Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1867-04-26
The Sub-Treasury.
ArgOsies Of G0ld-Ninety Tons Of Coin in
Safe,

|
burglar-proof manner in which they have
been constructed eXcites the admiration of
all behoders. There are two of these
immense vaults, one at each corner of the
Pine street end of the rotunda. The
rooms are, perhaps, twenty feet long BY
fifteen feet wide, and ten or twelve feet
high. They contain no window there is
| but one door opening into each and gas
lights are kept burning inside.
The internal appearance Of these vaults
has striking resemblance to fashiona-
bic tomb in Greenwood Cemetery, rows of
eases being arranged around the sides
of the room, each about two feet square,
with iron doors attached. There is enc
door for each case, and when the apart
or bundles of greenbacks. the doors are
closed. Each case will contain half a
million of dollars, put up in bags of five
thousand dollars each. When a case is
thus filled. the door is closed, and seal
Is affixed i'll the presence of the Naval Oil
Ger and the Surveyor of the Port. 1t
! takes one hundred bags to hold half a mil
lion of dollars. In the first vault entered.
there were scventy-twO compartments ar
ranged round the room, which formed
tier somewhat higher than mans head.
Running over the top of these was "a
balcony with an iron railing in front there
was piled up in this balcony, in one head,
,iy millions of dollars in five and ten dol
iar bills one half million of dollars in in
ternal revenue stamps, fifty thousand dol
lars IN tractionl currency, put up i'll large
paper boxes, and five and one half millions
III United States bonds.
The floor Of the vault rests on thirty
feet of solid masonry, from the ground up
On the top of this granite there are two
feet of wrought iron, and between the iron
| plates space filled up with bullets. II
n rogue Should succeed i'll boring through
the granite and iron. the moment his drill
touched bullet, that would commence to
rcvolve, and by this time he had penctra-
ted it, another ball would drop in its
place in this way he would soon find that
he had an endless job before him, and TIE
attempt to get into the vault would have
| 10 be abandoned.
The sides and top of the room are com
posed of eight feet of granite and two OF
iron, arranged i'll the same manner as for
the floor. This safe, as it is called was
invented by Mr.. Isaiah Rogers. Mr. Rog
ers once remarked that if the people at
the Treasury building should happen to
Get locked out of the safe it would take a
month to break into it. a night watch is
! kept to look after these strong boxes, but
they are considered perfectly safe without
him. There are four doors to be opened,
one after the other, before we can enter
the safe. Each one of these doors weighs
two tons, and contains locks of different
~ l,rn,. al ,l,ot nf
ter the doors are closed, four large iron
bolts are thrown across the door way, rest
iug in sockets, which have been made in
/ pillar of wrought iron. If a thief
shouid succeed III cutting the hinges of one
Of these doors, usually considered to be
the most vulnerable point, the door would
not drop down from its place, and nothing
would be gained. Like the dcacon's eel
ebratcd one horse shay. these doors are
made as strong i'll one part as in another,
and the hinges show no signs of weakness,
1t will take fearful earthquake to shake
them down.
No good idea can he given to the reader
of the locks and their operation, but a few
general remarks may be of interest. The
first door has one OF Dphh's Eureka locks;
there is no key hole for this. and TIL. out
side combination wheel is divided into the
ctters of the alphabet, the nine units. and
fractions Of figures. The combinations
which may be made by this arrangement
are endless, and no one can open the lock,
showing back the bolts, unless he knows
the words, figures and fractions which Lave
been used in locking the door
Even if Il person was so fortunate as to
get from Mr. Birdsall the combination, he
must have an extensive acquaintance with
the lock to know how to manipulate it cor
rectlv. The second door contains an Is
nam lock, which is altogether different
trom Dobh's lock. The third door has l..
Gales Monitor lock, and the fourth door
contains Gales double Treas frv locks.
From one of these doors, after it has been
fastened, portion OF the lock il taken off,
and put nnder lock and key in some secret
place. Without this it would be useless to
attempt to get into the safe.
The second vault is much larger than
the first one described, but just as difficult
t. get into. There are one hundred and
twenty cases in this room where gold can
be sealed up. At the time we looked into
the vault there were ninty tons, or forty
five millions of dollars in gold slowed in
the room, and twenty millions i'll paper.
The greenbacks, as they are paid into the
Treasury, are put up III packages OF one
thousand bills each. all Of the same de-
nomination. Apackage Of one dollar bills
contains one thousand dollars of five dol
lar bills, five thousand dollars OF five hum
lred dollar bills, five hundred thousand dol
lars.
In one small box we were shown six small
packages. each of which contained one
million of dollars Money is handled in
the Treasury building in a wholesale man
ner, packing trunks standing about full of
it, large willow baskets on wheels being
used to caary it in, &c. The sight OF 1t
becomes so common that the clerks employ
ed regard it with the utmost indifference,
handling it as they would 50 much brown
paper.
The vcstbule of the second vault, is
called the book vault, and contains the can
celled obligation OF the United States. a
ton or two of pay masters checks. All
these books an checks are carefully pre-
seryed.--N. Y. Ga>ette.
COOKING Trout IN CAMP.-Stcll your
knife i'll the back of his neck, and slash
the glls the first thing. (Always bleed
your iish as soon as you land him; it makes
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