Honesty rules! (The Goodness of America).

The May 31st edition of CBS' 48 Hours included a segment about an honesty test in Charleston, South Carolina. The prototype for the project was the earlier experience of Savannah, Georgia, resident Wanda Johnson, 35, a hospital housekeeper and single mother of five.

During a lunch break in early September of last year, Johnson, struggling financially, pawned her television set so she could pay a delinquent electric bill. As she drove away, she decided that she wanted a hot dog for lunch. Turning around to locate a vendor, she found herself behind an armored truck with a compartment door held shut by a faulty latch. The door popped open and a large plastic bag fell Onto the street. It held $120,000 in $5, $10, and $20 bills intended for an ATM machine at Savannah's SunTrust Bank.

As other motorists swerved to miss the stash, Johnson stopped, picked it up, and returned to work. Initially, she was tempted to keep it. After work, however, she counseled and prayed with her pastor and decided "my conscience just wouldn't let me do it." It was, she said, "really all about God, putting Him first." She called the police, who escorted another armored car to pick up the money.

SunTrust Bank gave Johnson a $5,000 reward, half in a check and the rest deposited to an account in her name to which others could also donate. "We wanted to reward and reinforce somebody standing up and doing the right thing," bank president William D. Haile told reporters. EM Security of Savannah, the armored car company, also gave Johnson a reward and made a donation to her church.

Johnson's story caused 48 Hours correspondent Steve Hartman to wonder how many others, similarly tempted, would opt for honesty. To find out, he had phony cash stuffed into a number of locking bags, each marked with instructions to call a phone number if it was found. He then rented an armored truck and had the bags "accidentally" dropped around Charleston.

One was found by Josephine Singleton, a retired housekeeper who proudly recalls how she earned the nickname "honest dependable Josephine" during her working years. She returned the bag without bothering to open it.

Two other women (identified as Anne and Marina) also found a bag. They called the number and arranged to return it without delay. Queried by Hartman, they said they did not even think about keeping it, adding: "What's to think about? It's not ours. It's not ours."

Ken Goodman also called the number and returned the "money," saying "if it was an employee and they lost their boss's money bag, you know, that could affect them the rest of their lives." When Adam Hansen found a bag, however, he did not call. Instead, he chased down the truck and returned it on the spot.

The biggest surprise, according to Hartman, was Frank Fields, who drives a church van. Fields, who also called the number and returned a bag, fin ally got caught doing the right thing. During most of his adult life, he had been in and out of prison, usually for armed robbery. But he told 48 Hours that he is now content "living with the Lord" and his $580 monthly disability check. Asked why he turned down the chance to have so much money, he replied that now he's "got more than that inside of me."

Of 11 bags dropped, nine were returned. As a May 31st CBS press release noted, "[Wanda] Johnson, who found that real bag of money, proved to be not the exception but the rule."