The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1906-08-23
CAN you FIND THE eALANcEf
1t Is a Pretty Little Problem Over
Which Experts Disagree.

1t Is a Pretty Little Problem Oven
Which Experts Disagree.
One of my customers Is man who
has lucid intervals most of the time,
but has occasional paroxysms of insan-
ity, says a writer in the Business Mans
Magazine.
One afternoon about two weeks age
he came into my Office after everybody
else had gone home. had just finished
writing up my cash book and had ruled
it off and brought down the balance
on the debit side.
He said he wanted to pay something
on account, but that it must be entered
humor him Gas l needed the money!
agreed to scratch out my figures and
lines and to enter his payment that
day.
He started by asking me what bal
ance l had on hand, and, rather than
have row with an insane man, / read
the figures to him. He wrote them on
scrap of paper and divided the amount
by three.
He then said that he could divide
any number by three that had certain
peculiarities; and he said that If any
number that was exactly divisible by
three should be subtracted from the
quotient he had obtained by divid
ing my cash balance by three the re
mainder would also be exactly divisible
by three.
For instance, $50 was exactly di.
visible by three. So, having divided
my balance by three, he subtracted
$50 from the quotient; and he showed
me that the remainder could be di-
vided by three.
He then remarked that be was go
ing to pay me a whole lot more than
that, and so he multiplied the remain.
der above mentioned by itself and gave
me his check for an amount equal to
pocket a check that he had received
for $406.26 and indorsed that over tc
me.
now noticed that my new balance
after entering these receipts, would b<
exactly ten times my original balance
started In to make my entries, ani
had proceeded only so far as to gel
the old balance and the lines erased
from my cash book, when something
happened. 1 found out afterward thai
the lunatic had been taken with a vi
olent frenzy and had suddenly STRUCK
me terrific blow on the side of IN,
head.
When recovered consciousness tht
man had disappeared. He had taker
the checks he had given me, as well al
every cent from the cash drawer
Even worse than that, he had torn
up my cash book and thrown it into th'
open CRATE, where nothing remained O
II but bunch of ashes and few
charred cinders Absolutely the onl,
fragment that remained Of it was tn
credit side of that last days work
which lay on the floor near the fire
place.
figures brought forward had beef
burned of. and as ] had scratched on
the balance Tin red) and the sum Oh
black, had no record Of what m,
balance was, and could not and can
not remember it.
But l recollect his peculiar way: III
divided my old balance by three, an
from the quotient so obtained he. sui
tracted $50. The remainder he ma
tiplied by itself and he then gave N
a check equal to the product, b
sides a check for S406.26, and l nj
ticed that after should make thes
entries, my new cash balance would b
just ten times my old balance.
l have had two expert accountant
figure at this thing, but their calculs
tons of my original balance do nc
agree There is nearly $50 differenc
between them.