The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-09-22

Up in the third story. through nu-
merous walls and iron doors and up
winding iron stairways is the arsenal.
An cd colored man who fought in the
navy and on land Is the king Of this
room. He is a Shrewd, intelligent fell
low, and has picked UP a wonderful
knowledge of firearms. He follows ali
the new inventions carefully, and if
they are worthy, induces the officials
to introduce them into his arsenal. In
this way the defensive and offensive
equipments are kept strictly up to
date. He spends most of his time
repeating rifles; the 100 45-caliber re-
volvers and the rapid-fre guns and
keeping the ammunition nicely
creased. He also inspects the hand
grenades, some of them three-pounders
and OTHERS five-pounders.
This old coiored man is confident
that the subtreasury could stand off
a mob of 100000 men. The work is a,
matter of perpetual excitement to
him and he goes about it as if he ex-
pected a fearful attack within a quar-
ter Of an hour. It is safe to say that
if the emergency arises where the use
of arms Will be necessary, those in the
Subtreasury will be found to be in fine
working order Fifteen hundred hand
grenadeS are scattered about various
parts of the building and it would only
take one of them to wreck a good
sized structure.
Many Miniature Fortresses.
Each one of The many narrow win
oows can be used as a miniature fort
ress- They all have recesses three
feet deep, and are fitted with shutters
OF one-quarter-inch boiler iron. The
windows are about four feet square,
large enough to accommodate two
marksmen, who can sit in the recesses
and do great execution with their
rifles through the portfolios. Every
other window is fitted with a bonnet
attachment. BY detaohing a pin the
bonnet swings outward so that it ex-
tends several feet outside the sill. Two
men can sit inside and either shoot
with rifles through the portfolios or
drop hand-grenadeS through a hole in
the bottom upon the belqigerent indi-
viduals who may gather below.
In the roof above the porches on the
Wall street and Pine street sides of
the building are dozens of holes about
eight inches in diameter. They look
harmless enough when you glance I'D
at them from the stone steps below,
but each one of these holes is the cen
ter Of a fearful arsenal Grouped
about them are boxes holding dozens
of Spear-pointed grenades. Should any
riotous mob strive to ascend the
granite steps leading to the entrance
doors, one grenade loaded with dts five
pounds of bullets dropped through one
Of the holes would scatter the assail-
ants in little pieces towards all points
of the compass.
The Interior Defenses.
Every precaution possible is taken to
keep a mob at a distance from the
building, but should all these prove
Intellectual and an entrance be gained
the real struggle would take place in
side the building. There are scores of
small rooms, each peftioned off from
the other by walls of stone and steel.
In event Of necessity each one of these
rooms could be made a formidable
fortress.
Long, deep apertures, so narrow that
fat man would find some difficulty
in working his way through, lead to
the money vaults. Should an army of
burglars try to force their way in, they
could only pass through one at a time,
and they could be picked off so easily
by q single marksman on the other
side that the passageway would be
choked up in no time.
There are four doors 10 each vault
and all fastened by time locks. Six
teen immense steel bolts hold each
door, and 1T would be days Job for
a skilled burglar to cut through one
of these bolts. It would be easier for
a thief to cut his way through the
eight feet of granite wall from the
outside than to go to work on the
doors.
In fact all the danger from robbing
lies among those employed in the
building, and they are chosen with
such extreme care and are so vigorous
ly watched that there is little danger
from that source. The sums handled
are so immense that, of course. the
temptation is great. but no robbery
has yet occurred in the subtreasury.
although there have been many in the
treasury at Washington. All the en-
ployeeS are taught to look upon money
as so much merchandise-like dry
goods, groceries and provisions. The
buying capacity of the stuff probably
never enters the head of the handler.
If it does and he gives any signs of it.
he is discharged without delay.
Whenever money is taken from the
vaults, two men go in together as a,