The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1912-01-27

basement.
The locker was too small for Mrs.
Leonard's big hat. nesldes, the treas
ury people we're taking up carpets,
laying bare floors, which clattered
as they were walked on. disturbing
her and her co-workers in the deli
cate operation Of looking ont for
counterfelts.
During the forty.seven years in the
treasury Mrs. Leonard banded Sl,50Q'
100000, with a loss Of but $40.
Mrs. Leonard was born July IS.
1910. In Pennsylvania. She attended
private schools until she Was four.
teen. In 1865 she graduated from al
academy near Philadelphia. She
taught school until 1860, when she
married. Iu 1861 her husband en-
listed and wen to the front. She
never saw him again. She doesn"
know lust where's he was buried. hui
1t was on one Of the battleaelds Of
Tennessee.
In 1854 Gen. Francis 2. Spinner
then United States treasurer, offered
her employment in the redemption d.
vision Of the treasury at 5000. a
year. she accepted. and in July, 1864
her official career began.
Getting to know q bank note
said Mrs. Leonard. is like getting to
know a rcrscn. II you see person
several times day and every day
for years you will know the color O.
her eyes and hair, whether her teeth
are even, and whether she uses rouge
know what each kind Of bill issuef
by the government should look like
Many people do not know that every
One.dollar certificate issued is exactly
like another. the, features Of the por
traits. the numbers, .tbetletteFs and
the lathe engraved border every
thing on them. The same is true Of
the 9&o:dollaf and fve.d6lIar silvet
certificates II the prlut@ gets toe
much Ink on. bis plate and the bill
shows up dark Or shitdyed 1t Is can,
celled. I never had to take q second
look alta billto tell whetherfit waI
good or bad. ~
"The first counterfeit l. discovered
was a $500 bill, a counterfeit, Of the
issue Of 1859. 1t wss almost perfect
having but two what might be called
great Intersections II was in Z
batch OF bills which had comealnafro1t
New York for redemption, 3EnGtla
batch was a bundle Of $500 bllls.t,,h
had got half through the bundle whcr
! noticed that ore o. the buttons or
the coat Of the bust portrait on one
Of them was not rerfectly round. .
caught it at a glance. I took a see
ond look and found that there was
blurred toe on the Goddess OF IIber
tvs foot. extracted the bill from
the bundle and when had finished
with the counting again took np the
imperfect bill. ! found Il was printed
on genuine fiber paDc::. Nowhere elsf
could | discover a hlemish. The bill
was sent up to the treasurer and a fur.
Their examination w9S made. Later,
when the counterfeiters were run
dcwp, II was found that all the coun,
lcrreit bills of denominations Of $500
had been made. Of one, dollar bills
washed and bleached. | discovered q
counterfeit bill OF $1,000 denomination
much in the came way. 1t wasI a
counterfeit OF the issue OF 1850,
1.-The general run Of counterfeiters
fall down on the portraits. This Is
true particularly of the 81. So, IS, $40
and $40 bills. There never were two
artists who could get the same ex.
preston on subjects face. and there
never was an engraver who could
make an exact duplicate Of his OWN
work.
"One OF The simplest methods I
used in detecting counterfeit bills
was to watch the serial number OF the
bill and the check letter in running
a bundle over. This is something the
laiety ought to know. 1t will aid
them In detecting counterfeit money.
The last two. figures OF n serial nun.
Der always determine the check let.
ter which Is In turn found In several
places on a bill You take the last
two figures and divide them by four
and Ire remainder, one. two or three,
indicates the check letter. A. r or
c. IT, there is no remainder. the
check letter will be D. The numbers
are SO made up that they always will
divide this way. Thus. II the serial
number IS 47S6SS9i, you divide 81, the
last two figures, by four and You will
get 90 and 8 over and the check let,
ter will be G. Four Is used as a
diyiser because all bills are printed
in sheets OF four"
"A number Of times | have pro.
nouneed certain bills counterfeit"
Mrs. Leonard said. "and the senders
disagreed with my decision. The
bills we're taken through the redemp.
ton division, the cash room and the
secret service division. where, with
few exceptions, they were pronounced
genuine. ] was not influenced, how.
over, and held to my FIST statement,
and after the bills had made the
rnunds several times they were finally