The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1926-09-02
old VIRCINIAN
BONDS TURN up
Long Thought Worthless
But Recently Presented
and Paid.

Virginia treasure chest of S5O0,OOO
dwindled recently when II. B. Churm-
side, court clerk of Charlotte county,
/ Va, presented for payment at the
Office Of Roosevelt, Page, second au-
ditor Of Virginia, certificates known
as Virginia deferred certificates" or
"West Virginia certificates" amounting
. In present value in principal and in
! terest to $4,000.
Mr.. Churmside represents the Brit
: ish heirs Of Charles and Alfred Nor
rison. His own aunt, Mabel Churm-
side, married Alfred Morrison. Among
those who will share in the money are
the children Of Alfred Morrison. One
OF these Is Hugh Morrison, member
Of parliament, and another is Maj
Archibald Morrison. There are two
Observation-Disclosures st. Cyres and
Lady Stephen eating.
p. Under the arrangement made in the
Virginia-West Virginia debt settle
:ment, ordered by the Supreme court
Of the United States, Mr.. Page, as au-
ditor. forwarded the certificates to
West Virginia for payment by that
state.
. =. Search Started by News Report.
A newspaper reporter digging into
the archives Of the commonwealth Of
Virginia few months ago discovered
> that more than half million dollars
Of the West Virginia certificates had
not been presented for redemption. He
found that among those not presented
were certificates having face value
, Of $4,000 listed In the names Of
Charles and Alfred Morrison of Lon
don. He wrote story which began,
"Who can explain the mystery Of the
missing Morrison certifcates?" Mr..
Churmside, In his home in Charlotte
county, Va, read the story and at once
communicated with his relatives In
England
West Virginia authorities have ruled
that no matter how complete may be
q title to a certificate the certificate
itself must be presented before pay
ment viii be made. Therefore the
Morrison heirs conducted systematic
search. Old trunks were ransacked
and yellowed documents scanned. FL
nally the certificates were found In the
safety box Of one Of the solicitors
for the Morrison estate. The papers
had been considered Of little or no
value, for England had heard that the
southern states had repudiated their
old public debt.
Charles Morrison lived In London,
an unknown millionaire. When he died
on Maya, 1909. even London gasped
when It found that his estate was
appraissd lat $4,000, 900, Of which
s55, 900 600 was in personal property
alons. He had large realty holdings
In London, sBerks, Island Of Islay and
IN Middlesex county. His brother,
Alfred, died in 1897. Charles never
married.
Once Sold at one-Tsnth Value.
In 1871 Virginia, broken and poor
because Of the Civil war, began to try
to solve the problem Of paying of
nearly $4,000, 900 In bonds that had
been issued before the war. The com
monwealth took the position that West
Virginia, which as part Of Virginia at
the time had benefited from these
bonds should pay one-third Of this
Indebtedness. Virginia Issued refund
ing bonds for two-thirds Of the amount
due and certificates for West Vir'
ginia's part West Virginia declined
to acknowledge these certificates and
they were considered Of such little
value that they sold for ten cents or
| the dollar.
Finally, to protect her credit, VII
ginia, for the benefit OF holders OF the
certificates, sued West Virginia, and
| IN 1918 won the suit In the Supreme
| court Of the United States. Pursuant
to the decree Of the tribunal. West
Virginia agreed to pay these cartih
Gates. More than 100000 OF then
are still outstanding. and many Q:
these may ret be found. Nearly ell o.
those which have not been presented
for payment are listed In the names
| Of people who resided In the Unitet