The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-03-01

The Second National bank officers
nave just had an embarrassing expert
ence with the great Corliss safe, in
which they store their cash and securi-
ties. For. three days it refused to be
opened, and the4sresult was that on
saturday and Monday the bank Off
Gals were unable to get at the quarter
mlii1on OF dollars Of gold and bonds
winch they keep on hand for ready use,
and they had to borrow money for
current use from the First National
oank and several other friendly insti-
tutlons that had it to spare. The fact
tnat phe safe was SO securely locked
| that 1t could not be opened by ordinary
methods was kept a secret by the bank
oInclals and employees, and there are
probably not a dozen persons in the
city who knew of the banks peculiar
pred1cament.
The discovery that the safe was out
or gear was made by Cashier Fred
Monfort when he arrived at the bank
saturday morning. He went to the
safe to open it. as usual. but to his sur
prise the door would not yield to his
EFFORTS. He tried numerous combina-
lions. but all without success, and as
customers began to arrive he was in
most embarrassing position. He could
not get at a cent of all that was behind
the closed doors of the safe,- and he
| needed ready money immediately. So
| ne notified George G. Garrow, agent in
this city for the Diebold Safe company,
who is an expert safe opener, and as
soon as Mr.. GarroW arrived and exam
lned the safe he saw that he had a diff
f1cult job on hand. He told Mr.. Mon
tort he could not open the safe within
a day, and then Mr.. Monfort notified
his father, President Monfort, of the
hn l.,
| ~ went down town and informed his
banker friends Of the circumstances.
PRESIDENT Upham, of the First Ma
tlonal bank. volunteered to loan him
| all the money he required for immedi-
| ate use, and thus lifted a load of worry
| from his mind.
| Meanwhile Mr.. Garrow with two as
! slstants was at work on the safe. The
| safe is a large one, spherical in form
| and is enclosed within another large
| square structure of steel. Every effort
| to open the door proved futile and
| then it. was decided to turn the safe
over on one side. The safe weighs sew
| en- and one-half tons, and being per-
| fectly round, 1t was a difficult matter
to get good purchase upon It, 1t was
| necessary to rig a tackle inside the
outer safe and grid the inner safe
| about with ropes like balloon In or
| der to get grip on 1t. This work oc-
| cupled the greater part of Saturday,
| but when the safe was finally turned
the door still remained closed and OBJ
| Gurate.
Again the safe was turned back to
! its original position on the base and
the men adjourned for the night. But
| they returned to the work on Sunday
| morning and labored all day without
| results.
When President TsMenfort learned
that the safe was still tightly closed
Monday morning he was apprehensiVe
| least 1t might be impossible to open 1t,
! but the banks again came to his aid
| and loaned him enough money to tide
| him over another day.
All day Monday Mr.8Garrow and his
men worked at the safe,s and finally
Mr.. Garrow deoidedato drill it, He
had discovered tfatrthe trouble lay at
a certain spot at the door, and he be-
| lieved that II he drilled it and struck
it exactly right he would open it. So
he went to work at 1t with a ratchet
| and drill, and for ten hours labored
hard and faithfully. His effoftfwas re-
/ Warded1 about 80 in the evening, when
| the obstinate door swung open.
| President Monfort, who was present.
was overjoyed when he saw that door
| open, and as soon as the men had
| cleaned up and fixed the door so 1t
would open again in the morning he
| took Mr.. Garrow and his assistants
| to hotel and gave them a. champagne
| supper.
The safe is now in good order, and
the Second National bank is doing
| business with more convenience than
| 1t did Saturday ard Monday