Two brand new 2009 Lexus GS sedans with change to spare. Eight years tuition at MTSU’s current rate with room and board. In some parts of Murfreesboro, a 1,200-square-foot home.
No matter how you divide it, $97,000 can go a long way. That said, few have the luxury of deciding where that much money will end up at any one time. Billie Watts had that opportunity in early December, when the 75-year-old Murfreesboro resident said she found a purse abandoned in a restaurant bathroom.
Reports claim Watts stopped in the Church Street Cracker Barrel where she found a forgotten purse hanging on a coat hook in the bathroom. Failing to find the owner’s identification, she instead found a massive sum of money. In total, the bag contained $97,000 in $1,000 bills.
By her account, she took the money home rather than turn it in to the store, as she feared it wouldn’t make it back to the rightful owner. Watts then called the store and asked them to pass her phone number on to anyone who called looking for “something.”
Soon after, an elderly woman the Daily News Journal identified as “Judith” called Watts, described the bag, its contents and a particular photo in the purse. They met, and though Watts was offered a $1,000 reward, she accepted only a hug and a thank you. Watts said the woman claimed the money came from selling her home and that she was moving to Florida to start over.
The usual attention followed, beginning locally with papers and news channels clamoring for access. From there, it was pulled in to the national news circuits like CNN?the perfect oddity story with a Good Samaritan twist. It gained the most traction on the Internet, where blogs allowed their audience to comment and tear her story apart. Invariably, people latched on to the detail about the $1,000 bills as proof that something was very wrong with her claims.
The problem is as follows: the Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve ceased printing $1,000 bills in 1945 and stoped issuing them to banks in 1969, according to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Though the bills are still considered legal tender and can be found, they are considered rare collector’s items.
“The bills are scarce. Finding 97 in one location is very unusual, but not impossible,” Nashville Coin and Currency owner Mike Mouret said.
Because the bills are considered rare, they are actually worth more to collectors than their face value.
“Condition of the bills is important, but their value could range from $1,200 to $3,000,” Mouret said. If all the bills Watts claimed to have found were in mint condition, the contents of that bag could be worth up to $291,000.
The origin of the money also raises questions. As $1,000 bills are no longer printed or issued, banks would not have them on hand for use in withdrawals. Though no bank managers would speak on record about official practices, one did say that banks generally don’t keep more cash on hand than is necessary for average, daily transactions. Cashing a $97,000 home sale check would require prior notice so the bank could procure the necessary cash. Because they are no longer issued, the bank would not receive the $1,000 bills for “Judith’s” withdrawal.
“I’ve been in banking for 15 years and I’ve never seen one,” Rutherford Boulevard Fifth Third Bank personal banker Kelly Jones said.
The only way for the home-sale story to be true would be if the buyer paid cash. This is rare, but possible and legal.
Atop the swirl of criticism and accusations, there are the people who see Watts as nothing more than a “glory seeker” or someone attempting to use the publicity to her own gain. Some question why she went public with it in the first place.
“I jumped the gun,” Billie Watts’ grandson Michael Peralta said. He insists she had no intention of taking her story to the media and did so only with his urging.
“I was so proud. If anyone deserved that money, she did. I mean she really needed it, but she knew it wasn’t hers,” he said, adding at this point he just wants the story “to go away.”
They’ve received many calls offering donations, but Watts said she never wanted anything in return. However, the attention hasn’t always been kind to her and her family. They’ve also had to deal with the negative reactions to the story.
“It’s been real hectic?everyone calling, trying to ask her questions, asking if there’s a way to donate to her. Then there were some bad blogs that have said things about her. She didn’t do this to gain anything, but there are still people saying this and that. It’s been hard on her,” Peralta said.
Watts and her husband have grown sick and “overwhelmed by the publicity,” and have moved in with Peralta. He now handles any calls and interview requests to help shield them from the attention. Still, his grandmother has heard many of the allegations.
“There’s the issue about the $1,000 bills. Look, this woman was older than my grandmother, and we only know what she told us about the money. For all we know, she could have lived through the Great Depression stashing those bills under her mattress. What motive would she have to lie about this?” Peralta asked.
In the end, no one is really satisfied. Some readers feel they’ve been lied to, that Watts’ claims are too shaky to be real. Peralta feels his grandmother has been the victim of her own good deeds and his eagerness to share them. Without “Judith,” it becomes impossible to confirm the story and trace the source of the money.
Regardless, the story makes every reader reflect. If you walked into that stall and found a stack of money staring back at you, what would you have done?
