Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-03-23

a
are put under this knife and messenger,
by electric power. sends the blade through
them, dividing each into two packages
one OF these contains the upper halves OF
the notes; the other, the lower halves
One goes to the registers Office and one
TO the Office OF the treasurer. In each OF
these offices clerks check up the contents
OF the packages. IL the contents do not
agree with the label the other package OF
halves is looked up for comparison II a
counterfeit Is found, il is traced 70 the
clerk who accepted a. and he has 10 ,,axa
II good.
Reduced to Pulp.
When the money has been checked up in
the offices of the treasurer and the regis
ter of the treasury, il is taken TO the
macerator In charge OF a committee This
committee Is composed of one clerk from
the Secretary's office. one clerk from the
tfeasurers office, one clerk from the regis
ter's office and one outsider The frs,
three have keys. Each KEY flts a d,nsre
ent lock on the macerator This macera
tor Is steel cylinder. in which a set OF
steer knives Is made to revolye. The three
clerks open the macerator the packages
of mutilated money are placed within. the
cylinder Is closed and the machine started.
The steam softens the paper the knives
cut 1t up fine. Presently It Is only a gray
pulp.
This pulp sells for 81 a hundredweisht
ana Is turned into images OF George Wash
ington. the Washington monument. etc.
Ior sale by dealers in souvenirs. Each OF
these crude images is labeled as represent
ing 800 OF paper currency" or some other
large sum, which IL wholly a matter OF
guess work
Worn and Mutflated.
One result Of the governments failure 70
encourage the redemption OF currency Is
that currency comes to the treasury In ex-
traordinary condition and a corps OF ex-
perts is required to identity It, Currency
is handled until It Is falling to pieces.
sometimes 1t is buried and It rots until il
Is hardly recognizable. Frequently Il meets
with an accident. and as burning or mas
tlcatfon by cows, or nibblina by mice
Money comes to the treasury in the form
OF pulp. taken from the stomachs OF cows
or dogsi 1t Ia offered in birds' nests or
rats nests; 1t appears ashes The prin-
clpal expert engaged In the Identification
OF this mutiated money is Mrs. Brown. All
the other experts are women, and theY
work with surprising results sorting out
the bits of paper and identifying them
The Identification Of this mutilated money
is not very nice job. Sometimes 1t is not
a very clean Job. The number OF stories
told In connection with these mutilated
notes Is countless One OF the most fire.
quent Is the story OF the mice who had
made nest of currency put away for safe
keeping. A frequent story is that of money
put In stove during summer and forgot
ten when the fire was lighted In the be-
ginning OF winter Railroad accidents are
the redemption division. The worst of
these on record was a collision In which
SlO,OOO were burned and only 81 OF this
could be Identified from the ashes One Of
the applicants for relief under the stove
division was New York laundryman
named Quong Sing. He had S428 IN his
stove pipe. but fortunately the fire which
his assistant built did not damage any OF
this money beyond redemption. There are
about hundred OF these stove cases every
year.
Attempts at SwindIinx.
The redemption division is subject to
frequent attacks by swindlers, but Mr.
Relyea, the chief. knows most OF the
tricks they practice. The most remarkable
attempt to swindle within his experience
was that of a man who sent In three ep-
parently half-burned notes from a place in
Kansas He made affidavit, telling with
great circumstance how he had hung his
waistcoat on fence while burning brush
In a field. how the fence caught fire end
the money was partly consumed. He was
a director OF the bank through which he
sent these notes to the treasury for re-
demption. When the treasury refused to
pay them and accused him of fraud he was
very indignant and threatened suit. The
matter was put in the hands of the dis
trict attorney. and the man in time pleaded
guilty to fraud. 1t happened that in the
files of the treasury were the other halves
Of the three bills which the Kansas farmer
had sent in. They had come in from a New
1oIh Will d plauSiDle story ana naQ
been redeemed. but there seemed a
slight irregularity about them. they were
not sent to the macerator. but were put In
the files OF the treasury. Il is probable
the other halves of the notes were sent TO
the farmer in the course OF a green goods
game. and he could not resist the tenpta-
tion to try to work them of on the gov
eminent.
Another That Failed.
Another attempt to swindle was made by
a boy working In a New York bank He
collected great many scraps OF money
about the bank and sent them In with the
statement that they were the remains OF
$500 worth OF notes chewed by rats. The
experts quickly determined that they were
the odds and ends of probably one hundred
different notes. and OF course nothing was
done in the matter. The boy might have
been prosecuted, but that did not seem
worth while.
Another remarkable story told in the re-
demption division is that of the finding OF
two $500 notes on the lake front of Chi
cago. They were in small scraps. The two
colored laborers who found them took them
to the treasury. but were told they would
not be redeemed unless proof of ownership
was furnished. SO they made nothing BIZ
their find