Millionaire for a Week

As a sideline to his carpentering and cranberry farming, Finnish Fanner Andrew Paananen took to sanding cranberry bogs in Carver, Mass. For this crop-improving work he got two $15 checks from the Department of Agriculture. Last week, when he opened his third Government pay check, all Andrew Paananen could say was "Look." The check was for $1,000,015.25.

Honest Finn Paananen knew there must be some mistake. But for nearly a week he kept the check in his pants pocket, felt by turns rueful and frolicsome. He drove to the Plymouth National Bank, casually asked the teller to cash a check, watched his face when he shoved it through the window. Then he complained to the vice president, had fun watching his face too. Finally Andrew Paananen mailed the check back to the Treasury. "I think the $15.25 part of it is right," said he.

In Washington, the error was traced to 1) a Burroughs machine operator, 2) a substitute clerk who saw the error, thought it was so big it must be right. Said the Disbursement Division: "It was so fantastic it slipped through."

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