QUEER BANKS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7014, 1 February 1901, Page 3

QUEER BANKS.

i During the financial panic in the United States, in 1895, a man in Dorchester. Counfcv- buried all his money, some £150, in a . bank on his farm. ; But he omitted to mark the spot as carefully as he ought to have done, and the consequence was that for four . or five years he was totally unable to locate > However, he stumbled across his treasure 1 afc last, the dollar bills being all mildewed md soft, and in very bad condition, as was |jJ B B^l*AlH^^' lb !? x " itt -' w^ l-^---haid been buried. - " • „ He took box and contents to the.Treasiny Department at Washington and explained the circumstances, • whereupon the resurrected notes were exchanged for new ones. Their owner made up his mind not to have recourse lo suoh a novel kind of bank again, no matter how much money lie might have to deposit. • • Two or three years ago, a French mediial maa toot it into his 'head that hjs garden would make a better bank than the ordinary financial establishment. He therefore fepld out all his securities, and buried the (proceeds, nearly £3000, in the garden. £ Unfortunately, he allowed the wherelabouts of -his- fortune to become known to k domestic, who was dishonest enough to fcneaTth £900 of it, which she surreptitiously forwarded to a relative in the French capital. > [' -About a week afterwards she proceeded |fco Paris . t XO CLAIM HER ILIi-GOTTEN GAINS, »• ibut met with a refusal to, hand the money over. This so exasperated her that *she ;aused her relative to be placed under arrest. . Fhen : the latter disclosed the manner in •which she had come by the money, and the aishonest domestic shared the same fate as laer equally dishonest kinsman. I ' The other day a Parisian artisan returned home from a half-holiday outing drenchted to the skin by the rain, and he at once set to work to make a fire to dry himself it. The family stove had not been lit dur-. ing the summer ' months, and immediately she heard the crackling of the fire, themian's srife became greatly excited, and frantically pndeavoured to rake the burning coals out of the stove. i Before 'her husband could interfere she martially succeeded, and then came tumfc *ng tout a charred packet of bank-notes, amount!uig to £10 or £15. This consisted of the fife's savings since the stove was last lit. r Fortunately, the numbers of the . notes could still be seen, and the charred remains jwere taken up very carefully and placed jonder wine glasses. There they were (examined by experts of the ißank of Trance, jwno afterwards informed the thrifty house- • jwife' that ike money would be paid/ ' Hardly less curious was the kind of bank [favoured 'by a' Russian usurer' and miser, fie died last year, leaving to his only {daughter, who got her living as a maid-of-Wl^work, a large fortune, which he had ' EXTOBTED FROM THOUSANDS 07 j. . HAPLESS VICTIMS. • Trusting no man, tis bank waa a hole 'bekaath the floor of his house, which he [made- himself 'in order that .nobody else ' {might 'be aware of its existence. Here, (after his death, several hundred thousand pounds in bank-notes and gold were found [concealed, other sums of money being found Jan holes in iihe walls and other curious (places. . . i i An old woman who Hived all alone in a ♦dilapidated house in a remote district of kSqmoestershire, and who was believed by the. inhabitants to be very rich, used the in- . JlfcerioX oi a hollow tree lit her garden as her |baak. When? she visited t^ie . tree, as .she Wußb.fhave done f nequenily, it is impossible to for nobody seems to'iaye';seen iiec. near it, aft/hough.. she could Jiof 'have got to! the Ihollow without a ladder placed against' - fch« iree. In course .of time the old lady fell seriously 21, and just "before she died a nephewHud his wife, wathout being summoned, put in an appearance at her cottage. They were not in time to be able^to do anything for her, but, wonderful to relate, the old dame seemed quite pleased to see them. The exciteißent occasioned by their visit, however, (hastened her end, and as she passed' away- she just audibly whispered : "The old hollow tree." • Next day the nephew explored the interior of the tree and found there three tin boxes filled with scrip, \ndea and cold. In all, the contents amountled to over £9000, which the nephew appropriated aah^-atJaw^v^^