Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1911-05-12
WHERE JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER
HIDES BULK OF HIS
IMMENSE TREASURE

New York.-The long and closely
guarded secret as to where John D.
Rockefeller preserves his stacks Of
stocks and bonds has been disclosed
at last. The bulk of his immense
treasure of collateral, estimated at
5000 100000, is in specially con-
structed bomb, burglar and fire proof
vault built under the northeast cor.
ner of the New York Produce OK.
change. Entrance to 1t is gained from
Beaver street, stones throw from
the Standard OIL headquarters. at 26
Broadway. 49,
Between the street opposite and the
Repositories of the Rockefeller for
tune are ten locks varied In character.
Once in front of the iron vault, the
largest Of it's kind in the world de-
voted to collecting the properties OF
single person, there is on view
cage not at all unlike that In which
Captain Dreyfus was confined at Dew
lis island.
Two of the locks are padlocks. one
upon each Of the two combination
locks visible from the exterior from
the closed door o. the vault. These
two padlocks abe usually opened with
a key In the hands of President Will
liam H. Person of the safe deposit
company, which turning, releases the
dial of each of the common locks, and
permits the latter to be set by two
men from Mr.. Rockefel,er's private
office.
One of the two is Mr.. Rockefeller's
financial secretary, while the other 10
man he trusts equally as we'll. Each
has different combination to the
lock. There are six tumblers on each
lock. The numbers run from l to 100,
which makes each lock susceptible to
one or many changes. The only way
! to change the numbers of Mr.. Rookie
! feller's vault is to know the old num-
bers. AS for the men who open the
upper and the lower combination lock,
neither of the two can set his part OF
the bolts of the iron door until the
| padlocks have been released by the
third. 1t is impossible for anybody
to pick these combination locks.
The door OF the vault is moved by
hand and 1t opens easily, owing to Its
| swinging upon a compound double
goose crane hinge, which Is carefully
balanced on ball and roller bearings,
made of the finest hardened tool steel.
This permits the door to swing lightly.
although 1t 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 SO inches Of concrete are go
pound steel rails, set six inches apart
in double rows, interlocked so as to be
practically three inches apart. The re-
naming four inches of the wall are
four inches thickness Of solid steel.
Looking towards the interior Of the
vault there are arranged upon either
side numerous compartments OF small
safes. There are from fifteen to TWEEN
ty of these varying in sizes. Two COM
bination locks guard each. Having
swung back the steel door of one OF
the inner chests, there are revealed
small sheet steel boxes Of thickness
of one-sixteenth of an inch. There
are four of these, as rule. in each
chest. They are equipped with hinge
and lid and key box. The last turn OF
the key opens one of the sheet steel
boxes. In one of these inner side COM
partments is a card index which regis
tiers the bonds with their dates OF ma
turity and the months when the cou'
pons come of.