The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-20
S4,25o,ooo GOLD.
How This Sum Was Handled in Trans
atlantic Passage.
From the New York Press.

Communicating trucks were the four
which rolled down Broadway Thursday
without causing even a ripple of excite
ment in the MONDAY crowd which hustled
along that thoroughfare. Some few peo-
pie may have shot passing glance at the
procession, not for the reason that the
trucks were laden with small boxes, but
because there were four well dressed men
on each truck The men did not look as
| If they had to steal a ride, and yet each
| seemed intent on retaining his place.
| When one or two urchins attempted to
''catch on hind the men rudely ordered
them off.
ON reaching Trinity church the four
| trucks turned into Wall street Two
minutes later they were lost behind the
green wooden gates which separate the
| United States sub-treasury from the
assay office. just thirty minutes after
the trucks had entered the alley they
were again on Broadway. The four men
who had occupied places of honor were
not there Neither were the little wooden
| boxes, The latter had been removed to
| the specie room of the Sub-treasury build
| ing, and the men were trying to cool their
Threats, parched by the anxiety of guard
| ing millions of dollars.
The four trucks contained 126 unsuspi-
| cious looking wooden boxes which were
strapped at either end with thick steel
bands. Each box contained gold coin, the
total value being 81, 100000. The value of
| the precious yellow metal in each box
varied from S25, 900 to $50, 900 1t all came
| from the steamship Spree of the North
| German Lloyd company which carried it
| from Southampton to this port. The con-
signment was the largest that ever
reached the United States in one vessel.
On the steamship it was secreted in a
| little room to which the light of day
never peeped, and so far below the main
deck as to make it impossible for any one
| to reach 1t either from Outside or in with
out the permission of the captain and
purser.
| August Tielbaar, purser of the Spree,
| has the credit of being the custodian of
| the largest amount of specie that ever
was brought across the ocean at one time.
! Mr.. Tielbaar is a comparatively young
man, and yet ne is the senior of the Nord
| Deutscher Lloyd pursers. He stands 6
| built and looks perfectly capable of un-
| dertaking the task of guarding millions.
| His cheeks are red, his hair and beard are
| blond and his eyes of the clear blue type,
| denoting shrowdness, honesty and cour-
| age. He laughed yesterday as he ex-
| planned the means he adopted for caring
| for the treasure, and said ii had not
1
| Most of the gold for this country is
| shipped from Southampton. It is placed
on the tender and carried to the vessel,
which lies at anchor In the stream. On
| being taken aboard it is lowered by
means of crane to the orlop deck, where
the 'specie compartment" is situated,
| Just forward of the after hatch. The
| specie compartment is about IS feet in
| length Is feet wide and 10 feet high
The walls, floor and ceiling are all of
steel.
The only means of access is q little
steel door, about five feet high, which
opens into the after-lfatch and is fastened
| by two locks, which operate dozen bolts.
| The purser and captain are the only ones
who have keys to the compartment, and
| it would only be in the event of the pur-
/ sers being i'll that the captain would open
| the doors.
When the gold is safely stored and the
| door locked the hatch is battened down
! on the orlop deck. Freight and baggage
are piled upon it, so that until it is re-
moved it is impossible for any one to get
near the valuable metal. A thief might
| find his way into the hold, but he would
have to have as much strength and more
| hands than Sampson in order to make
away with even one of the boxes, which
generally weigh abont $50 pounds.
| It took force of twenty-five men to
| discharge the SIX and a hall tons OF gold
which the Spree carried. Superintendent
! Hugo Baur of the Bremen pier directed
| the movements Of the longshoremen who
| loaded the packages on the trucks. Pur-
| ser Tielbaar, who is held personally re-
| sponsible for the safe delivery of the
| boxes, had a dozen Of the sailors of the
| Spree removing the cases from the specie
| room. A dragnet, made out of three-inch
| specie rope, is used in removing the pack
ages from the hold. The net is operated
| by steam winch, which hoists about
! three packages at time and then lowers
| them down the chute. Along each side
of the chute is a guardrail foot high,
which would prevent the boxes from
| dropping on board, but so careful are the
steamship companies that two men cling
to the drag-net and are lowered with each
package from the deck to the docks.
| When the gold is all removed the specie
| compartment is swept and cleaned for
| the purpose of discovering If any of the
| precious metal has slipped out from the
| boxes. None has ever been found after
! bringing specie from Europe; but several
| years ago. after carrying a number OF
| cases of Mexican dollars from this port to
! Southampton, several hundred of the
! pieces were found on the floor Of the com
partment. The seams of the boxes had
/ separated and the coins dropped out.
/
| Orlando. Fla. June ,, 1s92.-Messrs. Ltpp-
| man Bros. Proprietors Z. z. P. Savannah,
| Ca. Centlemen-I feel it my duty to inform