The morning news., 1894-10-21
GUARDS OF THE TREASURY.
They Keep Watch and Ward over the
Golfers of Uncle Sam.
FROM the Washington stor.

Most people who have lived all their
lives in Washington have never noticed
three little wooden houses. hardly bigger
than dry goods boxes, which stand at
the corners of the treasury building. Each
of them is only about six feet square.
with a table. chair and pitcher and
basin for furniture. Inquiry develops the
fact that they are occupied by watchmen.
These watchmen constitute the outside
guard of the treasury. 1t Is their business
to patrol the streets around the building
Three of them are on duty at night, ana
one in the day time Every half hour each
one of them is required to touch a bell
which notifies the captain of the watch
that the patrolman is on duty.
This outside guard has been maintained
for so long a time that nobody seems to
know when il was first established. no
active duty has ever been required of it,
though there have been occasional false
alarms But there is no telling what fine
night an attempt might be made to bur
glarize the Golfers of Uncle Sam.
If such an attempt were made, however,
the only practicable way to carry 1t out
would be by mining. From the cellar or a
house across Fifteenth street tunnel
might be run, with proper calculations,
directly into the great strong-room In the
basement of the treasury. Once arrived
there, the robbers, If undiscovered would
find themselves overwhelmed by literal
embarrassment of riches.
Imagine the state of mind of an enter
prising burglar with Sl55OOO.OOO in silver
and gold Immediately accessible! Unpro-
tected, save by steel lattice, he beholds
100 900 900 silver dollars In a single gigantic
box. But what of use is this vast accumu-
lation Of glitterng wealth to him, weigh
ing as II does, 5000 tons2 He can only gaze
upon it with a sign and turn to. the gold
vault. Which is defended by two massive
steel doors.
THE burglars of a generation ago would
have regarded such doors as an impregna-
Bile obstacle. Not so, however, his success
sor of to-day. In the competition between
the safe builder and the safe breaker the
latter is away ahead thus far. With his
machine drills and high explosives he can
make his way into the strongest vault
ever constructed. A committee recently
appointed by congress declared that the
treasury vaults were old-tashioned anu
far from burglar-proof
To escape observation by the watchmen
on duty the hypothetical gang OF burglars
would do well to tunnel directly into the
gold vault, which could be entered from
beneath. They would have no trouble IN
carrying away all the yellow metal Iound
there. for Uncle Sam is very poor at pres
ent and Just now this particular strong
hoy contains only SO, $50. 900 in gold. The
rest of the gold belonging to the govern
ment is scattered about in the sub-treas-
uries and mints.
The quantity Of gold mentioned weighs
only little more than seven snort ions'
n could easily be carried off through the
tunnel to the house across the street The
burglars could then put 1t on wagon
and drive away with It. Presumably
they would not care to touch the A8,O09'-
600 in silver dollars now stored in the goid
vault. nor yet 100000 In fractional silver
and minor coin. They would have no
dificuIty in melting up the stolen gold
and disposlng of II as bullion, IL that were
thought desirable.
II would hardly be possible for the rob
bers to get at the vaults upstairs In which
the paper money Is kept. If they could
do 40 unobserved, Il would be easy enough
FOR them to drill a few holes and take
out s50OO0,OOO or So The packages OF
notes and certificates are all labeled with
the amounts they contain in big red fig
ures. so that the most valuable bundles
could be selected offhand. There might
be trouble however, In dsposing OF notes
the numbers Of which would be promptly
advertised by the treasury.
In case OF an emergency at night, there
are always at least eighteen guards az
hand I'm the treasury. This number-all
OF them being qicked men and armed to
the teeth-would be sufficient to overcome
any gang OF burglars Should an at
tempt be made to get the better Of the
watch by forco Of numbers. calls for as
slstance could be sent By telephone to
tho Marine barracks, the Washington ar
senal and Fort Myer. AZ Fort Myor are
four troops Of cavalry