The morning call., 1891-06-14
HOW THE CASH
IS TRANSPORTED.
Companies That Carry Two Billion Dol
lars Every Year.
A Package Of 100000 in Charge of an
Express Messenger-A Precarious but
Profitable Business.

covered wad Of cloth between two pack
ages Of bills, says a Washington CORE
spondent to the Philadelphia Times This
woman when she found the wad of cloth
between the two bundles thought it looked
suspicious. So, therefore, without disturb
ing or breaking any Of the bundles she made
quick inventory OF them. Comparing it
with the list which had accompanied the
package, she found that three bundles, rep
resenting an aggregate of $17O0 in mutt
lated currency, had disappeared She noti-
fed the chief of the redemption division; he
notified the Treasurer of the United States.
and the Treasurer advised the agent of the
United States Express Company. whose
office is in the building, that the package
was "short." The sgent of the express
company is E. c.. Platt Mr.. Plat took the
package from the Treasurer and examined it.
The package had been shipped by the Old
National Bank of Grand Rapids, Mich. Itcon-
tanned. at the time of its shipment $4,000.
In sealing the package the clerk of the bank
should have spread sealing wax all along
the edge of the flap and then should have
made the imprint of the bank seal in the
soft wax lap over the edge of the flap and
partly cover the face of the package. In
order to open the package it would have
been necessary to break the wax along the
edge Of the flap, and in this way the seal
would have been broken. But the bank
clerk had stamped the seal of the bank in
the soft wax so that it did not overlap the
edge Of the flap at all.
When the package came into the hands OF
A DISHONEST MESSENGER,
He had broken open the package, abstract
ed the three bundles containing S1700 in
currency, stuffed the pieces of cloth be-
tween the other bundles so as to make the
Qnt- m n TS
then had resealed the package so that its
external appearance gave no evidence OF
the theft. 1t seems that the eXpress-mes-
senger who had last handled the package
had sealed the bag containing it imperfectly.
The seal had been put on at Grafton.
The sealing of this bag had been done
hastily, and the seals were not perfect
When an imperfectly sealed package is re-
ceived by the express cOmpany'S agent at
the Treasury Department the seals are not
broken, but the package is cut open, so that
the responsibility may not be fixed upon the
man who handled the Enclosures il anything
should be missing. In this case the bottom
of the canvas bag had been slit open and
the seals at the neck OF the bag were
intact, so that when the package was
brought to Mr.. Platt and identified as
part of the contents of that bag the sponsi-
bility for the theft was Immediately placed
on the shoulders OF the messenger who had
sealed it, man named A. Il. Thomas.
ington. Surprising that the bag had been
destroyed in the usual way. and that the
seals had been destroyed, he denied the re-
spODSiDiIity for the package, and in fact
denied that he had sealed it. The proof
against him was so positive that the Grand
Jury found an indictment against him with
very little delay and lie now awaits trial.
None of the S1700 recently stolen has been
found. If it is not recovered the express
press company will have to receive, receipt
Nd plIr ~ 81
than S11, 100000 of the Governments money
before it can call itself Square" on this
particular branch OF its buSineSs-that is,
before it will have received $500 III pay
ment for handling the Governments cash.
Aud even then the cost OF handling ST., 000,-
600 will be a loss.
THE UNITED EXPRESS COMPANY,
Under its contract with the G vernment,
receives Is cents for each $1,000 which it
handles, and assumes all the risk Of loss in
transit, giving the Government bond in the
sum of $500 coo for the faithful fufllment
of its contract. The Adams Express Com
pany, which had the contract for many
years, received % cents thousand. The
rate of 10 cents is good between any points
east of Kansas City. The CONNER
cial rate for handling money be-
tween Washington and Kansas City is
81 % a thousand, considerable increase on
the rate paid by the Government. The Gov
eminent rate is shared by all the banks in
their transactions with the Government. As
the Government saves about 100000 an
nually Dy the reduction in the rate from 25
cents aid 10 cents, it is plain that the Adams
Company, with its quarter Of century ex-
perience, must have made a neat profit out
OF the business.
A rough estimate of the amount of money
carried for the Government and for those
who have dealings with it is $1,000. 0000. 900
annually. But though these figures are not
authoritative, two billion dollars IS fair
estimate of the amount of currency carried
backward and forward by the express COM
pany every year.
The largest package ever handled by the
express company was one of ST., 100000
All that the express messenger In handling
it would have to do to enrich himself would
be to slip package of thOusand-dollar bills
into his pocket, drop I'll the train and make
for the woods.
The largest amount of money handled by
the express company is that which is shipped
out by the Treasury. The money received
is chiefly mutilated currency sent in for re-
demptiOn. The heavy shipments are those
which are sent from the Treasury Depart
ment to the Sub-TreaSuTies in New Yark,
Philadelphia, Chicago and elsewhere. There
has been no theft OF any OF this money, and
the precautions taken for its protection are
such that it would be we'll nigh impossible
for anyone to abstract any part Of 1t. The
packages of bills are placed in iron safes
which are considered burglar-proof.
THE GOVERNMENT COUNT
is accepted because it would be impossible
for the express company to do the work of
recountng the bills which have already
passed through the hands Of the expert
counters of the Treasury. The express
company receives the sealed packages,
which are shipped to the destina,
ton for which the money is in
tended, and the packages are delivered
tho lie oh SbO
be found among the packages received
from the Government it would be traced
back very quickly to the woman in the de-
partment who counted the money. But in
the history of the Treasury Department no
such error has been discovered. Sometimes
errors are discovered in the count of money
received at the Treasury Department from
banks and other individuals, but no flaw in
the Government count has been found dur
ing the quarter of century in which women
have had charge of the business of counting
the cash.
Each safe in which the money Is stored
for shipment has spring slide which covers
the keyhole. When the safe has been locked
this strip of iron is slipped over the keyhOle,
and to the spring catch which holds 1t In place
is fastened shipping tag 1t is dOubly
fastened, once with piece of string and
once with piece of wire, and on both of
these are placed the seal of the express COM
pany; on one the ordinary green wax seal
and on the other lead seal, such as is used
in fastening the doors OF freght-ears. To
get at the keyhole of this safe it would be
necessary to break both of these seals or to
cut both the wire and string. Even then the
operator would have placed himself only in
positions to unlock the safe if he had a key
or to break the lock if that was possible.
In the event he did either he would
be arrested within fifteen minutes
after he had reached the end of his
run, because the agent of the
company would discover the break in the
seals and would suspect the crime mmedi-
ately. The lead seal is put on chiefly for
the protection of the express messengers.
because sometimes in transmitting the wax
seal is broken by contact with some safe or
IL