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Old December 15th 08, 02:35 PM posted to rec.collecting.paper-money
Paul
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Default Woman returns $100,000 found at Cracker Barrel

To have that many $1000 bill today is rare. Good luck to them both.

Arizona Coin Collector wrote:
FROM:
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articl...ed1209-ON.html

Woman returns $100,000 found at Cracker Barrel

Dec. 9, 2008 01:04 PM
(Murfreesboro, Tenn.) Daily News Journal

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - A Murfreesboro, Tenn., woman
chose not to follow the old saying "Finders keepers,
losers weepers" when she discovered nearly $100,000
in a bag at a local Cracker Barrel restaurant. But
it wasn't that the thought didn't cross her mind.

"Satan will tempt you," said Billie Watts, 75. "I
have been having real bad teeth problems. I thought,
'I'll get my teeth fixed.' "

She ultimately decided to return the money she
found in a bag in the women's restroom to its
rightful owner.

Watts had to be coaxed by Michael Peralta, one of
her 12 grandchildren, to tell her story.

"I'm proud of her because if anyone in the world
deserved to find $97,000 it was them," Peralta, 31,
said of his grandparents, who live in an apartment
and depend on their Social Security checks.

The excitement began when Watts stopped by the
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store with her husband,
Malcolm, Thursday afternoon. In the bathroom, she
found a tapestry bag hanging on a hook on one of
the stall doors.

"It had a Manila envelope that was sticking out of
the bag," she said. "It couldn't zip up; it was
too full."

She searched the bag for the identity of its owner.
Inside the envelope was a picture of two women and
a child, but no names. Then she spotted the money.

"I said 'Oh my goodness,' " Watts recalled Monday.
"I have never seen that much money in my whole life.
I counted the money. There was $97,000 in $1,000
bills. They were neatly stacked inside the bag. "

Watts decided to leave the restaurant with the money.

"I was afraid to go to the counter," she said.
"Maybe the wrong person could get ahold of it."

After the couple returned home, Watts called the
Cracker Barrel restaurant.

"I told them I found something in the bathroom. I
just left my number and asked them to call me."

In 10 to 15 minutes, a woman called.

"I knew it was the right person when she called.
She identified the picture, the envelope and the
money," said Watts. "I met her in front of the
Cracker Barrel about 15 to 20 minutes after she
called me."

In the restaurant's parking lot, the woman who
left the money got out of her car and approached
Watts.

"She run up and hugged me. She got excited and
didn't even look at the bag except to pull out
the picture to show it to me," said Watts. "She
said it was the only picture she had of her
daughter and her daughter's child, who are both
deceased."

The money, the woman told Watts, was the proceeds
from the sale of her home and all the belongings
in it.

"She was going to start her new life in Florida
with her son," said Watts.

The woman offered to pay Watts $1,000, but Watts
refused it.

"(The woman) told me she needed every penny she
could to start over," said Watts. "(The money)
wasn't mine. I had no right to it. My mom and dad
told me never to take anything that didn't
belong to me."


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