Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1912-03-15
LA PLATA. MARYLAND. FRIDAY. lARoH Is 1912
CORNERS IN COINS
Odd Schemes That Were Worked
by Willy Operators.
CLEVER RUsE. or A NEW BANK
Il Won the Good viii Of the Town BY
"oblisins~ It's Citizens After Corner
ing All It's Metal Money-A Russian
"Prophet" Who Made Rich Haul.

ing All ks MGtai hioNeJ - Htaofa"
"Prophetr Who Made Rich Haul.
There nave oceurred from time to
time in various countries all manner
Of corners in coins. tnceabie to all
manner of queer origins
Some years ago IN Individual named
Peterson established 10 a boom town
Of new state bank that was a
branch OF larger institution else
where. AS. for special reasons the
people of the new town would have I
noihing to do with the new bank the
outlook for Peterson was a gloomy one
After reflection be hit upon happy
expedient. lie sent out men commits
stoned to 90 to all the stores Of the
place to get change for greenbacks and
bankuotes In a little while be had
all the coined money IN the town. the
result being. of course. that the good
people Of the ccming metropolis were
lush Of greenlmeks. but had no
"chanpp
Some one suggested that Peterson's
bank mieht possess some Of the coined
pieces and accordingly rush was
made there. where every one was
Obliged ith silver The ruse Of the
willy Peterson had the desired effect.
as the next morning his bank was iilled
with depositors.
Superstititiou has frequently been
~. l,...t.. - =. ...r,,cr l., ,.rt.,1 - ., r,.r
ticular denomination A remarkable
case Of this Kind occurred 10 southern
Russia In 1908 There appeared at
Berilansk. on the sea of Azov. per
son proclaimiHg himself a prophet. and
as such he announced his intention Of
redeeming the world Among the
queer doctrines advanced by this indi
vldunl was included the decree that al
his followers must retain all five ko
peck pieces issued in the year 1861. the
year of the emancipation Of the serfs
They were by reason Of that event
held to be holy
u was not long before the ignorant
peasants in the vicinity became con
vinced that all pieces Of TINT denomi
nation should be taken to the prophet
for preservation The heaven sent one
further announced that should the
fatherland pet 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 800 miles Russian peasants
were feveristly 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 way the Russian government
may be said 10 corner Its own coins
of one denomination. Each year 1t
mlnts limited humber OF bronze
pieces of the nominal value OF one
fourth of kopeck about one-eighth
of a cent. AS these coins are practi-
caily not In circulation. only a few
are issued
1t Is 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 few
weeks there was hardly a halfpenny
In the town. Then the band reaped
a harvest of coins Of higher value.
Cornerlng 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 to
the operations of an eccentric British
er. who for some cryptic reason had
the day before changed several han
dred banknotes of high value into
gold Laden with the coins. be left
for Paris. and week elapsed before
the town regained its normal amount
of gold.
An attempt to corner the Maria
Theresa dollars. nsed in parts of north
ern Africa. collapsed by reason Of
queer circumstance An Abyssinlan.
Ras Makoppo. conceived the unique
scheme of collecting all specimens Of
these coins extant In his district As
they were old coins. he reasoned they
would rise 10 value. When he had
possessed himself Of about 5000 Of
them he found that the country was
as well supplied with them as before.
While he had been busy collecting
the old coins modern Maria Theresa
dollars. made IN Germany, were being
imported hy the Thousand The result
was that the coin fell in value. and
the too astnte chief lost half his
wealth. - New York Herald.