Omaha daily bee., 1902-12-26
BULLION ON BULLION ROW
Strong Boxes Of Precious Metal Safely
Carried Around Wall Street
CROOKS GIVE TIE DOODLE A FROST
The Money Truckman and His Busi-
ness-FOrtunes I'm the Pockets Of
= MessenEcr-scenes In the
Coin District.

Ing, down In Broad street. says the New
York Sun. and only a few yards away from
where the throng Of outside brokers jostlc
and shout in the roadway hangs a slate with
a pencil attached by a string. Once In a
while a clerk Will hurry TO the corner. take
a look around. and then, II not finding the
person he seeks, will scribble something
on this slate.
At intervals a big, heavy man strolls
over and takes a look at It. II there is
anything written upon It he will probably
give an order TO the driver Of q two-horse
truck which has stood for most Of the day
At the corner, the blankets will be taken OF
the horses and man and truck will set of
down the street obviously on business in
tent.
You are likely to meet this or simllar
trucks with the name OF the same owner
upon them two or three times in the course
OF a day in and about Wall street. Some
times the truck contains a few boxes or
barrels. no different at a casual glance
from any other boxes or barrels. or maybe
there will be upon II a number OF bricks Of
white metal, In appearance not unlike
solder.
In either case there are likely to be two
or three roughly dressed men seated with
the driver or on the rear Of the truck, and
wv ~ NhANN AhOAN bNNNNA kAhA WhpAh
anybody verssd In the ways Of the financial
district will know at once for bank clerks
or bank messengers, swinging their legs
from the tailboard or walking beside the
vehicle.
There Is nothing about the outfit likely
to attract particular attention from any
body. A close observer may see that the
boxes or kegs are strongly ironed, locked
and sealed, and he may wonder that mature
bank clerks, who do not look as II they
were Inclined to frivolity, have time to
spare for a ride on a truck which proceeds
at a bare walking pace or even slower.
But the usual passerby will never bestow
. second glance upon the crawling vehicle.
It doesn't look different from a truck
carrying any old kind OF freight. but for
all that the load It carries is often worth
more than a great many Of the buildings
II passes, That load would set up a score
OF ordinary men with fortunes large enough
to keep them in luxury without doing a
stroke Of work for the rest OF their lives.
Bars of solid Gold.
The barrels contain bars Of solid gold,
the boxes are stuffed full OF gold coin, and
the white metal is bullion silver going from
safe deposit vault to subtreasury, or. II the
load is gold coin, from bank to bank. The
truck Is Barkley's. the money t~ruekman's,
the slate hung on the fence is Barkley's
once. and the big man who consults II from
time to time and might be a retired police
man 60 q well-to-do grocer IL Barley him
self.
All Wall street knows this and knows
what the truck contains when II passes with
fits load. But Wall street is not interested.
II 10 q sight so old that 1t has become
commonplace. In the fact that a shabby
old truck with a million or two upon Il
crswls safely through the most crowded
streets in the city with only a guard OF
two or three truokmen and a bank clerk OF
two 10 watch over II nobody sees anything
out Of the ordinary. .-,
That news OF the shipment is written on
a slate which hangs on a fence in reach OF
every passerby Is no less a matter Of
course. Gold has been transferred safely
IN that way for years and there is no rea-
son why II should not always be.
AZ q matter of fact II would be harder to
steal that gold than anything else in the
city. In the nrst place. there is a guard
Of from four to six men with every load
OF a.
In the second place, the gold is usually
in bars Weighing from ten to twenty-five
pounds apiece and is packed In kegs locked
GaA eSaAtAg NANa " NhANS " - NOeNh
bars in q key. Thu gold coin is in strong
boxes equally heavy.
The silver, which is carried bare in the
bottom Of the truck. is in ingots. and a
single ingot would be a good load for a
powerful man.
Then the transfer usually takes place in
crowded streets and in the crowd there is
safety. 1t would be a holder gang of crooks
than ever held up a train that would ever
try to rob the money truck.
A. to the rest OF Il, Fred Barley, the
money truckman. has been in the business
all his life. He has a monopoly OF the
money carrying in this city and his father
had II before him for more years than any
body now In Wall street remembers.
He Is a conservative person. AS his
father did business, so does he. Nothing
ever went wrong with either. and the
banks and the people whose business It is
to handle millions have accepted the meth
eds OF both with perfect satisfaction. They
are now a part OF the daily routine and the
street sees nothing wonderful about them.
An Ordinary Business.
why" said the shipping clerk Of one OF
the largest exchange houses in Wall street,
when the Sun reporter sought information
about gold transfers. you can't write any
thing ABOUT that. It's the most Ordinary
everyday transaction down here.
you just pack IN the gold and seal 1t
and send for Barkiey ana nc carts IL away
TO wherever It has to go. There isn't any
thing else to H.
Nothing ever goes wrong and there really
isn't anything interesting about It. IL
there. nowI"
The reporter thought there was. But the
money truckman was Of the same opinion
aa the money exchange clerk. Said he:
Things have been printed in the papers
years ago about this business, but father
didn't hold with them or give the informa-
tion the papers got And l won't. There
amt anything about 1t to make a story
about anyway. We just move the stun.
Nothing ever happens TO IT,"
The money truckman is big-six feet tall
at least-and as broad and solid as he IL
tall His face IL as set and frm as his
frame is solid.
II = man could look like a stone wal
that man would be Barley. Anybody who
looked AZ him twice would trust him with
q million. II wouldn't trouble him
He would Just sit on the million till the
owner came back TO claim II, and beforl