Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 November 1902 — JUDGE STORY’S MONEY. [ARTICLE]

JUDGE STORY’S MONEY.

Not Good a Few Miles from Home, Though He Made It Himself.

In 1826 Josiah Quincy, then a young man but recently graduated from Harvard, was invited by Judge Story, a member of the Supreme bench, to ao company him to Washington. Judge Story was one of the great talkers at a period when conversation was considered a sort of second profession. In “Figures of the Past” Mr. Quincy gives an incident of the Journey from Boston to Washington, which was made by stage coach.

The first night of our journey was spent at Ashford, In Connecticut, where we arrived late in the evening; and here the bother of wildcat currency, as it was afterward called, was forced upon our attention. The bills of local banks would not circulate beyond the town in which they were issued, and when Judge Story, who had neglected to provide himself with United States notes, offered the landlord a Salem bill in payment for his supper, the man stared at it as if It had been the wampum of the Indians or the shell money of the South Sea Islanders. “This is not good,” said the host, “and I think you must know it.” “I know it is good,’ retorted the judge, testily. “And I’ll tell you how I know it. I made it myself!’ ’ This reply, of which the landlord could make nothing, unless it were the confession of 8 forger, did not mend matters; and it was fortunate that I had provided myself with some national notes, which ended the difficulty. The explanation was that Judge Story, as president of a Salem bank, had signed the bill.