The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-11
FIFTY MILLIONS IN
 STOCKS AND BONDS
 TAKEN FROM RUINS
Officials Believe All Securi- ties in the Vaults
 Are Safe
NO TRACE IS FOUND
 OF BODY OF WALSH
Fire Officials Believe That the First Estimate of Damage Will Be Low cred as Chief Value of the
 Property Was the Land

|
 cred as Chief Value of the
 Property Was the Land
 New York. January 1o.-More than SoO,- COG, ,OO0 in stocks and bonds was recovered from one of the smaller vaults in the burned Equitable Life Assurance Society building late today. but it probably will be a week, perhaps longer. before the great vaults of the society and the. Mer- eantile Safe Deposit company give up their $500 0oo,0o0 or more m certificates. Further examination of the gaunt, ice shrouded building, swept on Tuesday by fire, showed more conelusively this after noon that the vaults are still intact. In the opinion Of those who made the lnspec- ton their contents will suffer little, if at l all But buried as they are under hun dreds of tons of ice and debris, 1t may be a matter of weeks before it will be advisable 10 open them.
 Meanwhile securities variously estimated 1 in value from $50O0O0,0Q0 10 $,500,0OO,oco cannot be reached. Special guards have been thrown about the building, and day and night they will keep watch to see that no unauthorized persons enter the ruins.
 The smaller vaults of the Mercantile Trust company were the ones reached this afternoon. As soon as it was seen they 1 could be entered, 5O clerks were dis patched from the Bankers Trust company d few blocks away to transfer the seeur- ties. Between S5O,0O0,0do and Sl0o00,00o in stocks and bonds were removed The 4a, ti..
 tile Trust.
 Estimates Are Guesses
 Efforts to estimate the value of tho se- curties still in the vaults is mere guess work It Is known that the Equitable se- curities arc close to $S00.00o 600, and those of the Hartman estate in the vaults of the Mercantile Safe Deposit company are understood to approximate Sl750oo.0o0. It is also said that Thomas r. Ryan has approximately $iOooo0ooo in securities there and the Gould estate a similar sum. The Mercantile Safe Deposit company re- fuses to give out any list of those having boxes. and furthermore has no knowl- l edge of the amounts it's clients store away.
 It was said at George Gould's offices this afternoon that Mr Gould had felt l some anxiety about the securities but had received assurances that there would be no damage or loss. The Mercantile Safe 1 Deposit company issued statement say l ing that not only was everything in the vaults safe, but that in some places tho paint on the vault had not even been l blistered
 1 Alexander Miller, secretary of the IIar- riman lines viewed the ruins today to ascertain, if possible. if the vaults and safes of the line were intact. Mr Miller i thought that they were including tho big vault containing the lists of the railroads | securities holders which have been re- l ported lost No trace had been found i tonight of the body of Battalion Chiet l William walsh. Nor had the body of Will 1 liam Campion, chief of tho Mercantile 1 watchmen, been recovered, although it ls 1 partly in sight.
 Menace to nearby property from tho. shaky walls of the gutted building was l officially recognized late today by the fro department, which ordered 16 story off, flee building across the narrow width l of Cedar street from the Equitable struc- ture, vacated.
 Ruins Still Burning l white heat was still glowing in q few places In the Equitable building. | resisting the firemen this morning. 1 Asked when the fire would be complets- l ly extinguished. a fire marshal could l not answer. The fire however, Is eat 1 ing it's way in the cellars as nothing is left save the granite walls beaded wltn cleaning icycles. Plaster ornaments bear coats of ice which in some places 1 arc two feet thick.
 | The surface of Broadway and other streets Is sheathed with ice one to three 1 feet Searchlights from the singer l tower aided the firemen during the night in directing 20 nozzles. Until the flames are completely put out lit- 1 tie effort can be made to reach the yaults where securities and papers val ued at S1. 500. 100000 arc stored. A rigid police line Is maintained on all sides of the burned building and the eordon covers so wide an area that the thou sands of sightseers who flock to the l scene are unable to ob tain more than 0 glimpse of the structure
 In addition to the established lines maintained by the police. 100 policemen and 40 detectives are assigned to the task of preventing theft of any money or securities still in the building. No Additional Casualties There were no additions to the list of casualties during the night. The official police blotter gives six dead. two missing and 23 injured. One of the dead Is still unidentified and the body of William J. Walsh, battalion chief of the fire department, has not yet been recovered. The body of Will liam Campion. captain of the watch men for the Mercantile Safety Deposit company, was visible at dawn through the iron grating at the entrance of the company's vaults. The other three dead are Joseph Cont, John Sazzio and l Massena Pratta, all employees of the restaurant where the blaze started. | The missing men are two watchmen employed by the Mercantile company.
 Most of the 137 tenants of the burned building were established in new homes in nearby skyscrapers today. The Equitable Life Assurance Society's ex- ecutives found themselves amply pro- vided for on three floors of the City Investment building, block away. Only about one fifth of the main office force of the Equitable has of late years been accommodated in the old building, most of the subsidiary departments being
 housed in the company's annex on AL
 bany street
 Whether d new and more magnificent
 home will be erected on the same site
 for the Equitable Assurance society is
 question involving several clements of ldouht For several years plans have