The Indianapolis times., 1931-08-20
Gold
CroeSuS Shamed by Bull
lion Stacked Deep Be-
meath Bank of France.
BY RALPH HEINZEN

piled most Of the nearly $4,000, ,000,-
600 francs which represents the
bullion stores of the Bank of
France.
The bars, most Of them with
Bank of England seals, do not gilt
ter, nor do they shine, but stand
in neat steel cases like so many
books in a library.
This great supply of gold, sec
ond largest in all the worlds his
tory is guarded more carefully by
ingenious mechanical projections
than is any reigning king.
A regiment Of safe blowers could
never hope to steal a single bar Of
gold from these vaults, into which
1000 guards of the Bank of France
could retire and keep house in case
of attack or war
Part of the banks gold holdings
have been sent to strongholds in
the provinces, because of the banks
old theory that it is not wise to
carry all your golden eggs in one
basket.
TINE Bank of France outwardly
Il looks like any other bank,
except that it is larger than most
others in Europe. The thrill comes
only in penetrating the gold vaults,
flanked by an official who has pre-
viously instruced detectives to look
up your reputation.
Alongside and bringing up the
rear is a platoon of uniformed
guards, each intrusted with open
ing some portion of the great un-
derground labyrinth. If one man
is missing, it is impossible to pene-
trate the vaults. All the keys are
useless if one is missing.
The entrance to the gold vault
Is by one of a series of shafts, most
of which are dummies" leading
nowhere. The shaft for the de-
scent has walls fifteen feet thick
of steel and concrete, waterproofed
and ventilated.
This shaft is sunk through solid
rock over which, not far below the
surface, runs an underground creek.
This creek really is mud and sand
in motion. It is allowed to run
freely over the gold vault, another
protection against penetration.
At various levels on the way
down it is necessary to leave one
shaft for another, passing through
great steel and concrete doors.
Some of them are revolving, others
are pushed in and out like corks.
These are the most ingenious bar
riers.
A T first approach, the wall ap-
IA pears to be solid, but an
electric trolley runs up, attaches
itself to a ring and backs away,
pulling from the bottleneck this
great 15-ton cork" of steel and
concrete. The same trolley pushed
the cork into place.
There are ten such impregnable.
doors of all sorts, each more in
genious in conception than an
other, before the gold is reached
eighty feet below.
There, ninety feet under Paris,
are the streets of gold. Bullion
constantly is arriving.
Everything is spick and span.
The gold is moved on tracklesS
trolleys which also are used to
carry visiting inspectors. Gray
haired men sit here and there.
Their duty merely is to watch for
possible fire.
Neat old ladies, gray-haired and
Immediately aproned, walk about
touching up the bars with feather
busters.
None of the employees seem wor-
ried by responsibilities. The gold
is too heavy to carry by hand; the
traps for a possible thief are too
numerous.
The minute anything goes wrong
underground, warning bells clang
all the way up to the surface, and
at police headquarters on nearby
streets overhead special signal
rings,
IF the thief tries to run, special
Il traps will open, flooding COM
partments and shafts with water
or trapdoors in the ceilings are
sprung and tons of sand crush
everything beneath.
Secret pipes carry gases and
steam. Walls and doors are sanded
so smooth that it is impossible to
take hold and flooded moats from
which rise slippery sand steel walls
make capture certain.
The Bank of France prepares for
war in time of peace. If an enemy
invades Paris it will take him at
least six months to reach the
banks gold, if he ever finds his
way there. In the meantime. hun
dreds of bank employees will live
like kings with all the comfort of
home in the gold vaults.
kitchens are there to cook meals
by steam. If the steam fails there
are electric cooking appliances,
and once the batteries run down
there are oil stoves left. Fresh
water comes from wells drilled be-
low the vaults. Secret air shafts
carry plenty of fresh air.
Store rooms underground are
filled with canned and dried foods
and if there is time to prepare for
the siege, there is a cold room to
hold tons of beef.
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