The Ronan pioneer. [volume] (Ronan, Mont.) 1910-1970, 1912-06-21

"Prophet" Who Made Rich Haul.
There have occurred from time to
time in various countries all manner
of CORNERS" in coins. traceable to all
manner of queer origins.
Some Years ago an individual named
Peterson established in a boom" town
of a new state Il bank that was Il
branch OF Il larger institution else
where. As. for special reasons, the
people OF the new town would have
nothing TO do with the new bank the
outlook for Peterson WAS Il gloomy one.
After reflection he hit upon Il happy
expedirnt He sent out men commits
stoned to 20 to all the stores of the
place to get change for greenbacks and
all the coined money in the town. the
result being. OF course. that the good
people OF the coming metropolis We're
flush OF greenba,ks. but had no
"clunge
Some one SUGGESTED that PeterSon'S
pieces. and accordingly Il rush was
made there. where every one WAS
obliged with silver The ruse of the
willy Peterson had the desired effect.
as the next morning his bank was filled
with depositnrs.
Superstition has frequently been
the basis of II corner in coins of Il par
ticu!ar denomination. A remarkable
case of this kind occurred in suut hern
Russia in 1903 There appeared at
ReldianSk. on the sea- OF Azov, Il per
son rroclaiming himself a prophet. and
as such lie announced his intention of
redeenng the world. Among the
queer doctrines advanced by this ind-
vidual was included the decree that all
his followers must retain all five ko-
peck pieces issued in the year 1861. the
year of the emancipation of the Scrfs
They were by reason of that event
held to be holy
1t was not long before the ignorant
peasants In the vicinity became con
WINGED that all pieces Of that dpnomi-
nation should be taken to the prophet
for preservation. The heaven sent one
further announced that should the
fatherland get into difficulty every one
of the coins in question would turn to
gold" and thus save the empire.
And so it happened that over an
area of 900 miles Russian peasants
were feverishly collecting the holy
pieces and turning them over to the
prophet. When he had gathered
goodly number of the coins he de-
camped.
In way the Russian government
may he said to corner its own coins
Of one denomination. Each year it
minis limited number of bronze
pieces of the nominal valne of one
fourth of kopeck. about one-eighth
of a cent. AS these coins are practi
cally not in circulation. only few
are issued.
1t Is really an easy matter in small
towns to corner Il particular coin. At
a Welsh holiday resort members of
the local band became SO indignant at
the large proportion of halfpennies in
their "Silver collections" that they
locked up every haifmnny received
The consequence WAS that in few
weeks there WAS hardly halfpcnny
in the town. Then the band reapcd
a harvest Of coins of higher value
Cornering gold coins demands
capital that few men possess Some
years ago. however. at Dieppp there
rfAf q owS,t<
franc and twenty franc pieces due to
the operations of an eccentric British
er. who for some cryptic reason had
the day before changed several hun
dred bankn0tes OF high value into
gold Laden with the coins. he icf;
for Paris. and week elapsed before
the town regailed it's normal amount
of gold.
An attempt to corner the Maria
Theresa dollars. nscd IN rarts OF north
ern Africa. collapsed by reason "f y
queer circumstance. An Abyssinian
Ras MakopIm. conceived the unique
scheme OF collecting all specimens 0,
these coins eXtant in his district. As
they were old coins. he reasoned the,
would rise In value. When he had
possessed himself Of about 1900 OF
them he found that the country was
a. we'll supplied with them as before.
While be had been busy collecting
the old coins modern Marin Thfresa
dollars. made In Germany. were l~inp
Imported by the thousand The result
was that the coin fell in value. and
the too astute chief lost half his |
wealth. New York HcrmId.
Two Causes. One Effect.
One morning at breakfast Joey an
bounced that he tad the misfortune to
Pal! out o: he'd the night before
That was because yo,, slept too near
where you got in said Ethel. who
likes to reason about things that hap
pen to Joey.
"I'Ooh. that wasn't it, he refOrfpd