The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-04-05
The sub-Treasury-Ninety Tons of Coin
Safe.


The vaults of the United States Sub-Treasury
are said to exceed in size those of the Bank of
England. The strong and burglarproot manner
in which they have been constructed eXcites the
admiration of all beholders, There are two OF
these immense vaults, tone on each corner of the
Pine street end OF the rotunda. The rooms are,
perhaps, twenty feet long by fifteen teet wide,
and ten or twelve feet high. They contain no
windows. There is but one door opening into
each, and no 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 il loD doors attached.
There is one door tor each case, and when the
apartment has been flied with bags of gold or
bundles OF greenbacBs, the doors are closed.
Each case Will contain half million OF dollars,
put up in bags Of five thousand dollars each.
When a case is thus filed the door is closed,
and a seal is affixed in the presence OF the Naval
Officer and the Surveyor of the Port. 1t takes
one hundred bags to hold half million OF dol
lars. In the hrst vault entered there were
seventy two compartments arranged round the
room, which formed a 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, SIX millions Of
dollars in five aud ten dollar bills, one-half
million of dollars in internal revenue stamps
fifty thousand dollars in fractional currency,
put III large paper boxes, and five ana one-halt
millions IN United States bonds.
The tioor of the vault rests on thirty feet of
solid masonry from the ground up. On the
top Of this granite there are two ieet o wroug hit
iron, and between the iron plates a space ded
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 It's
place; in this way ne would soon find that ne
had an endless job before him. and the attempt
to get into the vault would have to be aban-
doned.
utt-- i Al
OF eight 1eet OF granite and two Of iron, ar
ranPed in the same manner as tor the floor.
This safe, as 1t IS called, was invented by Mr..
Isaiah Rogers. Mr.. Rogers once remarked 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. night
watChman is Kept to look after these strong
boxes, but they are considered perfectly safe
without him.
There a1e four doors to be opened, one after
the other, before we can enter the safe. Each
one OF these doors weighs two tons, and con-
tains 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 made in a
pillar of wrought iron. If thief should sue
ceed in cutting the hinges OF one OF these doors,
usually considered to be the most vulnerable
point. the door would not drop down from It's
place, and nothing would be gained: lake the
deaCon's celebrated one-hOrse snay, these uooIs
are made as strong in one part as III aholheI
and the hinges sho " no signs of weakness II
would take a fearful earthquake to shake them
down.
The second vault is much larger than the mrs
one Described hut lust as difficult to get into.
There are one hundred and twenty cases IN thli
room, where gold can be put and sealed up
AT the time we looked into vault there weII
ninety tons, or forty-dve millions OF dollars u
gold stow edin the room, and twenty mllhon
IN paper. The greenbacks, as they are Pai
into the Treasury, are put up IN packages OF on
thou sand bills each, all Of the same denomlna
A nlran,a IL doll
Thousand dollars: of five dollar bills five thor
sand dollars; of five hundred dollar bills, hv
hundred thousand dollars, etc.
In one small box we were ahoWn SIX sma