Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-12-29

covered-to the very serious money loss of that
frequently victimized old gentleman, Uncle
Sam.
1t would be more correct to describe the
crime in question as series of thefts, mas
much as they covered a considerable length of
time. In all probability they extended over
some years, and, though nobody will ever
know how much stolen the total amount
was doubtless very large. When the money
bug bit Ernestine Uncle Sam severely
stung Her profits for the last day on which
she did the trick were nine hundred and eighty
dollars-and it was only half day of work
at that.
Ernestine was employed in the redemption
division, where all the money that comes into
the treasury through the banks is sorted and
reckoned over, the worn pieces. being destroyed
and replaced with bills and coins. Many of the
greenbacks and banknotes arrive in frag
mentary condition. especially when accidents
of one sort and another have happened to the
paper cash, and, because she was an expert at
the business of restoring such damaged cur
rency, she devoted her attention exclusively
to that kind of work. So clever was she, in
deed, that she invented a method, previously
unheard of, whereby nine notes could be made
out of eight.
This was accomplished by process of artful
patchwork, the fragments composing eight
bills being put together in such way as to
leave enough over to make ninth. The ninth,
of course, was for Ernestine. Inasmuch as she
never bothered to apply the scheme in question
dollars, and restricted herself as far as possible
to those of fifty and hundred-dollar denonina-
tons, the profit was large. In fact, the woman
was rapidly accumulating a considerable
fortune when the accident befell which brought
her profitable little enterprise to an abrupt
conclusion.
The way it happened was that Ernestine
not feeling very well, took an afternoon off,
leaving the office at noon. Her packages OF
patched up money had all been done up neatly,
each bunch of bills fastened with paper strap.
But it CHANGED that one of them, after she had
gone, fell on the floor and was broken open.
Under the circumstances it became the duty
of one of her fellow workers to do up the
bundle again; and the person to whom the
task fell, being responsible for the contents,
naturally counted the sum, to make sure that
it tailed. 1t counted up all right; but the
keen professional eye of the expert at once
detected the fact that the numbers at the tops
and bottoms of the bills did not agree with
each other.
Even then no suspicion was entertained. 1t
was supposed that Mrs. Becker had made
some mistake in her patchwork. But it was
necessary to take the notes apart again, and
this was done by soaking them in water.
When the pieces were put together once more,
it was found that there were only eight bills for
every nine The fraud thus stood revealed.
Mrs. Becker, being arrested, declared that she
had simply put the pieces together as they
came to her. Nothing could be proved against
her, and she was never punished, though the
treasury obliged her to pay the nine hundred
and eighty dollars which her half-day's work
made obviously missing. But retribution
came when her fortune was subsequently
gobbled up by INSCRIPTIONS real estate
agent. and three years later she died of cancer
in New York hospital
Fake Bars for Genuine
THE Carson mint in 1890 was the scene of a
remarkable series of thefts, which, begun
at that time, extended over six years before
discovery brought them to a stop. In this case
the goldbug bit three men, one of whom was
John T. Jones, assistant meter and refner.
1t was he who hit upon the highly original
scheme of substituting chunks of baser metal
for gold bars-a plan which was made prac-
ticable by the help of James Heney, the silver
DISCOVER and another confederate The trio
managed to take seventy-five thousand dol
lars during the period covered by their
operations.
incidentally to the performance of his duty,
which consisted in melting and refining the
gold bars purchased by the mint, Jones abb
stracted small quantities of the yellow metal,
a few ounces at time, which could not be
missed Immediately. In the long run the
thefts could not fail to be discovered but,
to guard against this, the man would make
fake bars composed almost wholly of baser
stuff and mark it with false value, initiating
the assay stamp. When he had stolen, say,
two hundred ounces of gold he could easily
square his account with the Government by