The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1900-11-02


with S3I, I,OOO,O0O IN gold coin, not to
mention $50, 100000 in silver bull
lion anh com.
notwithstanding tho fact that the
Treasury vaults compare so poorly
with tho impregnablo steel clad
structures now used by grcat private g
concerns that have valuablcs to pro
tcct tho government feels fairly SO,
cur" ns TO tho safety Of it's stored
wealth. Th" best safeguard for coin
is it's weight. just to illustrato this
point, it may be- mentioned that the
strong rooms of the Treasury weighs
nearly 1900 tons. a million dol
lars in gold coin Weighs about two
tons. and it would take a vrrv
strong man TO carry of $40, 900
worth Of tho yellow STUFF. Though
Il gold brick tho shape and size of an
ordinary building brick represents
T3S,o 900, its "heft' is something az
'onishing. Suggestions have been
"ado that it might be practicable to
harrow beneath tho Treasury by
tunnel, and thus pillago Unclo Sans
e.l1crs by Il sort Of ratholo method,
but cvon if this wcro accomplished il
IS difficult to imagine how it would
he practicable to remove much Of
tho coin.
There WAS quite scare Il few
years ago, when GilGllan was Treas
urcr, because the vault in tho cash
room whero tho ready money is kept
refused to open. 1t is always set for
$50 Il. NJ, with q time clock, but on
this occasion something seemed to be
wrong with tho mechanism, and the
steel doors remained obstinately
closed. Ninc o'clock arrived, and
still the money was locked up. For
once unclo Sums bank was obliged
to suspend payments. Experts were
sent for and came with their tools to
break open tho vault, but before thoy
got thcro the big sufo had opened of
It's own accord. 1t turned out that
tho time-lock had been set by an nc
cidcnt for 8 30.
In this vault was not only gold
and silver but many millions ir paper
money arc always kept. If thieves
could obtain access to it they might
easily walk away with an enormous
sum, tho notes and certificates bo-
ing done up i'll packages and neatly
labelled with the sums they contain
in largo red figures. Each parcel
holds 1000 notes, and is in sizo Just
about a foot cnbc. II tho ,lenomina
ton is $500, d single such puckages
represents $2,O00,OO0. IIowovor if
anybody did succeed in getting away
with cash in this shape he could
hardly fail to bo caught, inasmuch
rs the numbers Of tho bills
would bo advertised immediately,
and every bank in tho country would
be on tho lookout for them.
Burglars may bo practically OK
cluded, but the Treasury does not
claim to bo theft. proof. On an unluc.
ky day in lS7Oa visitor camo into the
Treasurer's room with large Pnnu
ma hat in his hand. Tho Treusurer's
attention was distracted by some other
people who woro trying to talk to
him, and tho man dropped his hat
carelessy over package which con
tained 1000 tcndolar notes, lying
on tho desk. 1t was one Of tho sev
oral such packages, and the loss of it
was not noticed until somo hours
lator. OF course the notes were nd
vcrtscd, and soou aftcrward part
Of them were deposited in Now
York bank. The dcpositor was ar
rested, but nobody WAS punished for
tho crime.
a singular immunity from punish,
mont seems to have attended thieves
who have robbed the trcasury in such
ways In 1875 clerk named Bon
jamin Hallock passed. Il package Of
$500 notes, representing $4,000,
ont Of window in the cash room to
n saloon koeror famed Ortman. For
somo timo tho robbery remained Il
mystery, but later on ono Theodore
Brown was caught betting on races
at Saratoga with some Of tho miss