The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1884-11-12
IN THE sUB-TREAsURY VAULTS.
The Millions of Gold and Silver that Are
Held In Reserve-CIevereIy Doctored


The Millions of Gold and Silver that Are
Held In Reserve-CIevereIy Doctored
Coins.
New York Herald
"Come this way and I'll show you how
much cold cash Uncle Sam has got stored
here" said Cashier Floyd, as he led a Her.
aid reporter through labyrinth of desks
on the first floor of the sub-treasury building
to heavily barred and studded iron door
that opened into passage leading to
the gold vaults. AT the other end of the
passage an attendant unfastened a second
door. As the reporter followed his guide
into dimly-lighted room, about fifteen feet
square, the door was closed behind them and
they were made prisoners with over $40, 000,-
600 of gold coin. The four sides of the vault,
from floor to ceiling, were covered with iron
doors opening into the compartments con-
tanning the coin.
These boxes that are sealed" said the
Cashier pointing 10 door where a slip of
| paper was stuck to the lock with red wax
ARE full. They contain 81 100000 eacn.
Here"-thr0wing wide open door that was
standing ajar, and revealing a compartment
partly filled with plump white canvas bags
| carefully packed-"is a box we are using
| from. There are $3.50 900 in there" he con-
| tinued, after glanciDg at the tags.
How much gold do the bags contain?'
asked the reporter, as his eyes rested visit
IQJlY Oh Tie OuLllneS Oh the COlQS SHOWN
| through the canvass.
Five thousand dollars each, always Sill
| yer is put up in thousand dollar bags This
/ lower tier is the double eagle row. In the
second are stored eagles, and so on to quarter
eagles, the smallest gold coin We have on
| hand"
How heavy is thisP" asked the reporter,
| as be took up bag.
'Oh, that is easily handled: it weighs only
/ eighteen pounds. 1t would be different
matter to carry bag Of silver, though; they
weigh sixty pounds each. But come aud l
| will take you down to the silver vaults''
There is still another gold vault on the
second floor of the building opposite the one
| the reporter had already visited and exactly
\ like it in the interior arrangements. The
! two vaults together contained 81, 100000.
After descending to the floor below in a
I slowly moving elevator and passing doors
with complicated time locks clinging to
their backs, long passage was reached with
white painted iron grating on each side.
| Behind the grating were bags of silver, fill
ing every available inch from floor to cell
ing; $50 h.-o ,,,u.
there is accommodation for, so we are
obliged to fill up this end of the passage.
There are $50, 900, 900 before your. Twenty
! five millions are in standard dollars. The
denominations are separated by those cross
( gratings."
VI
"Oyer LOCO tons. That would be eighty
railroad carloads There are lao tons OF
/ gold upstairs. Allowing ton to a cart load
it would take LAO carts to carry away the
coin in this building"
as not this an unusually large amount to
| have on band?'
ITO be sure it is. We are sending away
very little coin now, and taking it in at the
rate of $4,000 to $4,000 day. Silver GER
tifcates are very popular now, especially in
the South and Southwest. New York mer-
chants seem to be preiudiced against them.
Since March l, 1883, we heve sent out $685.
100000 in certificates, and we will probably
send out S33, 100000 more before the cotton
crop is in.'
what is the total amount of cash on hand
now?"
"a little over $40 100000. There are
$1,000, 600 each in gold and silver certificates
and legal-tender notes."
The largest shipment that has recently
been made occurred last spring, when Si2.
OO000 were sent to Europe in gold coin aud
bars. Contrary to the belief entertained by
most people, no bullion is brought to or
stored in the sub.treasury; that is all
done at the assay building. The coin
is brought from the minis generally
by express companies, but sometimes it is
sent as registered mail matter. Never more
than $4,000 is sent at one time. 1t is
guarded en- route by the company, which
ceases to be responsible for it only when it
is delivered into the hands of the Govern
ment officials at the Pine street entrance to
the building 1t is then taken to the count
| ing-room and weighed by the bagful after
being passed through the hands of an ex-
pert, who can instantly tell if the coins have
been tempered with. 1t was formally re-
ouired by law that every piece should be
weighed separately. and that old coins
| which, by natural abrasion or sweating, had
lost oDe-half OF ] per cent should be re-
jected. For this purpose scales were pro-
vided of such delicate mechanism that an
eyeIssh would turn the balance
How do you detect bad pieces? Well, l
can't tell you. It's instict guess" said an
old expert in answer to the reporters ques-
ton.
Cant ypn generally tell by the WEIGHT ~
"Oh. pshsw, no! A composition OF lvau
and platinum is made that weighs and rings
exactly like gold. Look here, there is a
piece that almost any man in New York
would as soon have SIS any that was ever
coined" He tossed in front of the reporter
a $40 piece that looked, weighed, and rang
like gold.
well what's the matter with it?'
tits only worth $40. 1t has been cut
into, followed out, filled with composition
and stuck together again. / rather think
my eyes are the best aids In detecting,
though l can PICK out bad one when hand
ling pile blindfolded."
"Are many spurious coins brought here?''
''Oh, guam titles. Most of them are so
bungllnRly one that it is easy to spot them.
Once when an investigating committee
was here | was asked to pick q very
cleverly 'doctored piece from a bagtul.
They were all coined at the same time
and exactly alike. picked it out for them
all right, and then the committee pretended
| to be so interested that they wanted to see it
done again. The second time they quietly
changed the bad piece for good one, aud
were sure of catching me. They got left,
though, as the boys say. Counterfeits can
always be detected by the milling. No one
has yet succeeded in reaching the perfec-