Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1893-08-08
s5,5oo IN AN oLDR CARPET.

Gold Recovered In the Mint at House
Cleaning - The Counting OF MIL
lions.
From the san Francisco ExAninerI
The longer cArpe; is used In the ooiners
department e; the United States mint the
more 1t is worth. Wear and tear do dImin-
iuh lite value. Yesterday a thick wooden
carpet that has been on the cOlners' aoor
for seven years was taken up and carefully
crsmated. The precious ashes were scru-
pulously gathered together, IS if they were
the relics of some departed saint, and by
an elaborate refining process the govern
ment recovered 219 ounces Of gold. worth
over S.. 800. Ths metal had bsen deposited
By the infinitesimsl sbrasion= and dtsinte-
grAtions of the yellow metal while being
converted from bullion into coin.
Even the hesvy gloves of tbs men who
handle bullion are inclnersted. and the gold
is brought back TO Uncle Sans Golfers.
Even the smoke from the furnaces ussd
for melting the metal is made to redeliver
the treasure with which /; Is trying TO es-
cape, and from Ih- SCOT in tbs chimney
cunning little ba:s Of Tue yellow stuff are
secured
The mint in this city T. just nov nnd,r
going the process Of house cleaning. II IS
an annual occurrence at thst institution, but
this year, on sccouRt of the exit of Central
W. Fl. D!mond as superintendent, and the
entrance of ex Lieutenant Governor Dag
gett to that position, the house cleaning is
much more thorough than usual. Toe
house cleaning includes counting the cssb.
In the ordinary annual count the seals Of
the safes are not broken. If they are un-
Injured and bear upon them The amount in
the vault, which they almost always do. the
vsult IL not opened. At this time, hoEey-
er owing to the change of administration,
every vault will be opened AS starter.
two gangs OF men went TO work yesterday
morning In a vault containing :, 500 silver
bars.
Inside the vault the 2 500 white bars lay
piled in one corner, the pile stretching the
whole length of the vault, abnut fifteen
feet, and as high a. a man's chin. The
bars measure shout l2xGa6 inches, and each
bears the number and stamp of the rt finer,
the fneness aud the mint number, 'hs
weight before and after taking the essay
chip, and hatteued corner, showing where
the chip was taken from. The men so at
them with crow-bars and pry them ont of
the tiera in which they lay, aud then lab
urer lifts the bar With evident exer;Ior sud
bangs 1t down on little car. The vault
resouuds with the c2ucussioD, the numbeT,
weight aud fneness are called off and
checked off, and the car is urloaaed In an
other corner.
At frequsrt intervals bars are weighed.
Yesterday morning the first two hundred
bars were weight d. bat all were found cor
T, ct, and beyond an occasional test. the
stamp was Gfierward taken SIS correct. The
bars weigh about one hundred posnds
spisca, aud in the . $40 there is about ST.
100, 600. Iu all there is $35 900, 000 10 sil
YER for the inspectors to count. and enough
gold to make about $50, 600, 600 in all.
Most of the metal is in bars, but there sew
ersl million dollars in silver coin tn be
handled, and this also will be counted by
weight.
The sweepIngs of the institution for the
past year are now being assayed, after
which they will be sold TO the highest bid
der. In former years as much as 5000
has been obtained from the sweepings Of
the local mint, and they will surely be up
to the standard this year. At leas. 60 say
experts on mint sweepipgs.