Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1867-04-18
THE UNITED STATES SUB-TREAsU-
RY-NINETY TONS OF COIN
IN SAFE.


Sub-Treasury are said to exceed il
size those of the Bank of England
The strong and burglar-proof mannel
in which they are constructed excitei
the admiration of all beholders. There
are two of these immense vaults, ont
at each corner of the Pine street enc
of the rotuLda. The rooms are per
haps twenty feet long by fifteen fee
wide, and ten or twelve feet high
They contain no windows there is
but one door opening into each, and
gas-lights are kept burning inside.
The internal appearance of these
vaults has striking resemblance tc
a fashionable tomb in Greenwood
Cemetery, rows of cases being ar
ranged 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
ment has been filled with bags OF
gold or bundles of greenbacks, the
doors are closed. Each case will con
tain half million of dollars, put mp
in bags of FIVE thousand dollars each
When a case is thus filled, the door
is closed, and seal is affixed in the
presence Of the Naval Officer and
the Surveyor of the Port. 1t takes
one hundred bags to hold half a mill
| ion of dollars. In the first vault en-
tered there were seyenty-twO com
partments arranged round the room,
which formed tier somewhat higher
than q mans head.
Running over the top of these was
a balcony with an iron railing IN
front; there was piled up in this bal
cony, in one heap, six millions OF dol
lars, in five and ten dollar bills ; one
hall million of dollars in internal rev.
enue stamps, fifty thousand dollars
in fractional currency,put up in large
paper boxes, and five and one-halt
millions in United States bonds.
The floor of the vault rests on thir-
ty feet of solid masonry, from the
ground up. On the top OF this gran
ite there are two feet OF wrought
iron, and between the iron plates a
space filled up with bullets. If a
rogue should succeed in boring
through the granite and iron, the mo-
ment his drill touched a bullet that
would commence to revolve, and by
the time he had penetrated it another
ball would drop in its place In this
way he would soon find that 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
manner as for the floor. This safe, as
it is called, was invented by Mir. lsal-
all Rogers. Mr.. Rogers once remark
ed that if the people at the Treasury
building should happen to get locked
out OF the safe it would take him 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 patterns. A lever
is go arranged that after the doors
are closed four large iron bolts are
thrown across the doorway, resting
in sockets which have been made in
a pillar of wrought iron. If thief
should succeed in cutting the hinges
of one OF these doors, usually consid-
cred to be the most vulnerable point,
the door would not drop down from
it's place, and nothing would be gain
ed Like the deacon's celebrated
one-horse shay, these doors are made
as strong in one point as in another,
and the hinges show no signs of
weakness. 1t will take a fearful
earthquake to shake them down.
No good idea can be given to the
reader of their operation, but few
general remarks may be of interest.
The first door has one of Dobb's Eu-
reka locks there is no key hole for
this, and the outside combination
wheel is divided into the letters of
the alphabet, the nine units, and frac-
tions 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 fractions which have been used
i'll locking the door,
Even if a person was So fortunate
as to get from Mr.. Birdsall the COM
bination, 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
Dobb's lock. The third door has l..
Gales Monitor lock, and the fourth
door contains Gales double Treasu-
ry locks. From one of these doors,
after it has been fastened, a portion
of the lock is taken of, and put IN
der 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 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 forty-live millions OF dollars il
| gold slowed in the room, and twenty
millions in paper, The greenbacks
as they are paid into the Treasury
are put up in packages of one thou
sand bills each, all of the same de
nomination. A package OF one dol
lar bills contains one thousand dol