The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1912-02-09
ENORMOUS VALUES
HID UNDERGROUND
IN NEW YORK CITY
FORTUNES MORE VAST THAN
C7oESUS DREAMED OF BE.
LOW SIDEWALKS,
SECURITIES ARE WELL GUARDED
Rockefeller Vaults Consist of an Ar
morpIate Enclosure Big Enough to
Hold Dozen Men--Ciearng House
Vaults tiewn From Solid Granite.

Vaults tiewn From Solid Granite.
NEW YORK, Feb, 5.--Buried un.
der the sidewalks of the nancial dis
tyict over which hundreds of rlcus-
ands Of persons walk daily, are for
times more vast than Croesus ever
dreamed Of. The recent fire in the
Equitable Life Building, which show
cd New Workers that money and Sc
curitics to the value of more than
100000 were held in the buildings
vaults, has attracted considerable at
tention to this phase of the business
OF the financial district
The Mercantile Safe Deposits Com
gany, it was shown, held securities
valued at several billion dollars, and
yet they were only one of the dozens
Of donble deck steel vault systems in
the financial district. These vaults
weresold in the sense that they we're
built years ago, before the invention
vi some Of the extraordinary protec.
tive measures and of the reinforced
/ construction that surrounds the pri-
rate vaults leased by John D, Rookie,
Teller and other millionaires a few
/ blocks further down Broadway. In
the great treasure house where the
Rockefeller estate is stored, thirty
mIllionaircs and great corporations
lease individual vaults at from $500 to
$4,000 a year.
The Rockefeller vaults have an ar
NOR plate enclosure big enough to
rold q dozen men. Tn these vaults
are acid the Rockefeller securities,
sufficient n n mselyes. to keep a
small SRI Of trusted clerks cutting
coupons" on interest day
n TO city in the world has armor
plate vault construction reached the
perfection noted in six blocks down in
tie wall street district In this ter
Iitory are located twelve of the l0rg
est safe deposit companies in the
world
The vaults of the New York Clear
| ilghcuse Association are hewn in sol
id granite three floors below Cedar
street. They are reached by a mar
row pasageway from three sides,
along which uniformed men march
day and night, rife in hand. These
vaults hold more gold than any other,
save those of the government No
one is supposed to know how much
the sixty-fve banks keep there, but
it is in the neighborhood of $3.50, OOO,-
900 in gold.
The vaults of these companies and
he various banks in the down town
district are burglar proof It would
be as easy to steal police headquar-
tiers as to rob one Of them. Before a |
crook could reach the outer walls of |
these vaults he wuold have to pass |
score of armed guards, noted as men
quick on the trigger. If he got by |
them he would find two detectives |
who would shoot finrst and get a Ber- |
ti.lion measurement later. But if he |
passed all these men he would have |
to saw through several three inch |
cage bars before he got to the vault |
itself AL! the time he would be the |
target for shot from men inside the |
cage. The chances are about 999 to |
4 that they'd wing him before he got |
a saw into place. Then If he started |
to saving into the concrete and armor
plate of the vault, he'd encounter in
Vulnerable steam pipes that would |
scald him as he worked.
Oh, it would be a pleasant job to
break in and steal.
In addition to the nice little things |
ned have to overcome, he officials ad- |
nit hat there are numerous other OBJ |
stacles, the nature of which they do
not divulge to their own clerks, that
" ould make the job hard one.
The doors of these vaults weigh |
$4,000 pounds, but SO lightly are they
swung that they can be moved with
one hand-providing always the
guards arc willing.