Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 May 1896 — She Made Nine Notes Out of Eight [ARTICLE]

She Made Nine Notes Out of Eight

The story of the rise and fall of Ernestine Becker has never ben truthfully told In print, says a Washington correspondent of the Philadelphia Times. She was the ingenions woman who, being employed in the redemption division, devised a method of making nine notes out of eight. Of eourse the paper money that comes into the Treasury for redemption is in all stages of dilapidation. Some of it can only be Identified by pasting scraps together. Ernestine would tear a strip from one note and paste it upon an other, so artfully manipulating the sections thus obtained that the original material of eight notes served to compose nine, leaving ane bill for herself. This was very profitable, inasmuch as she was able to deal with fifties and hundreds; she never bothered with notes of less than twenty dollars. There is no telling how long she prosecuted this business. She did it with the utmost boldness, and there is every reason to believe she carried it on for a number of years. Her profits may be faintly surmised from the fact that, on the last day of her employment she earned S9BO in this way. This was in the autumn of 1888. On that day she was so unlucky as to be absent from the office for a while, and a package of money which she had made up was torn by accident. It was handed over to another clerk to be repaired, and the latter employee counted it again, according to the established usage. The first thing that excited her attention was that the numbers on the tops and bottoms did not match. Nevertheless, she suspected nothing. It was evident that the notes had been patched wrongly. Accordingly, she soaked them in water and put them together properly. As a result, she had a less number of notes and a less amount by S9BO than had been indicated. Tihs discovery resulted in an investigation. Ernestine claimed that the money had reached the Treasury and had been handed to her in the shape in which it was found. Proof to the contrary could hardly be obtained, and no prosecution was attempted. The woman made good the S9BO. A Washington real estate agent, who died the other day, swallowed the fortune which was thus criminally acquired. The woman died not long ago of cancer in a New York hospitaL