Evening star., 1935-07-04
MANY WILL GUARD
COLD IN TRANSFER
Secret Service, Army, Pc.
lice and Firemen to Take
Part in Move.
BY tho Associated Press.


Extraordinary precautions will be
taken to guard the precious yellow
metal when the Government moves
billions Of dollars of its gold bullion
from New York and Philadelphia to
the new vault to be constructed at
Fort Knox, KY.
Picked men of the secret service
the primary duty of that famous
agency Is to protect Uncle Sans
money-will direct the guarding of
the precious monetary reserves which
are to be transferred from wartime,
vulnerable coast cities to more isolated
inland territory.
The gold probably will be shipped
In several trains of steel express-mail
cars, with detachment of secret serv-
ice men, a squad of postal inspectors,
Treasury guards and a company of
Regular Army soldiers with machine
guns aboard each train.
Police and Firemen to Help.
When the gold Is taken from the
assay Office in New York and the
mint in Philadelphia to the trains, the
Governments protective forces will be
+ augmented by hundreds Of policemen
and f1remen. Transfers of gold usually
take place at night. Batteries OF
searchlights flood transfer operations
and spectators are kept at a distance.
The guarding Of the shipments also
will involve painstaking precautions
to prevent possible accidental or willful
derailment of the trains en- route 10
Fort Knox, which is about 81 miles
| from Louisville. AS a matter of fact,
Treasury officials are much more fear
full Of the possibility Of a crank" at
tempting to wreck the gold trains
than they are apprehensive of efforts
by bandits to stage q hold-up.
In addition to the iron-clad protec-
| ton which will be placed around the
gold cargoes, two important consid-
erations weigh heavily against the sue
cess, or even the attempt. Of a raid on
the bullion by a bandit gang.
Disposition Difficult.
First of all, the gold bars are so
heavy and cumbersome it. would be
extremely difficult for robbers to make
successful getaway with a loot OF
value commensurate With the risks in
| volved. Second, owing to the fact that
the Government has outlawed private
possession of gold, robbers would have
a difficult job disposing of the metal.
A million dollars worth Of gold
weighs a ton, and a thousand dollars
worth OF 1t is rather big load for
any man to tote around COMFORTABLY
and inconspicuously. On the other
hand. paper money In large amounts
is relatively easy to handle. A man
could carry S500.000 worth of paper
currency in $500 bills concealed on his
person, and his highly valuable cargo
probably never would be noticed.
Protection Easy.
Robbery proof protection OF the
vast gold reserves to be stored in the
! vault at Fort Knox, will be q COM
paratively easy undertaking. In ad-
dition to the mechanical Cavalry unit
stationed at that Army post, the SUBJ
terranean vault can be constructed
with walls of steel, cast iron and con-
crete hard enough to resist the most
expert and indefatigable vault-crack-
ers in the world.
The two-story vault which was built
last year in the basement Of the
Treasury Building here, has a wall Of
specially-chilled cast iron which is
reputed to be so tough no tool now
known to technology can scratch II
and no heat yet developed can melt it