Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-09-26
LOADS OF MONEY.
How Uncle Sans Treasure is Carried
from City to City.

How Uncle Sans Treasure is Carried
from City to City.
MILLIONS CONVEYED IN HAND sATCHELs-
MESSENGERS PREPARED TO REPEL ROBBERS
ATTEMPTS TO ROB TREASURE TRAINs-TRANs
FERRING MONEY IN OLD TINES.
A little man came up out of the lower base
ment of the Treasury the other day very SLOWLY
and with great deal of mysterious precaution
AS he stood just outside the door opposite TIT
Riggs house, his shoulders were on a line will
the pavement, and he looked cautiously up and
down the street. Then he scudded across 15tf
street, holding something under his coat tina
made II stick out and sag heavily at one side
AS he jumped up the stone steps Of the Metro
politan bank and felt his hand upon the dool
he looked relieved and walked quietly in.
"He amt used to it, said an old Treasury
employe, who. with STAR repo1 ter, had beer
watching the mysterious stranger.
who is hep asked THE STAR man.
"Some one who has just drawn the interest
few hundred dollars in gold under his coat. He
amt used to il, and has an idea some one Is
waiting on the curbstone to rob him. If he
weren't so awfully careful nobody would suS-
pect that he had any money about him.
/ wonder what he would think if he saw a
man come out of here with a million or a hall
an old shirtr' he added with a mysterious twin
kle in his eye.
Are folks in the habit of doing that?" asked
The STAR man with awakening interest.
We'll, it doesn't quite amount to a habit, !
reckon. In fact, it has been some time since
any thing Of the sort has happened, but
out OF the Treasury In that way. No, it isn't
done now. 1t is a thing of the past SO I guess
can tell you. Of course the department has to
be very mysterious about the movements OF
money. When big transfer is contemplated,
1t IS always kept a profound secret and many
millions OF dollars have been taken in and out
yxff h<~<l,
about it until it was all over. It ia
Kept a secret even from the employees in the de-
partment, except those who are selected to
take charge OF the transfer. And 1t isn't a
very delightful thing to be selected for this
trust. have known men to become so nervous
when they had the responsibility on their
they slept, they would dream Of highwaymen
and road agents chasing them through dark
woods or along narrow mountain paths. Bur-
glars and footpads sat upon their bedposts at
night. know of one case in particular where
man had been making several trips with
large sums OF money. one after another. and he
however"
HOW THE MONEY IS CARRIED.
"The great bulk ofthe money transferred from
one depository to another" continued the Treas
ury man, "has been sent in iron safes by Adams
express company. But there have been occa-
slons when large sums Of money have been sent
by private messenger. Three or four trusted
men, whose courage and promptitude could be
relied upon, have been furnished with travelling
bags and six shooters and sent off with millions
in bonds or 9reenbackS They have generally
travelled at night. Fortified with good revolvers
in their hip pockets, they have taken their
handbags and gone to the depot in quite an or
binary sort OF way, taken a sleeper and gone on
their journey without awakening the least sus-
picion of the great wealth they carried During
tho funding period this was done great deal
Millions of dollars in bonds were carried to New
ior in this way. The men selected for the
I'm fu Ar1IH foE a SIn Co.
ing million dollars or more in satchel They
would arrive at New York in the morning, and
go to the Astor house like ordinary travellers,
and stay there until the sub-treasury was
opened. Then they would go there and deposit
their bonds and get the old bonds in the place of
the them. was always a relief when they
was very great. on the
return the risk was not so great, as the old
bonds were cancelled before leaving the sub
treasury. When the Lewis will case was deci-
ded in favor of the United States by which the
government got about million dollars in
bonds, Treasury official went over to New
Jersey after the bonds and brought them to the
treasury at Washington in his travelling bag
lewis, you Know, was an eccentric New Jersey
gentleman gentle who lett large fortune to the United
states to help pay Oft the public debt"
IN COACHES ON THE PLAINS.
Especial messengers have frequently been
employed to carry money way out west, where
they had to travel by stage over wild plains
and mountains. They never had to carry so
much money, but it was lot more perilous.
IN 1871 nigh Treasury official carried
S5OO,OOO to Carson City and Santa Fe, travel
Ing through that wild country in q stage
coach. These trips are dangerous enough to be
and you may be sure the govern
Inent didn't notify the 'road-agents' to be on
hand. That same year party Ofsix took three
million In greenbacks to San Francisco and
brought back the same amount in gold. The
year before they took about the same amount
Special trains were employed on these
occasions, but the transfers were con-
Cnfo
placed in the cars and hunks built over them
aud at ST. Louis a file Of soldiers were taken on
board. All these trips were full of risk and ro-
nance, and if 1t wasn't that nothing of the kind
Is done any more wouldn't dare tell you about
In the main, as THE STARS informant said
the Adams Express company is used as means
Of transportation for money by the Treasury
and has been for many years. In the earlier
nected by railroad, gold from California used 10
be conveyed by steamer on very perilous
voyage around the Cape. One vessel, with q
treasure of a million dollars on board went
down and has never been found. On account of
the danger of vessels being lost money has
never been sent by water when there was any
Other way OF conveying 1t.
IN THE oLDEN TINE.
When there were no railroad facilities II was
y very serious undertaking to transport any
large amount of money, and the old records of
The treasury, running back to 1889 and fur
her. show that IL was oftener .'constructively~
than actually transferred. One of the earliest
repositories OF public money was the Bank
Of North America, and after that the fiscal
agency OF the government was given in 1888
to the Bank OF New York. The collectors of
revenues were required to deposit there and
the money transactions of the department
were carried on by means of drafts. In 1892
the deposits were transferred to the Bank OF
the United States, and a little later on certain
banks in North Carolina were made depOsi-
tories by consent OF the Bank Of the United
States. In 1888 the fiscal agency of the United
states bank was superseded by certain select
banks
In those days money was moved about as
little as possible. and the only means OF trans
portation was by stage coach or in saddlebags
On horse back.
An order was issued by the Secretary of the
Treasury in 1916, instructing collectors that
when Treasury notes were received tor public
dues they must be transmitted by mail 10 the
department, the collector first notifying the
department by previous mail that they were
to be sent, and giving the amount. The notice
provided that TO insure safety the notes must
be cut IN two, and the right half sent first the
left half being held until they received mott.
mitted.
Since the express companies have come into
existence, ana the general facilities for travel
and communication become so perfect the ques-
tlon oil transportation has been greatly sim Pill
NED. ana there has been a much freer circula-
ton OF actual money. The Treasury agent of
the Adams Express company fold THE ST.n
man that since they had been handling the
g s money, taking it from the first,
and millions of dollars in a wear On one single
day he said. they shipped TWENTY-FIVE million.
W men the bonds were sent out just after the
down in great baskets, like corn, and dumped
In an Immense pile in the corner of the room.
Millions OF dollars worth Of bonds were then
shipped every day. They were handled Ijka
merchandise, but not a dollar was lost
ATTEMPTS TO ROB TRAINS,
Attempts have been made to rob express
trains loaded with money, but thew have