The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-11-22


 enough to cover the head of a pin. Thus the bulk of the amount was a total loss though four $50 notes were identified ana redeemed
 A wiser man lost his trousers in fire in Chicago. In the rear pocket was a wallet containing a large sum. The owner forwarded wallet and all to the treasury without disturbing the con- tents However, the latter, though re- duced to mere ashes, had retained the'r original shape, like the leaves of book that has been burned. Though the notes were black as a cinder the engraving, and even the numbering on them, could easily be made out They were redeemed, of course, at face value.
 When there is a railroad collision, fol- lowed by fire, the express car is not ln- frequently destroyed and with it the eX- press safe containing more or less money. Such safes are not fireproof. It is cus- tomary in case of the kind to forward them bodily to Washington, without opening them. Of all such instances on record the worst was one in which rev years ago a passenger train and freight train loaded with coal tried to pass each other on the same track in a tunnel in Kentucky. The experiment was not sue cessful and the wrecl1age, with the help or Ine Codl, Durned -oU H0uISf dui HIS which the tunnel was literal furnace. In the express car of the passenger train was a safe containing s1,6O0. of which amount S700 wes eventually redmeeed.
 The currency of the United States Is printed on a very superior and tough quality of linen paper. When burned, 1t does not look like ordinary burned paper but almost like burned linen cloth. It may be reduced almost to literal ashes, and yet, as above suggested, be not hopeless of Identification. All of this kind of work, relating to the Identification of burned money, is done at the treasury by Mrs. Amanda F. Brown, who is ex- traordnarily skilled at it. She will assem- ble the remaining scraps of burned note in such way, placing each one in It's proper position in relation to the others, as to suggest as nearly as possible res toraton of the orisinal-much, indeed, as a naturalist would build up an extinct animal from a few fossil remains. This is accomplished with the aid of a strong magnifying glass-the idea being merely to find enough fragments to prove the de- struction of the original.
 In another instance a colored man him self brought to the treasury from over the district line in Maryland some rotten fragments of bills which he said repre- scented $500. He explained that he had buried the money in the ground, in tin can, the reason being that his wife was extravagant and he was obliged to hide it. On going over the treasure the ex- perts identified over $700 This seemed rather odd but investigation by the secret service seemed to show that it was all right and the amount was duly paid.
 It is safe to say that very little money ia " a couple of years ago bolt of lightning entered the house of a farmer in Mary land, flashed through a cupboard and burned slice out of a $2 silver certifi- cate. The part burned was nearly two inches wide. lengthwise through the mid dle of the bill. Even the number and seal were legible, and a fresh certificate for s2 was promptly given to the loser.
 humorous incident had to do with a $20 bank note, which a man, accompanied by a tired-looling woman, brought to the treasury. The bill. for which redemption was asked, was so badly damaged that the official to whom it was shown said: Tt looks as If a railroad train had run over it." But the visitor replied: That's not 1t, mister Me and my wife have been seeing the sights of Washington and she has been wearing that bill in her shoe all this week.
 
 The business of "blowing" safes with nitro-glycerin seems to be fairly profit able. judging by the number of ''yegg men, and other minor criminals who are engaged in 1t. But it frequently happens that too much of the explosive is used, with the result that any paper currency that may be inside is blown to such lit tie bits as to be useless to the thieves. Later on, however, the victims of the rob- bers gather up the scraps and forward them to the treasury to be put together and redeemed if possible.
 But when 1t comes to the deliberate and rurposeful spelling of money no case in all the record of the treasury depart ment seems to be quite so remarkable as that of the $106O which, half a dozen years ago, was picked up, in the shape of small scraps. along the lake front of Chi cago by two negro laborers. The two men were walking along the shore near Twenty fourth street when they noticed some pieces of greenish paper blowing about Discovering that they were frag ments of paper currency they set about collecting them, and finally, within dis tance of a couple of blocks, got together enough to represent in respectable man. ner two notes for $500 each and three for $20 each. They took the scraps to the subtreasury, whence it was sent on to Washington. But it was held that the money was certainly not their property. and they never received a cent, although to this day nobody has claimed it. The Likelihood seems to be, indeed, that the actual ownership of the cash and the method of its destruction will always re- main an unsolved mystery.