The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-06-21
THEIR TRAGEDY
AND THEIR COMEDY---THE AV-
 BRACE LIFE

Be Dead.
 ! If 1t were possible to know the whole
 life drama of many a Bank of England Inote from the moment it leaves Thread
 needle street in all it's virgin freshness
 and crispness to the day when, crum-
 pied and soiled, it returns to the fold
 and is packed away in the catacombs to await destruction, what a story of odd ventures and experiences would be re- vealed!
 The average life of a G5 note, it is true, is only a matter of weeks but
 there are notes which have wandered for years over the face of the earth, like
 a paper Ulysses, and ther is even pre-
 served in the library of the "Old Lady of Threadneedle Street" a G25 note
 which was no less than Ill years out of
 ser sight and keeping.
 Some of these vagrant notes have played striking parts in the comedy and
 tragedy of human life, as may well be l imagined. One of them, which is among | the banks treasures. has very roman tic history. It is indorsed thus: If this note gets into the hands of John Dear, of Longhill, near Carlisle, his brother ! Andrew is prisoner in Algiers.' This note, with it's tragic message, was &C., 1 tually brought to the notice of John ] Dear who thus learned that brother | he had long mourned as dead was still alive; but whether it led to the cap ] tiVes release history does not tell us. Many years ago G1,000 Bank of England note played a tragic part in the life of q bank clerk, who was ac- cused of stealing it, Although no trace could be found of the missing note, the clerk was arrested on strong suspicion, he warmly maintaining his innocence. Before the day of trial came he was seized with a serious illness, which ter minated fatally. A post mortem exam ination was necessary, and, on remov- ing the clerks false teeth, the missing note was found concealed between the plate and the palate, where 1t had prob- ably been in hiding for some months.
 It Is a relief to turn from this story to the comedy of bank note adventure told by a well known artist The artist had given a 95 banknote to his sister to pay a housekeeping bill, and the lady had placed the note in her dress pocket and apparently forgotten all about 1t. It was some days later, when the dress came home from the laundry, that the recollection of the note came to her, and on searching the pockets she discovered q piece of hardened pulp which had survived the process of washing, man. gling and Ironing. Fortunately, she was able to restore the note sufficiently to recover it's value from the Bank of England.
 Similarly, notes which have lain for years at the bottom of the sea, which have been reduced to ashes in the great fire of Chicago, or have been buried in the earth until it was almost impossi- ble to decipher them, have been pre- senteG to the bank and have been promptly paid.
 A remarkable story was told some years ago in the columns of the Times of a e5 note which, after travelling. an estimated distance of 10000 miles, had returned to the hands of the original owner, after nearly 20 years of wander | ing In the meantime, as proved by the inducements, it had been to New York, Tokio, Hongkong, Melbourne, Cape | Town, Canada and San Francisco l probably the most extensive journey | ever performed by a. piece of paper.
 The late Sir Francis Lycett, a city | merchant, used to tell an interesting | story of a note which was identified | with the opening and the closing of his | successful career. It was the first note | that he had ever possessed, and repre- scented the earliest small savings of his boyhod in London when a sovereign was more to him than, in his more pros porous days, thousand pounds. He | had not had the note many days when, with characteristic generosity, he gave it to poor widow who was in financial difficulties and had been kind to him, Forty years later this very note came into his hands again, bearing the in- dorsed signature, "F Lycett,' he had written on it in the year 1880,
 It is striking illustration of the Cu- riously different hands through which a note may pass that not long ago the treasurer of a charitable society in Lon don received by way of subscription G5 Bank of England note which bore the signature of Peace, the famous bur- elar and murderer, and when Vain nal, was brought to justice. he had in his possession a G5 note indorsed with the signature of the "good' Earl of Shaftesbury. Bits.