The Savannah morning news., 1901-05-29
MUTILATED MONEY SAVED.
Skillfu1 Work Accomplished by Wo-
men in the Treasury Department.


men in the Treasury Department..
From the Chicago Inter-Ocean.
The receipt recently of the fragments
of six IS bills which had passed through
the stomach of an Iowa goat and were
offered at the Treasury Department for
redemption has revived interest in that
division of the department which con-
Germs itself with the redemption of mu-
tlated money. The bills were the property
OF CHARLES J. Allen, farmer living near
Ogden, Iowa. The affidavit which ac-
| companied the mass of bills passed into
the stomach of the goat.
1t appears that Mr.. Allen became warm
while doing some manual labor and re-
! moved his coat and vest and placed them
on a fence. The articles of wearing an
| parel fell from their resting place to the
| ground and an inquisitive goat happened
along and nosed the six So bills out of
the pocket. No one saw him eat the
! bills, but when Mr.. Allen replaced his
coat ana vest he found they had disap-
| peared. companion wagered that the
goat had eaten the bills and it was
agreed that If Mr.. Allen did not find
them in the goats stomach after it was
Killed the price of the goat would be
forthcoming. The goat was killed and the
bllls were found in a little lump in the
stomach. When received at the Urea
sury Department the mass had hardened
into little dark brown lump that re-
sembled anything but money. The ex-
perts TOOK the mass in hand and soaked
the whole until the minute particles
separated Then skillfuI fingers accus-
toned to the work separated each piece
and in two hours the entire six S. bills
had been placed together and were ready
to be sent upstairs to the United States
Treasury for redemption
Mr.. Allies, Assistant Secretary of the
Treasury, says that the occurrence was
anything but a novel one for the govern
ment. The task of the department ex-
perts in this case in separating the bills
was a comparatively easy one and not to
be compared with others which the de-
parment has had to handle. But a few
weeks ago a case parallel in nearly every
particular with that of the Iowa case
was presented to the department.
Rich Meal of the Goat.
A Michigan tax collector, who had little
faith in banks, stored something like
$500 in a tin can for safe keeping over
night and placed the can under his house.
1t appears that the house was elevated
so that the family goat was able to
walk under it. The next morning. 1ust
as the tax collector started to crawl
uHhti the 1OuSt ana DTlIk out the money
owed to the county he saw his goat
emerging from under it, slowly chewing
on the remnant of a new $50 bill. The
excited collector caught the goat and
forced the portion of the bill from his
mouth. This was the largest piece found
The collector was a poor man, and was
faced with the necessity of making good
the amount of funds due his county
He killed the goat secured the contents
-.
davit as to the circumstances, sent the
matter to Washington, and within ten
days haRbright, new crisp bills for the
entire amount.
The regulations of the department re-
quire that at least three-ffths of bill
shall be recovered before the government
will pay for the mutilated bill Each
mutilated bill is carefully pasted on a
backing OF paper the size of a complete
bill. The expert has a piece of glass of
the exact size of the bill. This glass
is divided into forty squares. II IS placed
over the bill. and II the expect can find
that the remnants Of the bill I'LL twenty
four of the squares. or three-nfths Of
all of them. the bill will be redeemed.
A case within the last three weeks
came from a farmer OF st. Clair county,
Missouri. who while STOPPING over TO
feed his hogs dropped his purse inside
the pens An UohI lhAtfs hhfh ne HAlhHta
his purse, he found the leather receptacle
inside the pen. but nothing OF It's con-
tents There was a slaughtering. which
It had been his intention not 10 have
until several days later. What reseanbled
the remains OF the money was found and
sent 20 Washington. Three hundred
dollars was returned TO the Missouri
farmer.
1t Is now the custom OF the depart
ment TO return mutilated money found
by any person to the finder II It Is rea-
sonably certain the case Is bona fide
find This was not the case formerly.
The negroes who found $500 in bills
torn into small bits on the lake front IN
Chicago six years ago turned Il into
the Sub-Treasury at Chicago for redeTp-
ton, confeHslng that they had found the
amount. II was forwarded to Washington.
but the ruling OF the department was
that II could only be redeemed when one
established possession.
Ownership OF Found Money
The finders got nothing. More recently
two negroes found several hundred doll