The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1905-05-13
ROMAHCEs OF BANK NOTES.

NdId Dali Oh paper.
| Ii was fve-dollar note which had
been given by prominent artist tc
his sister for payment of bill.
The young woman had placed il
inthe pocket of her dress and prompt
| yforgot it till the same dress made
its return from the laundry.
Washing, starching and ironing
had not improved the bank notes ap-
pearance, but when the ball of paper
was carefully unrolled there was sufi-
cient to see that it had been a bank
note, aud the bank paid the money
without hesitation, says PsayS0n's S
Weekly.
More than once the Bank of Eng
land has paid twice for one bank note.
On one occasion they lost in this way
| $79, 900.
II happened that one of the direc-
tors, desirous Of purchasing an estate,
drew from the bank asingle note for
the amount mentioned. This, on re-
turninghome, he placed on the man
telpiece, when, Immediately on doing
so, he was called from the room.
A few moments later he came into
the room again, but alas [! the note
had myseriously disappeared. To
the directors mind there seemed lit
tie doubt that the valuable piece of
paper had fallen into the fire. Rob-
berry was out of the question, for no
one had entered the room.
His colleagues at the bank, believ-
ing this story, gave him second
note on the understanding that the
first, if found, should be returned.
Thirty years afterward, when the
director had been dead a considerable
time, stranger presented the miss
ing note.
Being payable to bearer, the bank
could not avoid their obligation, and
they had to be the losers of the sum.
1t was learned afterward that bull
der had bought the bankers house,
and in the course of the demolition
had discovered the note hidden in a
crevice of the chimney.
How a bank note once saved a
mans life is most romantic story.
In the ordinary course of business
many years ago Bank of England
note-now in possession of a famous
collector paid into Liverpool
merchants Office.
On coming into the hands of the
cashier he found, while examing it
to discover its genuineness, that there
were faint traces of red writing upon
it. The note had been in circulation
for years, and it was only by the dint
of extraordinary pains that the partly
obliterated characters were finally
disciphered.
This was the message it bore: "If
this note should fall into the hands
of John Dean of Longhill, near Car
Isle, he will learn thereby that his
brother is languishing prisoner in
Algiers."
Mr.. Dean was communicated with,
and he appealed to the government
to endeavor to obtain his brothers.
release from captivity.
Interesting themselves warmly in
the matter, the Prime Minister and
the joint Foreign Secretaries after
the most arduous and determined in
quiries, learned that the unhappy
prisoner, who had traced the above
sentence with splinter dipped in
his own blood, had been slave to
the Dey of Algiers for about eleven
years.
Eventually, the government sue
ceeded in ransoming Mr.. Dean from
the Dey, but the poor fellow had en-
dured so much privation and hard
ship while working in the galleys
that he lived but short while after
his freedom.
An elderly couple living in Paris
have recently met with sad misfor-
tune. Inside a dilapidated old hat
box, which the most experienced
burglar might have ignored, they had
placed their entire fortune-a sheaf
of banknotes, amounting to over
$1,000.
Periodically either the husband or
wife opened the box and counted the
notes to see that their wealth was
still intact.
Imagine their surprise when, on
going to it the other day, not single
note was to be found-only a little
heap of dust.
Rats had entered the box and de-
voured every scrap of the precious
paper.
More fortunate was an old Belgian
peasant woman, although at first she
was thrown into just as hopeless des-
pair. She had laid on the grass
jacket containing bank notes worth
S4S altogether, and then set about
her work in the fields, accompanied
by a pet goat.
! To her horror she suddenly caught
sight of the goat munching something
that looked like her precious fortune.
Examination proved her surmise to
be true. The goat had been brows-
ing on her bank notes.
That same evening the pet was
killed and the chewed paper removed
from its stomach. 1t looked a sorry
mess, but the old woman lost no time
in submitting it to the National Bank
at Belgium, which, after verifying
the facts and proving by chemical
analysis that the paper had been notes
issued by them, paid the woman the
$4S.
II WANT half a pound of water
crackers" said Mrs. Newcome.
"I'm all fred sorry, ma'am," re-
A.. acknowledgements 6haTf