Moda Taylor, a farmer from Adolphus, hurt his pocketbook in an unusual way in August 1956, according to a Daily News article.

He didn’t spend it all. The wallet mistakenly fell into a hay baler, shredding the bills within. Reports indicate that some of them were salvaged “with paste and patience,” and that the serial numbers survived.

The real windfall came on Aug. 27, though, when the Daily News reported that the Federal Reserve Bank would replace $394 of the damaged bills – about $4,500 in today’s currency.

An overjoyed Taylor was quoted: “From now on I will leave my pocketbook at home when baling hay.”

– “Way Back When in Warren County” is compiled by researchers at the Warren County Public Library and appears twice weekly in the Bowling Green Daily News. For more information about the library, visit warrenpl.org.