El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-10-12
Copyright. 1913. by Frank G, Carpenter)


> than a cigar box and still it contained
five hundred double eagles. I took
both hands and raised it from the table.
It weighed SO pounds, and you could
have put It's contents into one quart
measure. Still. its value was 1000.
/ That will show you how heavy the
precious metal is I can hold a thous-
and dollars in loose gold coins in one
hand. and that amount of money
weighs lust about four pounds. At the
same time 1 lifted notes, each of which
was lighter than the smallest feather on
pigeons tail whose denomination
was $4,000, and held up a bundle or
them. no thicker than a euchure deck
and so small that you could put it in
an official envelope, which was worth
a million dollars. and which would pass
for that in almost any bank upon this
big round earth.
Down in the Catacomhs.
But | want TO take you down into
the catacombs To get there was
passed from the office Of secretary Nc
Ad0O to that of the treasurer of the
United States, John Burke, and from
him to the cashier James A. Semple,
who has charge of the cash Uncle sam
keeps on hand lie is now carrying
balance OF over S165, 000, 900, and mil
lions go IN and out every day. He has
charge OF the vaults as well as the
cash, and his office, which is lined with
marble from the four quarters of the
world, looks like a bank. There are
great vaults on the same floor in which
the ready money is kept, and we passed
through these on our way to the little
elevator. not more than four feet
square which dropped us down into the
cave of Aladdin. Nal Qua1fte went
with US. The major has been one OF
the treasury watch dogs for almost %
years. He was appointed by treasurer
Spinner at the close of the civil war
and since then he has been one of the
confidential clerks in charge of Uncle
Sans treasures He carries one OF the
keys to the vaults. and he alone knows I
the combination. Cashier Semple car
ries another to a different lock, ana
the two have to work together IN order
to open any one of the doors
In One Vault SfI1,O0O.OOO.
The first vault I looked at contained
Sill. 600, 600, enough to give every man, (
woman and child in the United States /
a silver dollar and leave ten or twenty ]
million to spare. The door to it weighs .
six tons, but it is so carefully balanced /
that boy could swing 1t back when 1
the combinations are properly made, /
and Maj QUaiffe threw it open with I
one hand. The vault itself is about as 4
large as a good sized garden patch. 1t /
covers one fourth of an acre and from l
floor to top is just twelve feet high It 1
is A great cage of steel bars riVeted to- /
gether with red hot rivetS, which were 1
pounded into place. The bars cross
like a lattice work, with hundreds OF
which YOU can look and see the vast
treasures stored within. 1t bulSes out
Al the sides, and at the first I thought
This had come from the weight of the
silver against the walls Cashier Sem
pie tells me this is not So The money
s so carefully piled that it would re-
main in place if there were no walls
% hold it. The inner walls of the vault !
ire backed with boxes not much larger
han that used by boot5lack when
Re shines VOur shoes
There are two rows of these boxes
Using from the floor almost to the
-oof and running clear around the in
side of the vault Each box contains |
-wO bags of silver dollars. Just like the |
thousands of bags which lie within,
The money is all stored in bags OF
white canvas. Each bag Will hold
about a peck and it contains Just one |
thousand silver dollars. The bags are
about as large as those with which
rows go chestnutting, and as they ne
here in the vault they look Tor all the 7
ycrId like so many little bags OF
Wheat Each bag has a seal upon 1t,
md il would be impossible to get at
he money without breaking the seal
As I looked, I asked as TO the weight (
md was told that the bags weighed
bout so pounds each. and that the
otaI weight in the vault was $500 or
400 tons. We began to figure on inc
mount of space the whole would COW
T if all were spread out upon a hat
urface. and as I remember IT was 80
o 40 acres. Then we piled them one
n top of another and they made a
old column of silver more than 100
Ailes high
safeguarding The Treasure.
The question as to whether the mon
" in the treasury is safe has often
.een discussed This big vault is prac-
ically burglar proof. 1t is guarded
Y the iron bars and is also walled IN
ement and stone. with a wide aisle
INNING around it, which would pre-
ent any one attempting to remove the
honey without being seem There is no