The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-01-16
In New York
BY PAUL HARRISON

New York,--The men who, tear down old buildings and houses fin New York City occasionally find bits of treasure. The surprising thing is that they don't discover more. l. G5
 Many an old mansion once oc- cupied by people of eccentricity and wealth has become the center Of legends concerning treasure rooms and secret passaEes. Therc were such stories about the Wen- uei mousse on Fifth Avenue, where lived and died the recluse sisters. But Edward Walsh, the wreckirig contractor whose men took tlr.e place apart brick by brick, fourni nothing of either mystery of vali," In tearing down q reaauiai,sV < on Thirty-first street, work,
 found several hundred silver GU!. lars embedded in the walls .s,1 one secms. to know why they Vel. put tthere.a Another time, in Y ,~ private dwelling, 6 fortune in curites was discovered when wall panel was ripped out. rEr certificates were returned to tho owner. who had forgotten all about them for ten years. Again. fine oil painting of an old lady was discovered in mansion. Th., former owners were queried ant said yes. 1t was valuable picture but that they didn't want 1t. Seems the subject was fabulous ly wealthy aunt who had died and left them out of her will. iiItlcd Mansions
 When MT Walsh's company tore down all the old brown stones on the site of Rockefeller Center, a secret room was found in the building where the notorf- ous Arnold Rothstein once hal conducted some of his activities. Doors and walls were armorcd with steel plates. and from the room passage led downstairs through several basements and to the opposite side of-the block.
 Wreckins contractors these days especially like to get fine old man sions to demolish, because a lot of them have bathrooms or draw ing rooms with ceilings covered with gold leaf. The plaster is carefully clipped off onto tarpau- lins. and out of this rubbish may come $500 to $500 worth of gold. Another good location for treas urc- c-hunting is Maiden Lane in downtown Manhattan, for genera tons the headquarters of manu- featuring jewellers. When one of those buildings is torn down the floors and mouldings are careful ly taken up and burned, to capture the millions of flecks of gold dust which have been ground into the wood. @
 The Woodwork, mantles and such of famous old mansions are Of less value today than ever be- fore. Time was when newly-rich people would appear to bid for the doors or staircases of a Wander bilt or an Astor. Sometimes they would even buy an entire roorp and have it. t-installed in some new home they were building.
 Trimming Down to Size
 One surprising thing I learned while talking to wreckers is that Manhattan buildings, in the aggregate. are growing shorter. It's development of the | depres- sion. Because there Is scarcely any demand for additional office and store space. and hence very little new construction, few jobs of complete demolition are. being done right now.
 Here's what's happening in stead: Owners of tall buildings have to pay taxes on tall build- ings. even though they're mostly vacant. So they call in the wreck 1, CTS and have six or a dozen floors Topped off, A roof is built over the remaining two or three stories which can be rented, and taxes are reduced proportionately. The old Telephone Building Is one that recently has been cut down from seventeen floors to two.
 Floors Assay High
 Getting back to the gold rush, I am reminded that the gov erpment has reoccupied the old assay office on Wall Street which 1t abandoned two years ago. For 78 years gold had been refined there. and made into ingots. and so everything in the place had be- come impregnated with precious metals. Ceilings and walls were clipped off. the floors carefully taken up, the dust saved, and even the furniture broken up and add ed to the gold bearing rubbish pile. They recovered $88,011 .xt .4f. .x.tsfA tttst4.a f8 t