Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1896-12-24

The watch force n divided into thPes
reliefu. Nike an army guard, only no treas
ury Waterman IL on post longer ,than the
soldier. Each Of the night watches is
made ND Of twice the rumber Of men In
the day watch. A. gany Of robbers, 20
effect an entrance at the main door after
nightfali, would have to use gathering
ram ON the iron outer door, and by the
time they had stove Il In they would he
flanked by the entire police force OF the
District, the soldery from Fort Myer
and the arsenal and the marines from the
barracks, with all of which forces the
treasury has direct alarm connections.
There IL something eerie about the big
treasury building ut night. Ten minutes
before midnight the watchmen OF the
"mid" watch are all on hand at the main
entrance, and they all make their APP
pearance at the iron door Mt once, to the
very minute of time. apparently spring
ing from the ground. The silence Is only
broken by the frequent ringing OF the
post-register above the head of the lieu
tenant of the watch. Their lowered
voices seem to fit with the surrounding
solemnity. From their manner one might
easily imagine that there was heavy tight
| ing work cut ont for them before dawn
kind of st-before-the-battle" man
ner that Is distinctly impressive.
Each Waterman has regular perma-
nent post. He Is not permitted to smoke.
rend or write while on duty. His busi-
ness Is solely to watch. If he goes to
sleep and is discovered by the watch
patrol he Is certain to be discharged upon
being reported the next day. At the end
of each round the Waterman touches his
electrical button, which informs the lieu
tenant of the watch at his desk Mt the
main door that everything is well with
| him.
| The two most important posts are
those which include within their limits
| the gold and silver vaults, which are side
by side. The Waterman who looks aftei
the cash room vault is locked in the cash
room when he goes on post, and patron
the gallery ut frequent intervals, regis
| tering each visit to the door of the yaui
ms he passes the electrical button. Thus
IL n robber contrived to get into the casi
room and oyercame the Waterman, tn
cessation of registering reports would IN
form the lieutenant of the watch tina
something had gone wrong on that post
Then. by means of the electrical signals
tho lieutenant would quickly Assembly
force of watchmen of whatever size n
considered necessary. These watchmel
would go to the room of the captain OF tn
watch-in which, by the way, is huns
framed, the silk American flag in whic
Booths spur caught when he jumpe
from the Ford's Theater box after havin
shot President Lincoln-take each
Springfield rifle from the rife rack, stra
on one of the army campaign belts crowd
ed full of cartridges, and proceed IN
body to the cash room.
, The Waterman who stands guard owe
} the gold and silver vaults is locked in a
! ante-room, the hall end of which is forme
of heavy wire, leading to the vaults. II
: remains thus locked up during the entir
, eight hours of his guard tour, and
seated beside the vault doors. He toucl
es off his registering apparatus at regr
: lar intervals. At the present time tn
I Waterman guarding these vaults has tn
. responsibility of $140,OOO,O0O in silvt
i coin and $3,000,00O in gold coin on h
! hands. The bulk of the United State
e gold bullion and coin is kept at the sui
a treasury in New York. The silver
c packed in oblong boxes, ten bags to
!, box. one thousand dollars to bag. III
: silence of the tomb reigns in the ant
$ room where the vault Waterman puts
] his eight hours.
] BY pressing his ear tgainst the vau
v doors, the faint clicking of the time lock