The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1905-11-16

a bet that thirty. single shiliings could
not be got in all the shops on certain
day. For days in advance be changed
innumerable soYereigns and bank notes
thus cornering practically all the sill
yer. He won his bet, his opponent,
who was, of course, in ignorance of
the trick, being able to scrape together
only eleven shillings.
Cornering coins with criminal intent
led to a Bayonne Frenchman named
Bornier getting five months imprison-
ment in August last. -Bornier cornered
several thousand 1888 sou pieces, and
sold them at fifty confines 40 cents)
each to simple minded peasants, by
declaring that the French Government
was going to make each sou bearing
that date token money for one franc.
He sWind1ed. over. 200 persons before
being appreIended. -
The ordinary type Of. the 1887 six
pence. though worth nothing more than
its nominal value, has been almost
completely cornered by a number Of in
diViduals who believe that it will rise
in prise as a memento of Queen Vic
toria's jubilee. Of the tens of thou
sands issued from the mint few speci-
mems are now in circulation.
Cornering gold coins demands a
capital which few men possess At
Dieppe, however, some years ago, there
was q sudden scarcity of ten franc and
twenty franc pieces, which was traced
to an American visitor named Bragg,
who, for some cryptic reason, had the
day before changed several hundred
bank notes of high value into gold.
Laden with the coins he left for Paris,
and it was not for week that the nor
NAL amount of gold returned to the
town.
Superstition has led many ignorant
individuals to collect large numbers Of
coins of a particular denomination. A
remarkable case occurred in South
Russia two years ago. A "prohet'' ap-
peared at Berdinansk, on the Sea of
Azoy, and proclaimed that he had come
to save the world. Meeting with a bad
reception from the townspeople, he
tramped inland and gained many peas
ant adherents. AMONG other queer doc
trines, he preached that all five copeck
pieces issued in 1881, the year of the
emancipation OF the serfs,. were holy"
They We're to be brough to him for
preservation in an .oaken chest. When
Russia got into difficulty all these
coins would turn to gold and save the
Empire.
Over an area of 800 square miles the
peasants feverishly set about collect
ing the holy money. When the prophet
had collected about $40 worth he de-
camped, after changing them at To-
cal bank for gold.
An attempt to corner the Maria
Theresa dollars, which are used as cur
rency in many parts of northern Africa
collapsed owing to a queer cause An
Abyssinian, as Makoppo, conceived the
ingenious ieda Of collecting all speci-
mems of these coins extant m his dis
trict. AS they were old coins, he rea-
soned they would rise in value. Alter
he had possessed himself Of about g.,
900 he found that the country was
well supplied with them as ever. While
he had been busy collecting them
modern Maria Theresa dollars made in
Germany were being imported by the
thousand. The result was that the
coin fell In value, and the too astute
chief lost half his wealth.
The ussian Government corners its
own coins. Every year 1t rhints a IL
nnited number of bronze coins of the
nominal value of one-quarter copeck,
in English vadue one-sixteenth Of a
penny. AS these coins are practically
not in circulation only a few are is
sued. The remainder are sold by the
mint authorities at about double their
value for use as card counters.
Birmingham boasts the only man
who corners bad coins. This gentleman
has unique collection of false money.
Some years ago he issued a notice to
various tradespeople that he would
give one-quarter of the nominal value
for certain specimens of counterfeit
coins which might have been passed
upon them. He now possesses several
thousand some so like good money that
the fraud is not perceptible, some so
clumsily made that it is hard to I'M
derstand how any tradesman could
have been taken init Bits.