Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-09
WILL MAKE A TEST.
The Experts at Breaking Into Strong
Boxes 10 be Allowed
FULL SWING AT THE GREAT VAULT
Big Money to be Put Into 1t as an Extra
Incentive to Break In.
A BIG DAY AT THE, STOCK EXCHANGE

The work of setting up the mammoth
vault in the new building of the Pittsburg
Fidelity, Title and Trust Company, on
Fourth avenue, is progressing as rapidly as
the huge undertaking will admit of. The
foundation has been laid and the floor of
the vault, composed of heavy blocks of
chilled metal, is well under wav. The
vault will be the most expensive strong box
in Pittsburg, costing $751; The highest
priced vault in New York cost $3.50, 900.
While being much larger, it is admitted to
be less secure than the Fidelity vault. When
completed it is the intention of the patentees
to give experts at lock-picking and safe
smashing an opportunity to show their skill
by placing large sum of money in the vault
and giving it to any one who can get it. The
severest tests will be invited.
##%
According to statement just made public,
no less than SO wells have been drilled for gas
during the past year along the lake shore, be-
tween Erie and Cleveland. None of them have
been failures. The wells. although not very
strong, produce steady flow sufficient for
local needs. A few of the numerous wells
drilled at Painesville are not as strong as at
first but the majority of the 80 are considered
stronger than when first struck. Not much
has been heard of late of the gas well sunk in
Newburg, Cleveland. A gas well sunk by W.
NJ. Barton at Wesleyville. Erie county, Pa, is
one of the strongest gassers that has yet been
struck on the lake shore. The last heavy vein
was struck at depth of 200 feet, after pene-
tratins 20 feet of black shale. 1t will be drilled
200 feet deeper if the present powerful pressure
of gas can be controlled.
=
"a good deal has been said about the large
number of mortgages that are being placed
this season, and fears expressed that people
were rushing recklessly into debt" remarked
real estate dealer yesterday. '0rdinarly this fact
would be bad indication" he continued, ''but
the conditions under which they are being
placed are peculiar. Very little of the money
thus raised has been or will be used for specu-
lative purposes. The most of it has been in
vested in real estate. This is the way it is
done: Mr.. Smith, we will say, owns property
valued at 5000. He knows that there is
great demand for unimproved lots, and
that their value is steadily enhancing.
He sees a lot that he can purchase
at fair price say 81 ,000 He puts $1,000
on mis- property, buys the lot and soon sells it
at a handsome profit. Then he buys another
lot and so on. know of several such cases.
Two or three of my acquaintance have become
correspondlngly wealthy by pursuing this
course. They don't endanger their homes.
The mortgages are not debts in the ordinary
sense. Not only the original obligation is pro.
vided for. but there is surplus to fall back to
in case of need. In this view of the case, which
is the correct one so far as Pittsburg people
are concerned mortgages are not so great an
evil as they generally represented to be.
Indeed, they have proved of great benefit in
many instances that have come under my per-
sonal observation"
Scraps of timed iron have long been a
waste product, whose application, for any pur-
pose worthy of the intrinsic value of the metals
contained in them, has been an unsolved prob
lem. 1t is true that scraps of this kind have
been cast, but the hardness and granular struct-
ure render the metal fit only for use as weight.
Now, however. they are coming into use for
nails. Scraps of tin are cut by dies into rec
tangular bits, with a length of about three
times their width. These scraps are then fed
from an automatic hopper between dies, when
they are squeezed first to square form, like
NAIL and then headed. Nails of this kind are
well fitted for many purposes, beng free from
tendency to rust, also light, very rigid, and ca
pable of being driven into the hardest wood
without buckling.