The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-09-23
STRONG BOXES OF THE I. S:
THE BIG vAULTS ~ THE TREtStRf
BrIIDING ~ WASHfAGION.
More Room Required TO Hold the coin 81 the
Goyernment-Ihe safes Are Not Up to
Date. but the weight 20 Coin Protects IL
From l:nbbcries In Large Amounts.
Fran he WdshinDton Post

AT all up 10 date in the mode of their constrlc-
tion, nor burglar proof hy any means, and
II might bc II good thing II they were torn out
altogether aud replaced with vaults Of the
proper kind, such ~ ,afc deposit &C mpnnics
nave nowadays. But that would cost n great
deal OF money perhaps NJ much ~ i,OOO,OoO-
and the Government would prefer 10 avoid
such an expenditure
Away back In 1902 this question was agl.
attcd. and Congress went 20 tar rs to appoint
a special committee. with an appropriation Of
s3,U1O, To make an Examination Oi the vaults
~ the Treasury and report ON thci' SonG''sO~
The report was decidedly unfavorable, con-
demning the arrangements us practically OBJ
sulctC, but nuthit WIS attempted IN the way
Of substantial improvements. II was In the
same year that All expert came on from New
York, and. at the request OF tn" Treasurer,
with only q few ordinary tools OF the kind used
IN safe repairing, opened one OF the big strong-
Spventy-nve thousand dollars have been
appropriated for the present alterations, which
consist in patt Of n new yestibule and strong
doors Tor the great silver -torag" yault, TINS
vault cost s30,uO0 originally, ana extends under
a." terrac" ~ ~" south crd Of the Treasury
building, II contains a mighty box of steel
latticcwoTk. - feet long, 81 feet wide, and II
feet high, filled check fun of silver dollars.
Visitors are permitted to walk around the
mass Of treasure. tollowiu a narrow passage
which run bet w"cn the sides Of the box and
the steel walls Of the vault.
This lat~tiCe-wUrk receptacle hold slOi 900 coo
IN silver, which i packed in wooden boxes. two
bags Of standard dollar, 70 a boz, aud each box
WIS NUS = l'N''i- TN wy. ''li' No'
simply stacked w IN bags, but Notwithstanding
the walls OF steel, danlpu"sN rottcd the bags and
the money ran out Of them. This made extra
trouble requiring fresh counts. and II Is no
Smal job to reckon over such u gigantic sum III
metal. Hence 1t was decided 70 pack the stun
in boNes, Each sack contains $1,000, and so long
a. the Treasurer's seal on II Is intact its con-
tents do not have TO be verified on occasions
when reCOunts are made.
The bond vault is to be enlarged greatly.
doubling - capacity a change made neces-
~ary by the increa sing number Of national banks
which dpuD.lt bonds IN the Treasury. MANY
private and State banks, taking advantage OF
the. recent act Of Congress are coming IN as
national banks, 4 new and thoroughly modern
strong room * to be built for the Registers
Office to hold cancelled paper money that IL
awaiting destruction in III" lnaCerator. Menu
while the Sub-Trea~ury IN New York * putting
in two additional vaults, one for gold and the
! length by % feet in width and " feet in height.
Gold and silver are pouring In here by tons
daily, and there Is no place, 10 plt AL Of II, AZ
the present lime that Nuh-Treaslry has on hand
si7OOOO,WO in gold coin and SIS. 0OO,No in silver.
There are now li2.oo.0oQ silver dollars in the
gold coin, The Treasury never keeps much
gold on hand here. tho great stock of the yellow
metal being held IN New lork and at the mint IN
Philadelphia. II on" wants to see crude gold in
masses he should visit the mint in the Quaker
city, where h" viii find stacked NJ in heaps OF
sion into coin. Al th" present. moment there IL
So, ZOO eo worth of gold bullion at this mint.
with s37. tpu,C0D in gold coin, not 10 mention
$50 90 900 in silver bullion ard coin.
Notwithstanding the fact that the Treasury
vaults compare 80 poorly WITH me impregnable
steel-Clud structures now used hv great private
concerns that have Naluables 10 protect the
Government feels fairly secure a. to the safety
Of it, stored wealth The best safeguard for
coin is lis weight just 10 illustrate this point.
