The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1911-05-13
WHERE JOHN DIS
!. WEALTH REPOSES
y
Steel Citadel Under One Of New
YoTk's Big Banks.
TEN LOCKS AND THICK DOORS

Vault That Guards $2ooooo, 900 In Sc.
curities Cost 100000 to Build--Mii-
lion Possible Combinations to the
Locks, and II 10 Impossible For Any
Ono to Pick Them.
Under the northeast corner OF the
New York Produce Exchange reposes
the bulk Of the collateral wealth Of
the richest man in the world--John d.
Rockefeller. In specially construct
ed bombproof, burglar proof and fire.
proof vault built under the structure
has been stored upward Of $20o,0oo,-
600 worth Of securities, the personal
property Of Mr.. 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 a score
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
nee Exchange, where scissors clip
merrily for him on the big coupon
days. I'M t
Ten Locks Secure Treasure.
Between the street outside and the
repositories of the Rockefeller securi-
ties are ten locks varied In character.
The first isAthe 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 deposit
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 single person, there is pre-
scented to view cage not Mt all IN
like the one in which the famous Cap
tain Dreyfus was confined at Devils
island.
Eight locks still confront you. The
first Of these IL turned in the door
opening through the drilled 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 l
to 100, which makes each lock sus-
ceptible to 100000 changes. 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 It's
swinging upon compound double
goose crane hinge. which is carefully
balanced on ball and roller bearings j..
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 a
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, interlocked so az I
to be practically three inches apart.
The remaining four inches of the wall i
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 half to three inches
thick, oil 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
the chests are four feet each, with
width Of four feet and depth Of two
feet.
In one Of these inner inside com.
partments is card index, which one
even Solomon In all his wisdom could
not guess. The index registers the
bonds. with their dates Of maturity
ana the months when the coupons
come or.
Dat. Rockefeller planned his vault at
q time when President Mckinley was
an occupant Of the White House. The
oil king had ordered many smaller
vaults from the Canton concern-locat-
ed 10 the home Of McKinley-for his
various refneries through western
PENNSYLVANIA and northeastern Ohio.
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