Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-04-27
is WELL GUARDED.
Wealth of Rockefeller in Steel
Citadel Under a Big
New York Bank.
is BEHIND 10 LOCKS
Vaults That Guards S2OO,O0O.oOO Sc
cuFities Has Locks with
Million Combinations.

( Under the northeast corner of the
( New York Produce Exchange reposes
the bulk of the collateral wealth of
I the richest man in the world-John D.
Rockefeller In a specially construct
ed bombproof, burglar proof and fire
proof vault built under the structure
has been stored upward of S2Oo.OO0.-
/ 900 worth of securities, the personal
property Of Ir. Rockefeller.
OF course John D. does not put all
his eggs in one basket. His mort
cages are reported to be lodged in the
vaults under the Rockefeller building
/ In Cleveland. O.. and there are score
I of banks and trust companies through
out the country which carry large bal
ances in his name. Besides. John D.
has other hiding places in the down
town section of Manhattan for United
States bonds and various securities
put up with him for short term loans.
( But his principal eggs are in the
iron nest under the New York Prod
uce Exchange, where scissors clip
merrily for him on the big coupon DAYS.
| Between the street outside and the
repositories OF the Rockefeller securf-
ties are ten locks varied in character.
The first is the bolt in the outside
door at the sidewalk level. The sec
ond is the bolt in the door opening
from the foot of the stairs into the
public entrance of the safe eposit
company.
Once in front of the iron vault,
which is the largest of its kind in the
world devoted to containing the prop
critics of a single person, there is pre-
sented to view q cage not at all IN
like the one in which the famous y
tain Dreyfus was confined at De
island
Eight locks still confront you. The
first of these is turned in the door
opening through the grilled cage sur
rounding the door Of the vault proper.
There now remain seven locks in the
John D. series. Two of these are pad
locks. one upon each Of the two COM
bination locks visible from the ex-
terror OF the closed door Of the vault.
Each has a different combination TO
unlock There are six tumblers on
each lock. The numbers run from 1
to 100. which makes each lock sus-
ceptible TO 100000 changes. It is
impossible for anybody to pick these
combination locks.
The door of the vault is moved by
hand. and it opens easily owing to its
swinging upon a compound double
goose crane hinge. which is carefully
balanced on bali and roller bearings
made of the finest hardened tool steel.
This permits the door to swing lightly,
although it has the weight of nine
tons.
The interior of the vault is nine feet
wide, nine feet high and fifteen feet
deep. The wall OF the vault has
thickness of forty inches. In the cen:
ter OF thirty-six inches of concrete are
ninety pound steel rails set six inches
apart in double rows. interl0cked so as
TO be practically three inches apart
The remaining four inches of the wall
are four one-inch thicknesses of solid
steel.
TWENTY SAFES INSIDE.
Looking toward the open door to-
ward the interior of the vault there
are arranged upon either side numer-
Gus compartments or small safes.
There are from fifteen to twenty of
these, varying in size. These chests
have sides two inches thick. with doors
from two and a half to three inches
thick, all OF the best steel, and each OF |
these doors is locked by heavy bolt /
work similar to that of the big door
Of the vault. The average height of I
the chests are four feet each. with a
width Of four feet and depth Of two
feet.
In one OF these inner inside COM
partments is Z card index, which one /
even Solomon in all his wisdom could /
not guess. The index registers the F.
bonds, with their dates of maturity I.
and the months when the coupons .
come off
Mr.. Rockefeller planned his vault at l
1 time when President Mckinley was (
an occupant Of the White House. The
oil king had ordered many smaller
FAULTS from the Canton concern-locat-
I'd in the home Of McKinley-for his
Various refneries through western
pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio.
The vault Is said to have cost between
$4,000 and 100000.