Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1892-04-29
MANY TONS OF GOLD.
row PRECIOUS METAL is SHIPPED
IN BULK TO EUROPE.

i'acked in Bags and Kegs and Carried in
Little Opportunity to Get Away with
she Heavy BsNion-The Truckman.
Assuming, gentle reader, that you do or
Go not possess a profound and comprehen-
sive knowledge of Wall street-if you dc
you understand already the why's and
yfherefores of this puzzling flow of Amer
iran gold to Europe" if you do not, then
fothing could say would help you; fol
il is true in these matters also that the
blind cannot lead the blind, although
lave heard it whispered they now and then
try to do SO.
So we will take it for granted simply
that American gold is for good and suffi
cient reasons flowing" across the Allan
tic, and content ourselves with Investigate
ing how it ''flows,'' by which 1 mean the
manner of its transportation.
And first, have you any idea how much
gold has been shipped from New York in
the past two weeks? No? Well, then
listen and wonder-not less than seven tons
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 ]
experienced a new and pleasurable SEN
sation when the white haired, kind faced
chief of the establishment laid in my hand
| 81 yellow brick, which looked like nothing
80 much as pat of prize butter, and in.
formed me that was holding Sc, 600 worth
tf gold. 1851 degs. pure.
SIS the gold which goes abroad sent in
these bricks and bars?"
mo. 1t was formerly sent that way, but
How it is shipped in coin. The silver, how
ever, goes in big bars like these" and the
chief pointed to a pile of silver heaped on
the floor in bars, each weighing about sew
enty-five pounds and worth nearly thou
sand dollars. eff you are about here much
Jou must have seen truck loads of them
going down to the docks"
"Whatl In open trucks without being
lloxed up?"
ooh, yes. Silver bullion is usually
shipped just as you see it. Two or three
men go with each load for a safeguard, but
the man who drives those trucks under
stands his business He is one of the char
tcters of the street-John Barley. You
should see him."
Half an hour later was talking with a
tnan who had been trusted with gold
enough to build the Tower of Babel; in
fact calculate from what he himself tells
me that during the thirty odd years he
has monopolized the business John Bark
ley has trucked Sc, 600, 900, 600 worth of gold,
which is three times the entire amount es-
timated to be owned by all the nations OF
the earth.
Barley is gruff, grizzly, weather
beaten fellow, about sixty, and in spite OF
his years it would be hard to find three
fnen in Wall street whom he could not
handle. Looking at this rough man with
his rough clothes and ways, and rejecting
that his unblemished honesty has given
lin alone almost carte blanche in all the
reasure vaults of the city, to go and come
md take what he likes, to carry millions
coin back and forth on his own sole re
onsibility-when I thought of that had
mother sensation.
What do you call a fair load of gold?"
asked.
"Oh, from s., 100000 to 100000 worth.
I've carried as much as $4,000 900 worth in
day."
GLOW many of you guard each load"
'aThree or four-two of my men and one
r two representing the owners. We al
ways go armed, but have never had to do
my shooting"
inquired about the manner of carting
| he gold, which, it seems, is received from
| he treasury in Wall street in canvas bags
| containing $1,000 each, in eagles, double
| Eagles or half eagles, the proportion in a
ihipment of say 100000 being forty bags
| If double eagles, forty bags of eagles and
| twenty bags of half eagles. These bags,
| zach Of which weighs 268. 10 troy ounces,
ire loaded into Barley trucks and driven
| by him to the banking house which is
lending them away. There the gold is
counted and packed away in kegs, with ten
Of the $1,000 bags to each keg. These are
| hoped up securely, sealed with the firms
| private seal and again put upon the trucks
| 10 be carried to the steamer. The entire
| amount is first insured for its full value,
| The rate being about one-eighth of one per
cent. The steamship companies charge
about the same for carrying the precious
| load.
| Now let us imagine Barley with his ten
| kegs of gold, each about the size of an
| oyster key, Weighing nearly ton, arrived
at the gangplank of the steamer. The
| captain and purser are there ready to re
| seive him and give receipts for ''ten pack
| ages contents supposed to be gold" Bark
ley drives away, his responsibility being
| over when that of the purser begins, for it
is usually the purser or third officer who
takes charge of the treasure while it is at
| sea.
All the great transatlantic liners are
now built with a special treasure room
which is sometimes placed amidships, as in
La Champagne, and sometimes far aft, as
in the Aurania, which visited in my pur
suit of knowledge. In any case the room
is an iron walled vault about eight Or ter
| feet in each dimension and entered only
from the top by hatch about yard
| square. The iron walls are three or foul
| inches thick and the bolts and bars and
! locks which hold down the hatch would
keep an expert burglar busy for a long
| tinle.-New York Herald.