The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1867-04-04
From the New York Gazette.
JINGLE SAM,S SAFE.
Neat JOB for an Eaterprisiag Burglar

proof manner In winch tney nave been
constructed excite the admiration of all
beholders. There are two of these i'm
mense vaults, one at each corner of the
Pine street end of the rotunda. The
rooms are perhaps twenty feet long by
fifteen wide, and ten ortwelve 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
a striking resemblance to , fashionable
tomb in Greenwood cemetery, rows OF
cases 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 apart
mGnt has been filled with bags of gold
or bundles of greenbacks the doors are
closed. Each case will contain half 4
million of dollars, put in bags offive
thousand dollars each. When case
is thus filled the door is closed, and a
seal is fixed in the presence ofthe naval
officer and surveyor of the port. 1t
takes one hundred bags to hold half \
million of dollars. In the first vault
entered there were seventy-two COM
partments arranged round the room,
which formed tier somewhat higher
than mans head.
Running over the top of these was \
balcony with an iron railing in front ;
there was piled up in this balcony in
one heap, S., 900, 900 in IS and $40 bills
100000 in internal revenue stamps,
$4,000 in fractional currency, put up
In large paper boxes, and S5,5OO,OOO in
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 wrought iron, and between
the iron plates space filled up with
bullets. If a rogue should succeed in
boring through the granite and iron,
the moment his drill touched bullet
that would commence to revolve, and
by the time he had penetrated it, an
other 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
composed Of eight feet of granite and
two of iron, arranged. in the same man
ner as for the floor. This safe, as it is
called, was invented by Mr.. George r.
Jackson, of the Excelsior Iron works.
MIR. Rogers once remarked that if the
people at the treasury building should
happen to get locked out of the safe, it
fol- l.
it /! A night watch is kept to look after
these strong boxes, but they are coll
sidered 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 two locks
of different patterns. A lever is so az
ranged that after the doors are closed
four large iron bolts are thrown across
the doorway resting in sockets which
have been made in pillar of wrought
iron. IT thief should succeed in cut
ting the hinges Of one of these doors,
usually considered to be the most vul-
nerable point, the door would not drop
down from its place, and nothing would
be gained. But, like the deacoD's cele-
grated one-horse shay, these doors are
made as strong in one part as in anoth-
er, and the hinges show no sign ofweak-
ness. 1t will take fearful earthquake
to shake them down.
No good idea can be given to the
reader Of the locks and their operations,
but few general remarks may be of
interest. The first door has one of
Dodd's Eureka locks; there is key
hole for this, and the outside combina-
ton wheel is divided into the letters of
the alphabet, the nine units, and frac-
tons of figures. The combinations
which may be made by this arrange
ment are endless, and no one can open
the lock showing back the bolts, unless
he knows the words, figures and frac-
tions which have been used in locking
the door. Even if a person was so fort
innate as to 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
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,
a portion of the lock is taken off, and
put under lock and key in some secret
place. Without this it would be use
less to attempt to get into the safe.
The second vault is much larger than
the first one described, but just as diff
ficult to get into. There are 12O cases
in this room where gold can be put and
sealed up. At the time we looked into
the vault there were 80 tons, or $45,-
100000 in gold stored in the room, and
s2o.oOo,ooO in paper. The greenbauks,
IS they are paid into the treasury, are
put up in packages of 1000 bills, all of
the same denomination.
An inquiry made in relation to the
counterfeit money which came into the
treasury revealed the fact that there is
q large amount of it in circulation, and
some Of it is so we'll executed that it
passes as genuine with the national
banks. The 800 and the $50 green
backs, and the $40 notes of the nation
al currency are very dangerous to all
persons outside of the treasury. Here
they have never been deceived, but
readily detect the counterfeit, immedi-
ato1v brand If "a such in several nlaces