The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-03-21
THE SHIPMENT OF GOLD.
HOW THE PRECIOUS METAL IS
PACKED AND CARrED.

Elunoerlng the iron Treasure Room
on the Steamers A Wonderful
Truckman.
From the Neso York Herald.
Assuming, gentle reader, that you do or
do not possess a profound and comprehenp
sive knowledge of Wall street-if you do,
you understand already the why's and the
wherefores of this pulling "fiow Of Ameri-
can gold to Europe" if you do not, then
nothing l could say would help you; for il
is true in these matters also that the blind
cannot lead the blind. although l have
heard it whispered they now and then try
to do so.
So we will take Ii for granted simply that
American gold is. for good ami sufficient
reasons, flowing" across the Atlantic, and
content ourselves with investigating how Ii
flows" by which the manner of its trans
portation.
And first, have Jou any idea how much
gold has been shipped from New York in
the past two weeks ! MOI Well. then
listen and wonder-not less than seven tons
Seven tons of solid gold Exactly, and you
can figure out its approximate value at the
rate OF $500 to the pound, more or less, &C
cording TO the alloy.
You see, the old saying about a person
OCAue oOIJn LIS WSlRDb IN ROiu QOee not
amount to much in these days when John
Rockefeller earns his weight in it 365 times
year, and could buy the largest audience
OF the Metropolitan opera house, singers
musicians and all if they kept their same
weight and were changed into gold. As
for Jay Gould-well, he could buy his
weight in the precious metal two or three
thousand times over, for 500, 200 900 goes a
long way
So as WAS savino savan kona of a ,,ari
can gold-which would be the weight Of
fiftv Grover Clevelauds and a hundred and
forty Abe Hummels-has been sent from
New York TO Europe since Feb. 10. Now,
let us see how it has been sent.
AN ALADDIN's PALACE.
The first place went to in search of in
formation was that Aladdin's palace In
Wall street, which you probably never even
looked at, the assay Office. There l expe-
rienced a new and pleasurable sensation
when the white-haired, kind.faced chief of
the establishment laid In my hand yellow
brick which looked like nothing so much as
a pat of prize butter and informed me that
| was holding $1,000 worth of gold. 1861
degrees pure. l was glad to know this and
proceeded to fondle that yellow brick as well
| as one can fondIe thing which is about the
size of railway Bible and weighs as much
as two unabridged dictionaries over
twenty pounds.
Nearby were a couple of trays spread
with golden biscuit, fattened and OBJ
long.
"How much are they worthF' asked.
"a 100000. the two trays; each of the
| little bars Is worth $3.50"
And how much gold have you here al
| togetherp
10. between $4,000. 900 and SAC, 900, 900
worth. See 1t In there ranged up on the
shelves behind the iron bars"
looked, saw. and had another sensation.
SIS the gold which goes abroad sent in
these bricks and barsg"
"No; 1t was formerly sent that way, but
now 1t is shipped In coin. The silver, how
| ever. goes in big bars like these" aud the
chief pointed TO pile Of silver heaped on
the floor in bars, each weighing about
seventy-dve pounds aud worth nearly
1000. "f you are about here much you
must have seen truck loads of them going
down to the docKs."
"Whatl In open trucks without being
| boxed upf'
30, yes; silver bullion 10 usually shipped
just as you see II. Two or three men go
with each load for a safeguard, but the
man who drives these trucks understands
| his business. He is one of the characters of
the street-John Barley. You should see
him."
HONEST JOHN BARKLEY.
Half an hour later l was talking with q
| man who has been trusted with gold enough
to build che tower of Babel; in fact. CAL
culate from what he himself tells me THAI
during the thirty odd years he has monopo-
liked the business John Barley has tackled
$1,000, 900, 900 worth Of gold, which is three
times the entire amount estimated to be
owned by all the nations Of the earth.
Barley is a gruff. grizzly, weather
beaten fellow, about 90, and In spite of his
years it would be hard to find three men in
Wall street whom he could not handle.
Year in and year out, his stand is at the
corner Of Broad street and Exchange place,
where slate hanging to rusty nail with
misunderstanding pencil would scarcely
lead one to suppose that John Barley &
Son" were accustomed to handle
more gold and silver annually than
all the princes and potentates
living put together. Looking at this
rough man with his rough clothes and ways,
and rejecting that his unblemished honesty
has given him alone almost carte blanche
in all the treasure vaults of the CITY. to 90
and come and take what he likes, to carry
millions in coin back and forth on his own
sole esponsibility-whenI thought Of that
had another sensation.
What do you call fair load of goldg"
| asked.
30, from one to two million dollars worth.
i've carried as mucn as eight millions worth
in a day."
"How many of you guard each loadg'
"Three or four-two Of my men and one
or two representing the owners. We al
ways go armed, but have never had TO do
any shooting"
TWO BARS STOLEN
"Have you never lost any of the GOLD or
silver or had any of it stolen from your
trucksp
"Only once, and that was in the terrible
fog two years ago. The thieves took two
81, 900 silver bars Off the load and got away
with them. They couldn't carry any more
you see, because the stuff is SO heavy.
| They were fools enough to think the bars
| were lead and sold them to a plumber for a
few dollars. That led to their detection,
and the whole of them, plumber and all,
were sent up for Ii"
'And who was held responsible for the
loss of the barsp'
John Barley looked me over as II he
took my question as personal affront
II can't say who would have been held
found missing about 10 o'clock that night
and that had paid 10 the bankers who IN
trusted them to me their full value before 8
o'clock the next morning"
Changing the subject, | inquired about
the manner of carting the gold, which, il
seems, is received from the treasury in
Wall street in canvas bags containing s., 900
each, in eagles, double eagles or half eagles,
the proportion in shipment of say $780,
QUO being forty bags Of d uble eagles, forty