[Transcriber's note: This short story was part of the source book. Its author is unknown.]
MRS. STONE'S MONEY-ORDER.
One day a well dressed lady, purporting to be Mrs. Richard Stone, called at the money-order division of the New York office and asked for the money on an order for £10, which had been issued in Lowestoft, England, payable to the order of Richard Stone. The order presented on this occasion had apparently been properly endorsed by Richard Stone, who had made it payable to his wife.
The only precaution necessary on the part of the examiners and paying clerks was, therefore, simply to satisfy themselves that the lady was Mrs. Richard Stone, the rightful payee. There being no person present to identify her she exhibited several letters addressed to herself and her husband, and the identical letter from Lowestoft, which contained the money-order.
She told them where her husband was employed, and gave the name and number of the street of their residence. It seemed clear enough, and the money was paid.
Just such transactions as this occur a hundred times a day, and it cannot be expected that the clerks can remember very much about any particular transaction many hours after it occurs. Three weeks later, when another lady called, also purporting to be Mrs. Richard Stone, to make inquiries about a money order for £10 sent to her husband from Lowestoft, England, there was not very much to say except that the order had been paid.
This lady also produced a letter from her husband's sister in Lowestoft, saying that on a certain day she sent a money-order for the amount named; that she had just received his last letter, and there being nothing said about having received the order, she wrote to ascertain if the order had not been received.
Mrs. Stone, the second, stated that this was the first that her husband, or herself, had known of the existence of such an order, and she had called to see what could be done about it. If it had been paid, surely somebody must be responsible for the wrong payment.