The Lindners across the street were a tad different. They used to go to the Indy 500 and build viewing stands on the infield. Then one race they fell down and a bunch of people got hurt so they went into something else.
All winter long the kids would spend an hour or so in the evenings splitting $1 bills down the center between the two faces. The neighborhood kids (raises hand) got to help.
The adults would spend time splitting $20 bills the same way.
Come spring they'd use a little starch or something and iron on a $1 back to a $20 front until all the piles of $1s and $20s were gone. Then time to hit the carnivals and shows throughout the Midwest.
As far as I can tell Treasury dept has made the bill splitting deal obsolete.
Another great story! Are you like me, in that you had to forcibly prevent yourself, resist the temptation, to romanticize them? Even most of the cops I talked with said they had that dilemma — they really got to like these CROOKS who would RUIN the lives of elderly. It took a special kind of cop to really stick to nailing Travelers, and they all seemed to have a soft spot for Travelers, even though they lived to put them in jail.