Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-03-02
INCLE SANS SAFE.
A Neat Job for an Enterprising Bur-
gIRr-Ninety Tons of Coin in One
VaHIt-DescripIiOn Of the Sub-Trea-
suFy iR New York.

From the New York Gazette.
The vaults of the United States sub
treasury are said to exceed in strength those
Of the Bank Of England. The strong and
thoroughly Ere and burglar-proof manner
in which they have been constructed ex-
cites the admiration Of all beholders.
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 win
dow there is but one door opening into
each, and gas lights are kept burning IN
side. The internal appearance Of these
vaults has a striking resemblance to a fash
iOnable tomb IN Greenwood cemetry. rows
Of Gases being arranged around The sides of
the room, each about two feet square with
iron doors attached. There is one door for
each case. and when the apartment has
been filled with bags Of gold or bundles of
greenbacks the doors are closed. Each
case will contain half million Of dollars,
put in bags Of FIVE thousand dollars each.
When the case is thus filled the door is
closed, aud a seal is affixed in the presence
OF the naval officer and the sarveyor Of the
port. Itfakes one hundred bags to hold
half million Of dollars. In the FIRST vault
entered there are seventy-tWO compart
ments arranged 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 ia one
heap, Sd, 900 900 in s. aud $40 bills; $780,,
nfn "a tpfarYa1 r,ya,pa pfa rr,ya- IN O00 in,
fractional currency, put up in large paper
boxes, and S5,500,O0O ia United States
bonds.
The door Of this vault rests on thirty
feet Of solid masonry, from the ground up ;
on the top of this granite there are two feet
of wroughtir iron, and between the iron plates
a space filled up with bullets. If rogue
should succeed in boring through the
granite and iron, the moment his driIl
touched a bullet that would commence to
revolve, and 10y the time he had penetrated
it, another ball would drop in its place; in
this way he would soon find he had an
endless job before him, and the attempt to
get into the vault would have to be
abandoned.
The sides and top Of the room are COM
posed Of eight feetof granite and two Of
iron, arranged in the same manner as for
the floor. This safe, as it is called, was
inyented by Mr.. George II. Jackson, Of the
Excelsior Iron-works. Mr.. Rogers once
remarked that if the people at the treasury
building should happen 10 get locked out
Of the safe, it would take him a month TO
break into i'll 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
aller the other, before We can enter the safe.
Each one Of these doors weighs two tons,
and contains two locks Of different patterns.
A lever is so arranged that after the doors
are closed four large iron bolts are thrown
across the doorway, resting in sockets
which have been madein pillar of wrought
iron. If thief shonld succeed in emitting
tie hinges 90 enc of these. aoorz, usually
considered to be the most vulnerable point,
the door would not drop down from its
place, and nothing wonld be gained. But,
like the deacon's celebrated one-horse shay,
these doors are made as strong in one part
as in another, and the hinges show no sign
Of weakness. II will take fearful cath
quake TO shake them down.
No good idea can be given 60 the reader
Of the locks and their operations, but few
general remarks may be Of interest. The
first door has one Of Doods Eureka locks /;
there is a key hole for this, and the outside
combination wheel is divided into the let
tiers. 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 have
been used in locking the door. Even if
person was so fortunate as 20 get from Mr..
Birdsall the combination, he must have an
extensive acquaintance with the lock TO
know how TO manipulate it correctly. The
second door contains an Isham lock, which
is altogether different from Dodds lock.
The third door has L. Gales monitor lock,
and the fourth door contains Gales double
treasury locks. From one of these doors,
after it has been fastened, portion of the
lock is taken off, and put under 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 frst one described, but lust as difficult
10 get into. There are one hundred and
twenty cases in this room where gold can
be put and sealed up. At the time we
looked into the vault there were ninety
tons or $4,000, 900 in gold stored in the
room, aud S200O0O0O in paper. The
greenbacks, as they are paid into the
treasury, are pat up in packages Of 1000
bills, all Of the same denomination.
An inquiry made in relation to the coln-
terteit money which came into the treasury
revealed the fact that there is large
amount of it in circulation, and some Of it
is SO well executed that it passes as genuine
with the national banks. The Sl0O and the
SOC greenbacks, aud the $50 notes of the
national currency are very dangerous TO all
persons outside the treasury. Here they
have never been deceived, bat readily de-
tect the counterfeit, Immediately brand il
as such in several places and send it back
10 the bank from which il came to be re
deemed and desirOyed We were shown
some very handsomely executed $50 green
backs, and quite = collection of fractional
currency in different stages of completion
which had haen seized hy the detectives
One man can count 10000 notes in a day Of
SIX hour. On the lih inst, 81 ,S50.000
were paid in hy 3 O'clock. IL is ascertained
al the treasury that soon after the war
closed, the South was flooded with counter
feit greenhacks, and as the people in that
section OF the country were unacquainted
with the genuine muaev Of the North, they
readily took IT,
The whole number Of people employed
in the building is seventy and The amount