Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1899-08-24

! SIanI guard at the treasury depart
ment however, burglars could do
about as they chose with the safes in
/ the treasury building. The safes are
| as good as any made, but even manu-
facturers Of safes admit that the safe
has not yet been devised that the
modern craftsman cannot get into
The best that modern builders of safes
| can do is to build them in such fashion
as to involve the greatest possible con-
sumption Of time on the part Of the
craftsmen who attempt 10 get into
them, thus rendering their detection
during the progress Of their work more
likely.
An expert manipulation of safe COM
binations was summoned to the treas
ury from New York not long ago to
open a safe that declined to respond
to its figures. The expert opened the
safe in half a minute. Then he made
tour Of the building and opened
every one OF the safes except those
fitted with time locks. There was not
one OF them that he didn't get into
within IA minutes after making the
first turn OF the combination handles.
He modestly stated to the officials ac-
companying him that he didn't amount
to much as safe opener, and that
there were any number OF cracksmen
at large who could do anything he did
in one-half the time.
The treasury watch force is divided
into three reliefs, like an army guard,
only the treasury Waterman is on post
longer than the soldier His tour of
duty lasts eight hours. The first
watch of the day goes on at 8 o'clock
IN the morning. 1t is relieved at
in the afternoon by the watch which
remains on duty until midnight. The
midnight watch, which is regarded as
the most important of the three, COM
pletes the triple-linked guard chain,
and goes off at in the morning. AL
though, as stated, the mid watch, So
called, is considered to carry the great
est weight Of responsibility of the
three, on account of the well-known
nocturnal preferences of burglars.
Capt. Cobaugh, the head of the, watch
force, is of the opinion that the day
guard needs to be more on the alert
for surprises than either night shift.
Eight of the night Watches" said he
the other day, sis made up of twice the
number Of men comprising the day
watch, in spite of the fact that should
an attempt ever be made to loot the
treasury the job would unquestionably
be attempted in the daytime. At
night it would be impossible for an
organized band of robbers to gain &C
cess to the building, for all the en-
frances are securely locked and guard
ed after o'clock in the afternoon. A
gang Of robbers after nightfall would
have to employ dynamite and batter
ing rams, and by the time they had
made a thoroughfare tney would be
fianked by the entire police force of
the district, the soldiers from Fort
Myer and Washington Barracks and
the Marine Barracks, with all of which
forces we have direct alarm communi-
cations. Such an assault is about as
probable as another sacking Of Wash
ingtOn by the British.
eve should have much more diff
Guilty in repelling a day invasion. A
large number of robbers, for instance,
might walk into the building in broad
daylight, when the department is open
to visitors, entering at the many
different doors so as not to attract
attention. At given signal, all of
them having assembled at a con-
venient point, they might make an
onslaught upon the cash room, where
in the neighborhood of $500, 900 900 in
currency is kept, and hold up the
clerks and other employees in the room
at once.
"An attack Of this sort would give
the men of the day watch a heap of
thinking to do within a short space of
time. Of course, even if band of day
light robbers successfully accomplished
this trick, they could not get away
with their booty, even if they had
race horses waiting for them outside
the building. They would be
swooped down upon by uniformed men
in such numbers that with them it
would be a case of hands up before
they had reached the exits. Not
berry Of the treasury is much more
practicable than a night robbery, al
though I should not particularly care
to be a ringleader Of such foolhardy
robbers, either at high noon or mid
night. There would be some tall old
shooting in this building on such an
OCCASION"
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the treasury at night are each required
to ring up the main entrance by
touching button every five minutes
during their tour of duty. In case
they do not register it is taken for
granted that there is something
wrong and a patrol is sent to investi-
gate. A few years ago the man who
was locked in the cash room for his
eight-hour tour, beginning at mid
night, overlooked the registering end
Of his job after the first half hour,
and the patrol approached that part
of the building with the light footballs
of Italian opera conspirators, each man
with Winchester and a pair of 4S's.
The Waterman was found stretched
out on the f1oor-not dead, but deliri-
ously happy. There was a nearly
empty quart flask beside him. He lost
his job, Of course. These are the sort
of scares that are occasionally thrown
into the watch force, but the men who
guard the building are always wait
ing, nevertheless, for the actual ap-
pearance of the men with the masks
and the iimmieS New York Sun