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Show ANCIENT MEXICAN CHURCH Here First Clearing-House Certificate Were Issued and First Counterfeiting Counter-feiting Wa9 Done. City of Mexico. The ancient Church of Landin, one mile west of Saltillo, Mexico, is fast crumbling to ruins. It has a history that is in some respects-the respects-the most remarkable of any church edifice on the continent. It was erected in 1532 by a devout priest of the Roman Catholic church, who was sent among the Indians of Spain'3 new possessions to convert, them to the religion which had been brought across the sea by Cortez and his followers. fol-lowers. The priest soon surrounded I I fO p 'Jj Ruins of Church of Landin in Mexico, the church with a colony of Spaniards and Indians. They went through a period of great privation on account of crop failures and the losses of their live stock by an epidemic of disease. dis-ease. A store of food supplies was sent to their relief from the City of Mexico, and the priest received permission per-mission direct from the king of Spain to establish a crude mint for coining copper money for the relief of the financial condition of the colony. These coins were cut in triangular shape and were issued to the Indians and members of the colony with the promise that they would be redeemed, coin for coin, by the government when the settlement became prosperous. These copper pieces were perhaps the first clearing-house certificates ever issued. The Indians, however, brought the" financial relief scheme to a sudden end by counterfeiting great numbers of the copper pieces, which they pre- -. -j sented for redemption. The priest became alarmed at the unlawful inflation in-flation of his circulating medium and fled from the country to avoid possible possi-ble punishment at the hands of the government. In after years the parish of this ancient an-cient church established a copper smelter and engaged in mining and smelting copper ore on a large scale. The slag pile of this ancient smelter was found not far from the church a. few years ago and the smelter at Saltillo bought and treated the slag" at a good profit. An American contractor who built a railroad near the church made the owner of the property an offer of $1,000 for the ' corner-stone in the building. It is said to contain ancient relics of almost priceless value. The offer was refused. At present the Interior In-terior of this church is used as a, corral for goats. |