The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-12-29
us. MINT IS
 EASILY ENTERED
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SAA@@@eF@eA NA&S e(N@-~N% story window that was partially open."
 The boys, Paul Francis and Will liam Gallagher, pushed open the window and climbed into the build- ing which the government com- pleted two years ago to house and protect millions of dollars. A guard on his rounds found them, blinked his eyes in surprise and sounded an alarm. In mo- ment the boys were surrounded by machine guns, guardS and mint of ficials.
 we just wanted to see if 1t could be done," they said. "It was easy. We didn't mean any harm. It was all in fun"
 They were turned over to police and sent to the juvenile detention home.
 What Gangsters Couldn't Do
 'Leave it to a kid to do what a mob of gangsters couldn't" explod- ed P. J. Haggerty, mint superinten- dent. T wouldn't have thought it could be done. Those kids must be couple of Houdinis." But they would have had to show greater ingenuity to touch any of the millions of dollars in gold and silver. The gold and silver are in vaults. Pennies were the only coins that they could have touched, and were stored in the particular room they entered.
 The copper plate they tossed out was valued by mint officials at g or $3. The amazed officials, af- ter the initial furore, remained mostly incommunicative Apparently the boys were discovered almost im- mediately after they climbed in from the ledge.
 The gray granite building was erected to withstand earthquake, fire and armed assault. It cost $1,00O,O0O and was formally opened in May. 1887. Architects regarded its sheer walls as so impregnable that they didn't even fence it. The mint replaced a former landmark that stood for half century. Said It Was Simple
 Although the boys described their entrance as simple" it developed that youth probably was in their favor. They were of slight build and able to scale a drain pipe and worm their way along 8 ledge where older-and heavier-persons might have had great difficulty.
 Just how they escaped detection from tower guards was underter- mined. The building is lighted at night by flood lights which throw it in sharp relief atop its granite base. Possibly the sight of two boys pre- -sumably playing on the slope lead- ing to the building did not cause tower guards to be suspicious. The guards themselves were not avail able for comment.
 l Off the record, one official com- mented that it wasn't as bad as it seemed" because the boys had been found promptly once they were inside the building.
 Version of Capture
 One version of their capture was that the guard stumbled onto them while making his rounds. Another | was that a delicately- tuned alarm had been set off, either by the boys movements in the room or by their raising the window.
 At any rate the entire alarm sys- tenn was not sounded. If this had happened, the police, the fire de- partment and companies of soldiers from the U. s. Army Presidio would have been called to the scene. The building is so equipped that | in the event of a raid, bells summon aid from distant points, tear gas automatically spouts from a dozen hidden founts, and floodlights il- illuminate the interior and the ex- terior.
 The mint is four stories high, it's lower windows barred and its upper story windows made of bull | let proof glass with small holes i through which machine guns can be poked.
 One At Time
 It has only two entrances, one | in the front and one in the rear. Each is protected by barred guard room and series of steel doors op- erated electrically. They are so con- trolled that only one of each set can be opened at time. In addition to these precautions against the theft of any of the $595,- 100000 stored in the building, most of it in first-floor vaults, the mint is equipped so thate ven the air cannot escape unchallenged.
 On the top floor is a giant Hung" installed as part of the ventilating system. It sucks all the air into one room before it is released.
 Experience in the old mint showed that air in the mint Tapped up par ticles of gold dust and carried them away-particles that in the couL<e of time amounted to large sums.
 The Hung" in the new mint re- fines the air by drawing it all into one room and allowing extraneous matter to settle. The dust that ac- crues is later sifted and the gold recovered.