The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1883-09-08
WOODEN COINS.
A Story of California Banking in Early
~" Days.


A Story of California Banking in Early
"You see,n he continued, ''I'm a
carpenter, and when landed in SAM
Francisco l opened a shop and did
better than some buckles in the mines.
did mostly fine jobs, such as fitting
up saloons, cabinet work and making
gambling truck-the last queer things,
/ tell you, full of tricks to cheat the
greenies.
Zone day, got an order for lot of
wooden adobes 'Adobes' were gold
pieces of the value of fifty dollars each.
and the man who gave the order-the
played-out Secretary now hauling up
tom cod yonder-wauted 1000.
smelled a rat, but kept mum, as secrecy
was the keystone of half my trade. I
set my lathe to work in a room care
fully locked, and in due time had the
contract filled. Now, | want you to
gild these slugs, said the Secretary,
and send them down to Adams & Co. s
office about the time the mail steamer
gets in, Keep dark and send in your
Gill. did. Old Noise let me have
one of his gilders, and he did the work
in good style. But for the weight, you
would never have taken those 'slugs'
for anything but the si1non-pure article.
In the drawers they made fine display
Looking what they were intended to
represented, 900 in gold. 1 boxed
them up, and sent them to Adams &
Co. s under cover of night, and read in
the papers next morning of the arrival
of $4,000 in 'adobes,' consigned to the
banking house of-well you know the
place on Montgomery street, near Clay
as for the name, that's nothing-it's
as dead as the bank, its President, and
its Board of Directors. / smiled, but
said nothing. The addition of those
1000 'slugs' helped the concern amaz-
ingly; it was only three months old,
/ but it stood on its legs at once. took
some pride in the affair myself, as was
! the creator of its financial support.
Thirty days passed. Then saw the
Secretary. We met on the old corner
one rainy night, and, after drink, fell
chatting. jenkins had just been
hanged on the Plaza for safe-cracking,
and this brought up the subject of rob-
berry.
"'Come over to the bank, said the
Secretary; I've got something privately
to tell you. This place is too public
''We crossed the street, entered a
small room, and resumed the CONVEX
sation. 1t lasted till midnight and was
rather interesting.
CURIOUS PLOT.
''The Secretary had received an
anonymous letter stating that an at
tempt would be made to rob the bank
on Thursday night. He said the direc-
tors had given him full power to act;
that he wanted reliable man to watch
the bank, and his Waterman could not
be trusted, adding he wished me to &C
cept the position. / agreed, and the pay
was big; and, arming myself, went on
duty. This was Saturday night follow
ing the conversation. | went on at nine
O'Clock. When the Secretary left he
gave me pitcher of toddy, also hand
full of cigars. He told me to drink when
ever / was dry, and cautioned me not
to use my pistol unless absolutely nee
essary. Something in his manner as
well as language aroused my suspi-
cions. i tasted the liquor in the pitcher.
1t did not taste like very good toddy. 1t
had braclxish taste, and added to my
misgivings. thought it drugged, yet
was SO fond of liquor that in spite of
this took glassful. | soon felt its eff
fects, grew stupid, and at last sank into
sort of semi-doze. l was drugged!
Another glass would have stupeficd me
completely. As it was, was helpless,
vet cognizant of events. About eleven
O'Clock, as learned afterward, heard
the door in the rear of the room open.
had forgotten to lock it when the Sec
rotary went out.
II was unable to move, but saw a
man with his face masked enter, look
at .mela moment, then pass rapidly to
where.the safe stood. He unlocked it,
took outa bag of gold dust and moved
toward the door. There another man
received the bag and passed it out.
The second man then came back and
seized pan of doubloons, which he
passed to his confederate. These put
away, the bogus 'adobes' were next
carried out; in fact, the burglars SEEM
ed most anxious to secure these, which
circumstance / afterward easily ex-
plained. All this occurred in space
Of few minutes, as the burglars SEEM
ed thoroughly posted in regard to the
location Of their plumber. All this time,
too, | Law motionless upon the settee,
anxious and willing to act, but unable
TO move muscle. At last the last pan
of .adobes' was removed.