James Birdseye McPherson (a Civil War general), Michael Hillegas (first U.S. Treasurer), William Windom (onetime Treasury Secretary) and Chief One-Papa (a Sioux) share a common distinction. They were all once pictured on U.S. currency that has since gone out of circulation. Now they will be joined in the banknote bonevard by four less obscure historical figures: Presidents William McKinley, James Madison and Grover Cleveland, and Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase. The Treasury is stopping production of $500 (McKinley), $1,000 (Cleveland), $5,000 (Madison) and $10,000 (Chase) bills; demand for the big notes, first authorized primarily for dealings between banks in 1918, has dropped to a trickle because of checks and computers. For the vast majority who have never folded Justice Chase's (1808-73) piercing stare into their billfolds, little matter. But well-heeled collectors will note that there are only 383 of the $10,000 bills still in circulation.

David Harris mended a fence while they waited; his wife Joan Baez strolled about visibly pregnant, and other members of the commune pranced around in the nude spraying one another with a garden hose. Finally, a motorcycle roared up to the house in Los Altos, Calif., and the rider yelled, "They're two minutes behind me." Two minutes later, "they"--a pair of federal marshals--arrived to escort Harris to prison where he will serve a three-year sentence on his 1968 conviction for refusing induction into the Army. The former president of Stanford's student body went quietly with a "Catch you later" to friends and a kiss from Joan. A reporter asked her how it would feel to have the baby--her first--with David in jail. "I'm having it by natural childbirth," replied Joan, "so I hope it feels good."

Confident that it would not detract from her wonderwoman image, Raquel Welch prepared for her most ambitious role--as Myra Breckinridge, the man who changed his sex to turn temptress, in 20th Century-Fox's version of Gore Vidal's novel. At the announcement press conference, Producer Robert Fryer (The Boston Strangler, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie) said that to the best of his knowledge only Miss Welch and eight transvestites had tested for the role. "It's a great step forward in my career," said Raquel. "But what will Laugh-In say?" Nothing uncomplimentary--not after the latest publicity shot of Raquel released by the studio.

Breezing into Washington to visit her sister, Luci Johnson Nugent told reporters that she is now a budding author. She is working on an article about her father and Yuki, the white mongrel who had the run of the White House while L.B.J. was President. "It's just a story about a man and his dog," said Luci, and then she dropped another bit of news: she and Pat are expecting their second child in late December.

The lady was vacationing at Cap-Martin on the Riviera and doing her usual best to frustrate a curious world. Early each morning before Greta Garbo, 63, came down for a swim, a maid would appear to case the beach for prowling photographers. If the place was deserted, the maid would deliver an "all-clear" signal and Garbo would appear in a white terry-cloth wrap and plunge in for a brief, ever-watchful dip. Security broke only long enough for some quick shots by a long-lens camera that recorded the famous face, still beautiful despite advancing age.

Even the readers of the New York Times may have forgotten, but some time ago, an editorial-page column dismissed Rocket Pioneer Robert H. Goddard as one who "seems to lack the knowledge ladled out daily in high schools." What bothered the Times was Goddard's idea that rockets could fly through a vacuum. After Apollo 11 's launch last week, the Times recanted. Under the heading A CORRECTION, the paper declared: "Further investigation and experimentation have confirmed the findings of Isaac Newton in the 17th century, and it is now definitely established that a rocket can function in a vacuum as well as in an atmosphere. The Times regrets the error." Date of the offending editorial: Jan. 13, 1920.

The Ellsworth (Maine) American is owned by former U.N. Ambassador and Washington Post Editor James R. Wiggins, and it served him as a modest vehicle for a birthday tribute to an old friend, neighbor and fellow journalist. A 58-line poem in the American carried Wiggins' byline and the following dedication: "To E. B. ('Andy') White of North Brooklin, on His Seventieth Birthday, July 11, 1969." The couplets fondly recall such White pieces as One Man's Meat and Second Tree from the Corner, then conclude with these lines:

There are few things that can be told

A man who's seventy years old;

But, nonetheless, we think it fittin'

To thank him for the stuff he's written,

And on his birthday, simply note it,

And tell him that we're glad he wrote it.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.