II may be mentioned that the sl52. $4,000 in
silver now held in tie strong rooms of the
dollars IN gold coin weighs about two tons,
and Il would take a very strong man e, carry
a gold brick the shape and size Of an ordinary
building brick rcpresents $500, it's "heft" Is
beneath the Treasury by tunnel, and thus
pillage lncle Sans Golfers by a sort Of rat;
it is difficult To imagine how II would be prac-
ucable to remove much Of the coin
when Gilfllan was Treasurer, because u t. vaui,
in the cash room where the, ready money is
Ei"rMI re aI,5 ! ' f}, one GIocL 4 i Eu 9lW wa ,bi fe' od lcr 20 .
something seemed Ia be- wrong with the noel an
ism, and the steel doors remained o~bsllnn',y
money was locked ny. For once | nclo Sans
bank was Obliged 10 suspend payments Fly
pets were sent for and came with their tools
70 brnak omen The vault, but before they got
there the big safe had opened of its WI accord.
II turned out that the tinle-lock had been st
by an accident for y 20
In this vault not only gold and silver but
many millions ~ paper money are always Kept.
II Thieves could Obtain access 10 II they might
easily walk way with an enormous sum, the
notes and certificates being done up in packages
and neatly labelled with the sums they contain
in large red ngures, Each parcel hold 400
notes. and is in size just about a foot cube. II
the denomination il s5Ou. a single such package
Tei reS,ntS 81, OOO.COO However. ii anybody did
succeed In getting away with cash in this shape
he could hardly fail TO be caught, inasmuch a.
the number Of the bills would be advertised
Immediately, and ever, bank in the country
would be on the lookout for them.
Burglars may he practically excluded, but
the Treasury does not claim to be heft-proof,
on an %unluck{ day in 1870 a visitor came intd
the Treasures room with 2 large Panama hat
in his hand. The Treasurer attention was dis
tTdftpl nN some Otnpr people VINO were irving
to TAX 70 hun, and the man dropped his bat
ten-dollar notes. lying on the desk II was one
of several such packages, and the loss Of il wns
not noticed until some hours later. OF course
the notes were advertised. and some time after
ward a part Of them were deposited in n New
York bank. The deposltor was arx~ted. but
nobody was punished for the crime.
A%sinEular Immunity from punishment seems
70 have attended thieves who have robbed the
Treasury in such wayS. In 1873 a clerk named
notes, representing sI7, OoN. out of a window in
the cash room 10 n saloon keeper named Ott-
man. For ~ome time the robbery remained a
mystery. nut later on one Theodore Brown was
caught betting on the races N Saratoga with
~umeofthe missing $500 notes. He was arrested
and implicated Ottman and HHllOCk. hui Brown
was never tried, aud the other two were not
finally convicted. Of the stolen money $4,000
II has been said that no trust company would
aSGcrPt ne TGsponNtoility Of the Treasurer Of
which he gets He is responsible for all moneys
that may be- stolen, and on more than one occa-
SION congress has been obliged 10 relieve by
formal act an official In the position who would
Otherwise have been liable for the repayment
~ large losses on one occasion two men
named Mardon and johnson, the latter an
assistant paving teller, took 81, OOO by COllusion.
The tOvenment got back ti2, 100 Of this money,
and The offenders escaped with a year in prison
for each There have been a good many thefts
IN the redemption division, where the tempta-
lions are eNCeptionally great, the most famous
or Them being that perpetrated by q woman
who invented a method Tor making nine notes
out of eight, incidentally To the process Of put
ting together scraps Of torn bills sent in 70 he
redeemed Nobody ever knew how much she
stole, though II was probably a very large
amount, but she gave up a portion of her ILL
gotten gains and was not prosecuted
In 1868 there was much excitement over the
loss ot $4,000 IN, paper money, which had
been shipped from Washington 10 the Assistant
Treasurer in san Francisco. The shipment was
made by n sailing vessel called tho Golden
Rule. and consisted of leo $1,000 notes Tn
fortunately the ship was wrecked on Roncador
Reef, and the safe that contained tho cash was
lost with II Nevertheless n conspiracy was
suggested. and a theory was formed 10 the
effect that the vessel had been deliberately
cast away for the sake of stealing the money.
II This had been true some of the notes would
certainly have turned NJ later, but rs a matter
OF fact none Of them has ever been seen since.
and II may therefore be taken FOR granted that
the missing wealth still lies at the bottom ~
the sea OF course. b"iug only paper money,
II was no loss 10 I nCle s nm
Immense utHntltlpN ut gold OTp Skinned