Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-04-20
CORNERS IN COINS
Odd Schemes That Were Worked
by WHY Operators.


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 boom" town
Of a new state a bank that was a
branch of a larger ingtttuti0n eBe-
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 a gloomy one.
After reflection be hit upon a happy
exped1ent He sent out men commits
stoned to 60 to all the stores OF the
place TO get change for greenbacks and
banknotes. In a little while he had
all the coined money in the town. the
result being, Of course. that the good
people Of the coming metropolis were
flush Of greenbacks, but had no
change"
Some one suggested that Peterson's
bank might possess some Of the coined
pieces. and accordingly a rush was
made there, where every one was
obliged with oliver. The ruse OF the
willy Peterson had the desired effect,
as the next morning his bank was filed
with depositors.
Superstition has frequently been
the basis Of a corner In coins Of a par
ticular denomination. remarkable
case OF this kind occurred In southern
Russia in 1903. There appeared at
Berdiansk. on the sea of AZov. a per-
son proelatming himself prophet, and
as such he announced his intention Of
redeeming the world. Among the
queer doctrines advanced by this indi-
vidual was included the decree that all
his followers must retain all FIVE ko-
peck pieces issued IN the year 1891, the
year OF the emancipation Of the serfs.
They were by reason Of that event
held TO be holy.
II was not long before the ignorant
peasants in the vicinity became con-
WINGED that all pieces of that denomi-
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 II happened that over an
area OF 300 miles Russian peasants
were feverishly collecting the holy"
pieces and turning them over to the
prophet. When he had gathered a
goodly number Of the coins he de-
camped.
In a way the Russian government
may be said TO corner its own coins
OF one denomination. Each year 1t
mints limited number OF bronze
pieces OF the nominal value OF one
fourth Of a kopeck. about one-eighth
OF cent. As these coins are practi-
cally not in circulation. ouly a few
are Issued
1t IL really an easy matter in small
towns to corner a particular coin. At
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 halfpenny received.
The consequence was that IN a few
weeks there was hardly a halfpenny
in the town. Then the band reaped
a harvest OF coins OF higher value.
Cornering gold coins demands a
capital that few men possess. Some
years ago. however. at Dieppe there
occurred a sudden scarcity OF ten
franc and twenty franc pieces. due &c
the operations OF an eccentric British
er. who for some cryptic reason had
the day before changed several hun
dred banknotes Of high value into
gold Laden with the coins. he left
for Paris. and 4 week elapsed before
the town regalned its normal amount
OF gold.
An attempt 20 corner the Marls
Theresa dollars. used in parts OF north
ern Africa, collapsed by reason of
queer circumstance. An Abyssinian
Ras MakoppO. conceived the uniqu,
scheme OF collecting all specimens Of
these coins extant In his district. Al
they were old coins. he reasoned they
would rise IN value. When be haC
possessed himself OF about 5000 O.
them he found that the country wa.
Ms we'll supplied with them as before.
While he had been busy collectin,
the old coins modern Maria There's
dollars. made In Germany, were beln,
imported by the thousand The result
was that the coin fell IN value. an,
the too astute chief lost half hi
wealth.-New York Herald.
Islander.