that
it had been damaged in the fumigation
of house where a man had died from
smallpox. Money found on people who
have been drowned is frequently re-