On the evening of Monday,
June 22, 1953, a delivery boy for the “Brooklyn Eagle” knocked on the
door of one of his customers in the apartment building at 3403 Foster
Avenue in Brooklyn. It was “collecting time” again. A lady answered the
door. She disappeared for a moment, then returned with a purse in her
hand.
“Sorry, Jimmy,” she said. “I don’t have any change. Can you break this dollar bill for me?”
The newsboy quickly counted the coins in his pocket. There were not enough. “I’ll ask the people across the hall,” he said.
There were two ladies in the
apartment across from the one occupied by Jimmy’s customer. By pooling
the coins in their pocketbooks, they were able to give the newsboy
change for a dollar.
After he collected for the
newspaper, Jimmy left the apartment house jingling several coins in his
left hand. One of the coins seemed to have a peculiar ring. The newsboy
rested this coin, a nickel, on the middle finger of his hand. It felt
lighter than an ordinary nickel.
He dropped this coin to the floor. It fell apart! Inside was a tiny photograph— apparently a picture of a series of numbers.