The Washington times., 1901-11-03
R0BBING The GOVERNMENT
Some Noted Attempts Made to Lot t
Big Federal Vaults.
W. A. PInkerton Describes Crimes
Recalled by the Chicago Post
office CRse-GoId Is Well Protect
cd-Thievcs Are Usually Captured.

|
posto--ce. by which more than $1,000
worth of stamps was carried away by
| robbers who left no trace behind. is one
of the largest successful robberies the
| country has seen in many years. More
| money than the stamps represent has
| been taken in other burglaries, notably in
| the very similar robbery of the Selby
| Smelling Compapy's vault in California
| last August, when $4,000 in gold bars was
| carried off, but all of this was recov-
| cred. Mint robberies have been .dscov-
| cred several times, but in nearly every in
stance the Secret Service men have been
| successful in running down the thieves
and recovering all or nearly all the plum
der. But the men who tunneled under
the vault in the Chicago postoffice. drilled
holes in the steel floor, and abstracted
millions of stamps. left no tangible clew
for the detectives. An attempt to sell
the stamps may result in an arrest in the
future, but even then the real burglars
may not be caught. They have covered
their tracks very well.
William A. Pinkerton. whose men sue
coeded in tracing the burglar at the Selby
smelter and recovering all of the stolen
gold, is of the opinion that the postoffice
robbery in this city was inspired by the
burglary of the smelter vault.
There is no doubt about it in my
mind" said Mr. Pinkerton, although of
course. l do not thirk for minute that
the Chicago burglars were connected with
the smelter robbery. But in both cases
tunnel was dug from point outside or
beneath the building to a point immedi-
ateiy under the treasure vault. A hole
was then drilled through the floor until
L.
trance of a man. Then the stuff-gold IN
one case, stamps in another-was passed
but through the hole. Jack Winters. the
fellow we caught in the Vallejo Junction
robbery. found the gold bars too heavy
to dispose of or carry away easily. and
he dumped them into the waters of the
bay within 200 feet of the vault he had
robbed.
''Tunneling into the roof or walls or
floor of a vault is an old trick of bank
burglars and other criminals. You re
member a year or two ago this Emma
Goldman and a lot of anarchists rented a
house across the street from the jail in
Pennsylvania. where 8erkman, the an
archist was confined after he shot Frick,
the coke magnate. They started to dig
a tunnel under the walls of the Jail to
liberate Berkman, but they were discov-
cred before they got very far. I recall
a ase down East where a gang of bur
glars dug tunnel under bank from the
adjoining building. and worked all night,
making a hole in the floor, and when they
came up they found they were in the
directors room, right next to the vault,
but far enough away to spoil the job.
Some years ago 1t was no uncommon
thing for bank burglars to make big
ri in,
some cases. The Northampton. Mass,
bank robbery netted the burglars sl,2OO.-
900. Banks were not so well protected in
those days, but now it is almost impossl-
Bile for a bank vault in a big city to be
cracked A few years ago l talked to
Postmaster Gordon, who was then in of
flee, about connecting the vaults in the
temporary postoffiee electrically with our
watch system, and he thought very well
of it. He went to Washington with the
proposition. and the Department turned
it down. II would have cost them $500 or
800 to install the system, and now they
have to face a loss of over $4,000.
Although the Subtreasury is located in
an office building pending the completion
Of the new Federal building. it would be
an impossibility for burglars to break into
1t. Millions OF dollars in cash are locked
up there every night, but the safeguards
around the vaults are such that the gold
and silver might as well be so much waste
paper for all the attractions they have for
burglars. They are absolutely protected
at all hours from attacks from the out
side"
Although the vaults in the Treasury De-
partment In Washington are to a great
extent antiquated the officials there never
dream of burglary.
The best safeguard for coin is its weight
Just to Illustrate this point it may be
mentioned that the s152, 600 in silver
now held in the strong rooms of the Treas |
ury weighs nearly 5000 tons. million
dollars in gold coin weighs about two
tons. and Il would take a very strong
man to carry OF $4,000 worth of the yell
low stuff. Though gold brick the shape
and size of an ordinary building brick
represents S 5000. its ''heft' is something
astonishing. Suggestions have been made
that ii might be practicable to burr1w
beneath the Treasury by tunnel and thus
pillage Uncle Sans Golfers by sort of
rat-hOle method but even If this were ac-
complished it is difficult to imagine how
it would be practicable to remove much |
of the coin.
There was quite scare a few years |
ago when Gilfiliarr was treasurer because |
the vault in the cashroom where the |
ready money is kept refused to open. 1t |
is always set for $50 a. m. with time /
lock- but on this occasion something |
seemed TO be wrong with the mechanism |
and the steel doors remained obstinately |
closed. Nine o'clock arri,ed and the |
money was still locked up. For once |
Uncle Sans bank was obliged TO suspend /!
payments Experts were sent for and |
came with their tools to break open the
vault but before they got there the big /
safe had opened of its own accord 1t
turned out that the time lock had been
set by accident for $50
In this vault not only gold and silver,
but many millions in paper money. are al
ways kept. If thieves could obtain ac-
cess to II they might easily walk away
with an enormous sum. the notes and
certificates being done up in packages and
neatly labeled with the sums they con-
tain in large red figures.
Each parcel holds 1000 notes and in size
ie lust a foot cube If the denomination
Is $500 n single such package represents
S2 0OG 600 However, If anybody did sue
reed in getting away with cash in this
shape, he could hardly fail to be caught,
inaSmuch as the numbers of the bills
would be advertised Immediately. and
every bank in the country would be on
the lookout for them.
Burglars may be practically excluded.
but the Treasury does not claim to be
theft-prOOf. On an unlucky day in 1870
A visitor came into the Treasurer 5 room |
with large Panama hat in his hand: |
The TreaSurCrs attention was distracted
by some other people who were trying to
talk to hIm and the man dropped his hat
,urelessly over package which contained
900 $40 notes lying on tine desk 1t was
one of several such packages. and the loss