BECKNELL LEADS THE WAY

At first glance, the men who rode into Franklin, Missouri, appeared to be two dusty traders returning from an unsuccessful trip. But as they unloaded their bags, the story goes, one of the bags opened. Coins spilled onto the street. It was late January 1822. Franklin was a town with little hard currency of its own at the time. Whether or not coins literally spilled onto the street, the existence of coins was real. People wanted to know: Where had the traders been? What kind of coins were they? And were there