The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-02-08

them. An officer of the Lincoln Safe De-
post Company said:
THE people in the country were quick
to recognize the advantages of the safe
deposit vault, and hundreds of our Gus
toners live out of town. They have their
Valuables here and the tramp ana the
burglars have fewer terrors for them than
for their neighbors who are less wise.
The safeguards, consisting of great doors
with many layers of chilled steel and time
locks, competent, honest and wellTarmed
watchmen and perfect precautionary
measures, make breaking into saLety
deposit vault almost an imposslDlllty.
But suppose a man did get through the
outergate'' the official said, what good
would it do him? Here is a room lined
on both sides with small safes OF various
sizes. All around the place, moor, ROOF
and sides, everything is solid steel. Now,
take it for granted the man even mad
key TO one of the safes. 1t would be per-
fectly useless to him. because before he
could open the box an attendant must
prepare the lock with a master key, ana
as every customer is known to our people,
the lock of a box would surely not be pre-
pared for any persdA unless he had right
10 the box, and afetr he had been there
a little while he would probably be more
anxious to get out again than TO make
any further efforts to get at other peoples
property
When a person rents a box in safe
deposit vault he is impressed at once with
the thoroughness of the system and the
evident determination on the part or the
company that an unauthorized person
shaIt have access to the subscribers
treasures. The new customer II ne has
been found worthy to have box at any
where from IS to $1,000 year and If the
officers have no fear that he will put
bomb or anything of that kind into 1t,
is registered and must tell his residence,
place of birth. profession age, night,
weight, place of business, if married or
single and size of family. To this record
the officials add other points of description
acteristics of the face, hair and figure,
and when ii is all done the patron selects
a password which will serve as further
means of Identification If by any chance
the gateman does not recognize him.
"a list of articles con tanned in the strong
boxes would surprise and amuSe you, -
said a bank official, land although 1t is
believed that securities, stocks and bonds
form the bulk of the va4uables kept in the
valuts, there are hundreds Of other valua-
bles OF course, the bank officers and the
attendants are not expected to know what
is in the boxes, and they would not give
any knowledge on that score but for the
customers themselves, who, in many in
stances. become communicative and tell
of their treasures and then show them. So
we know that one man rents and pays reg
ularly for a box which never contained
anything more than his naturalization pa
pers. He comes every little while and
takes the box out and examines the doeu-
ment and puts it away again and walks
out with a strut which shows that he
knows he is still secure in his citizenship
Then there are boxes in which family Sc
crets are hidden away, and other boxes
with divorce papers ana all sorts OF legal
documents, commissions and diplomas,
love letters and jewelry. We hear of
these things and are frequently called
upon to admire some old piece of iewe.ry
or to hear the story connected with lock
of hair or a ragged and yellow letter"
Most of the safe deposit concerns have
stock of goods on hand for which they
have no use, but must keep, because the
owners cannot be found. According to
the charters of the companies, when a
patron neglects to pay his box rent for
q 1- ont 10
istered letter, and if in sixty days he does
not pay the amount due the box is broken
open and the contents are stored until an
owner can be found. BY this process, -
it was said, we have accu-
mulated lot of truck, which
is of no value to us, but of which
we can make no disposal. Many of the
boxes were found empty and they were
probably rented for the safe-keeping of
some document which had been taken
away and the boxholder did not think If
worth while to return the key We have
also been directed by the Surrogate TO
open boxes to look for wills which were
supposed to be in our possession
Among the unpleasant experiences
which all safe deposit companies have are
the complaints of patrons who say that
their boxes have been broken into and
every instance the missing articles have
been found, either in the box or in the
homes OF the persons who thought they
had been robbed. A recent case was that
of a woman VINO came to the safe deposit
vaults to take from her box some jewelry
which she wanted to wear at the opera
that evening. The attendant prepared the
lock for her, she then opened the little
compartment and the box was taken out
and handed to her. She placed il on one
of the little tables provided for that pur-
pose, and in a few moments said with
much excitement that the biggest piece in
the box, valued at a large amount was
missing. She was told to look again and
she did So but insisted that the piece was
gone
Everything was replaced in the box. the
little safe was locked and the woman
drove away i'm a hystercal condition. The
next day she came again, and her looks
indicated that she told the truth when she
said that she had not been able TO s9eep
a wink because of her loss. Another
search was made, and one of the first OBJ
jects the gr.ef-stricken woman took from
it is" she said, "and l missed the opera
because i though IL was gone"
The Whale Story