The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1907-07-12
IDENTIFYING
BURNED MONEY
WORK ON THAT FROM SAN FRAN
CISCO DISASTER JUST
CONFLICT D.

The last package of charred EN-
bers identified a. burnt money from
the San Francisco disaster has beer
examined and passed upon by the ex
perts of the redemption division o.
the United States treasury at Wash
ington and the most stupendous tasl
in all the history of that department
completed Mrs. A. E. Brown, burnt
money expert, has passed on each bill
submitted, and it has been given her
approval and redeemed, or has been
declared undeciphered and remained
as so much ash, valueless.
Crisp new bills to an amount esti-
mated as high as a half million. dol
lars have been issued from the treas
ury to replace the packages of ashes
sent to Washington by the bereft in
the stricken city, and hearts have
been made glad by the replacing in its
original value of that which had been
regarded as irretrievably lost.
Not the least of the spontaneous
charities that have been extended to
San Francisco is that given to her
when she called at the treasury in an
effort to get the value of her burnt
currency. Treasurer Charles H. Treat
issued an order when the money first
began arriving that in case of doubt
the examiners were not to adhere as
rigidly as is their wont to the letter
of accuracy, but that the sufferer was
to be given the benefit of the doubt
in the payment
In this way, if the remains of a
burnt roll of bills were sent in and it
was evident that in the unearthing
of the precious ashes an end of the
roll had been touched ever so lightly
and the ashes swept away, so that
barely the necessary three-fifths need
ed for the redemption were present, a
point was stretched in the reissue.
Much of the burnt money coming
from San Francisco was, however, as |
easily and positively identified as are
bills counted out of bank window.
The mass of the money presented had
been housed away in safety deposit
vaults and in private supposedly fire.
)roof safes. 1t had merely been
baked. The remains were a brown
n black charred mass, stiff outlining
he stacks of rolls of bills as they had
'een originally deposited. These
ould be peeled off bill at time and
is value easily established beyond
he shadow of a doubt. The remain
ng ash could be distinctly made out
n its every detail until it was pressed
r crushed and then it became but so
luch powder.
The largest consignments of bills /.
anne from the business and banking D.,
ouses, but these were the least trou .
lesome. Later came the smaller
from private individuals,
aged, torn, and unrecognizable,
old, silver, and currency were melted
Ito a mass that could not be made
1T, and to get at the value contained :,
as almost impossible.
The loss of the individual in SAM
rancisco was greatly lessened by the
ct that gold and silver are the peck
change on the pacific coast, and
csc are less destructible than Is cur
ncy. Had the fire occurred in an
stern city, where little other than
per money is carried, the personal !,
IS would have been greater. The :,
demption of coin is a matter han
I'd at the various minis, however,
d not in the reckoning Of the re- -
mption division of the treasury. =
For every bill redeemed and for the
raveling of every knot in the deci-
ering of the problem of identifying
: money, not only of this fire, but
every other package of damaged ~
ney received from any part of the
ion, one person is directly respon-
lie, and that person is comedy, "N
y-haired motherly woman of mid 90
age-Mrs. A. e. Brown, the most ",
He'd burnt money expert In the
rld.-New York Herald. va
OIL