VALUABLE CINDERS.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 1989, 20 May 1875, Page 3

VALUABLE CINDERS.

A Washington correspondent of the New York Evening Post thus describes the process of sorting the fragments of burned notes forwarded to the Treasury for redemption:-—" Up in one of the sunny, well-lighted rooms of the Treasury Department four ladies from the Treasurer's office are at work on these charred treasures, and their process is one of the most interesting features of the service. Each little shrivelled piece is detached with a thin knife and laid on rough blotting paper. : There the ladies examine it with magnifying glasses, and after deciphering . as • much as possible, they paste it, face up, on a strip of thin paper, and so, bit by bit, a whole note is pieced out. It is such trying exercise for the eyes that tho c engaged in it can work only three hcurs at a time and on bright ;days^ The trust reposed in them is grpSLt, for the money is delivered directly to Ithem, and remittances made on their rejports without further questioning. After fthe/terribie lire of October, 1871, Chicago Isent 203 cases of burnt'money, aggregating, at owners'valuation, ]64,997d01. 98c. iltcame in. sheets, in bundles, in tiny packages, rumpled and crushed, as careless hands had pushed them into sideip&ckets- and purses. Each little parcel was'sw.athed in cotton as carefully as it 'were the most precious jewellery, and as ■the black, brittle packages were; unrolled ;it seenied really impossible that any sthing could be made of such cinders. KYet out. of':. that ' 16<1,997d01. . .98c. [126,541d01. 33c. was redeemed and.returned to the owners of banks. Boston I profited by Chicago'? experience, and ;packed her burnt money,so carefully that nearly all of it was redeemed! Eighty-three cases, containing 88,512d01. 90c. came from Boston; and 88,290dol: 80c. were returned to her besides a number of policies, notes, bills, and other valuable papers. The most skilful person on this committee is a lady who has had much experience in such work. Once she deciphered 185,0U0d01. out of 200,000 dol. that had been in the hold of a burnt ship, for three years, and Adams Express Company, which was responsible for the amount gave her 5006" 61. in acknowledgment of liev services. Another time'she and her associates worked faithfully and long over some bonds a crazy cashier saw fit to throw into the fire. The bank asked for only 100,000dol, but the ladies picked out, 145,000d01., whereupon the directors, with reckless extravagance, presented the committed with 20dol. about four dollars a piece."