The Corvallis times. (Corvallis, Or.) 1888-1909, 1904-06-25
MUTILATED MONEY.
How the Government Restores In
jured Bills and Coin.



cess-Curious Cases.
There are several experts employed
by the government to inspect the cur
reney offered for redemption. In fact.
every person employed in the bureau is
in some degree an expert, because one
of them has to pass on the genuineness
of the money presented for redemp-
ton. and this is a difficult task. Re-
member, that this money comes to the
treasury, as rule, only when it is so
badly worn that it will not pass cur.
rent. This dirty, torn, greasy, ragged
money the experts'have to handle and
decide whether it was issued by the
government and should be redeemed at
its face value or whether il is the work
Of counterfeiters and should be re-
iected. 1t is not at all to the discredit
If the experts of the bureau that some
bogus money has got past them and
oeen detected in one of the offices to
which the pieces of the money go for
'urther examination. This does not
occur. often.
The peculiar province of one woman
not to detect bad dmoney-though she
an expert at that-but to put to-
yether torn pieces of money sent for
Identification and redemption These
pieces OF money come from all parts
II the country and arrive under most
extraordinary conditions. This is not
surprising, in view of the fact that
they come from experiences with fire
and water and gastric juices and many
other powerful agents. A not infre-
quent accident to money is to be left in
stove, whence it is taken in badly
charred condition, with only ashes to
represent the greater part of it. Often
it is used by rats to make their nests;
or, buried in the dampness of cellar,
it rots away; OF, swall lowed by COW, it
is rescued from her stomach slimy
mass of paper. sF zez,s
Here are the rules of the treasury for
the redemption Of mutilated money:
For a piece of currency greater than
two-ffths of the original note. one
half the face value Of the note is given.
For piece as great as three-fifths, the
whole value of the note is given. For
| piece two-ffths in size of the original
nothing is given. But this last provi-
sion is limited by the law, which gives
discretion to the treasury department
to give full value for a note if the own
er can prove to the satisfaction of the
authorities that the note, or the miss
ing part of it was destroyed. This last
provision. opens the door to possible
fraud and many are the efforts made
| by dishonest persons to take advantage
of it.
The fragments of money which come
| to the treasury are turned over to one
| of the experts and sorted out under
| the microscope for Identification.
They are picked apart and each tiny
| piece is assigned to its place like part
| of d puzzle. This is usually done on
glass, and the fragments are eventual
! ly put between pieces of glass to hold
| them together while they are measured
to see whether there are two-ffths or
three fifths of the note identifable. or
whether it is so little that the owner
| can recover nothing. Sometimes it is a
| very serious matter to the owner; but
the roor are not the only applicants for
| ASST :ance to recover damaged money
| At the time W. K. Nanderbilt's beauti-
full ONE at Newport was burned, Mrs.
Var. erbilt-now Mrs. Belmont-sent
in ai.out 81 600 in mutilated currency.
| out ;.f which it was able to identify for
| redemption all but fraction of the
SUM-.
| Some of the experiences of the re-
| der.r.ion division with would-be
thieves are interesting. One man in
Kanyas sent to the treasury the halves
of snme small bills with the edges nice
| ly charred, accompanied by an affidavit
from the sender that he had put The
money in his pocket. hung his Goa on {
fence and that the coat had beer
burned to the destruction of part O
the notes. It happened that the treas
ury had redeemed the other halves Of
these notes just 2Ia years before for ;
!. money broker in New York, and, think
ing the case suspicious. had keptan eyt
out for the possibility of ATTEMPTED
fraud. The Kansas man was person
of good business standing, and hi
bankers Threatened the treasury eff
cials with dismissal if they questioned
his affidavit. They put the case in th
hands of the depart tment of justice ant
eventually the man pleaded guilty ant
was fined 81 900.
: A bank in Alabama received from
depositor a fragment of ten-dolla
bill, and the treasury people paid fiv
dollars for it. Later came a claim &C
companied by the other part of the bill
little charred, with an affidavit sayin!
the sender had burned the remainde
of the note by mistake.
A Chicago man sent in fragments O
two $40 bills and one ten-dollar bill
with an affidavit telling how the othe
: halves had been destroyed; and in til
same mail the other halves of thes
+ notes came in from Chicago bank. .
special agent caught the maker of tn
affidavit, who proved to be the tool O
some swindlers, and he was sent t
prison for a year and a half.-Wast
ington Star.
Cre.mator;es for Diseased Animals
: Crematories for the destruction @
: animals which have died from infee
tions and contagious diseases hay
been erected in several parts of S
/