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Show MILLIONS IN GOLD COIN. A Train Passes Through Ogden Loaded With Yellow Metal AND THEY NEVER KNEW IT. Uncle Sam Sends $20,000,000 From San Francisco to New York by John Wanamaker's Express. Nearly all the readers of this paper are aware that on last Saturday a heavy shipment ship-ment of gold passed through Ogden via the Union Pacific, because The Times told them all about it.. The Union Pacific folks were a little reticent about giving any information, and no wonder, because forsooth the amount was so large that a gang of train robbers could have made twenty times their fortune by holding up the train. There was $20,-000,000 $20,-000,000 in gold on that train; a nice tidy little sum when one stops to think it all over. It is somewhat odd to think, too, that this cash was sent as mail matter. - There was a time when only letters could be registered. Then the law was passed putting put-ting packages on the same footing. Since it went into effect nearly everybody in this country has sent a parcel to some friend and and had it registered for greater security. Each one of these persons has done, in a small way just what the United States sub-treasurv sub-treasurv did with its $20,000,000 of hoarded picked men who were to act as railway mail agents on the trip east with the gold, word was given out that the men intended to investigate in-vestigate certain charges of record padding made against western postal clerks. This bit of spurious information was embodied in a newspaper telegram and published in the daily papers of the country. On arriving at San Francisco the superintendent's men separated, and from that time until the day of their departure no two of them were seen together in that city. . When the sub-treasury officials were seen carrying great quantities of gold out of the vaults and putting it in neat pine boxes newspaper reporters were informed that a federal housecleaning was in progress. It was stated, with much truth, that many of the bags were so rotted and worn that the coin would soon be on the vault floors if it were not repacked. This, too, was the subject sub-ject of several newspaper articles. Even now that the story of the shipment has been printed the federal officials are averse to talking on the subject. They all express themselves as concerned about the safety of the men who are with the 130,000,000 train. It might be possible, they say, for a strong band of train robbers to throw into the ' shade all previous lootings by ditching the five special cars and getting away with a large portion of the treasure it is carrying. The train passed through Ogden Saturday running on passenger time. It will go via. the C. B. & Q. from Council Bluffs to Chicago, Chi-cago, via. Lake Shore & Michigan Southern from Chicago to Buffalo and from Buffalo to New York on the N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R. treasury uiu. wuu us 5v,uvu,mAf ui nuarueu gold last week. This shipment of gold in the United States mail is unique. No such large amount of money was ever sent that way before. In fact, federal officials say that the shipment is tho largest ever made in any way. It was thought at first that $60,000,000 had been sent. This is not strictly true, although before be-fore the transfer is completed $60,000,000 will be sent. The amount of money now on the way is $20,000,000. The quantity is large enough to astonish even the money kings, and to bead the list of great cash transfers. The way in which this enormous amount of money was counted, packed, loaded on the cars and finally hurried off was curious enough. Why it was taken is a question that the secretary of the treasury can answer. an-swer. All that is known to John P. Jackson, the sub-treasurer at San Francisco, Is that about two wee sis ago orders came irom Washington to prepare $20,000,000 for ship- ment. A few days later James E. White, general superintendent of the railway mail service, called at the mint and said that he had been instructed that packages containing contain-ing $20,000,000 in gold would be turned over to Trim to be forwarded to New York in the United States mails. . It was determined to conduct the matter with all the secrecy possible, so as to keep the information from desperadoes who might be as ready to rob the government as to rob the express companies. For some days no one knew the money was to be shipped except Superintendent White, Sub-Treasurer Sub-Treasurer Jackson and his cashier, Thomas P. Burns. Then it was discovered that to conform with the law the millions would have to pass through the hands of the local postmaster to get into the possession of the railway mail service. It was then that Postmaster Post-master Backus was informed that the cost-' cost-' liest packages ever mailed were soon to be turned over to him. Five expert counters from the mint were Bent to assist at the sub-treasury. Nightand day they worked. In a week and a half they had counted and weighed the $20,000,000. i This gold was in five and ten dollar pieces. Much of it had been in the sub-treasury vaults so long that the canvas bag9 had rotted. Much of it was turned in to the local treasury in the palmiest of California's mining days, when men disdained to carry such small change and turned it in to draw out double eagles. It was a long, hard task to get all this money into stout new canvas sacks, but it was finally done. In some sacks $5000 in five-dollar gold pieces was put. In others the counters stuffed $10,000 In ten-dollar gold pieces. After much discussion it was determined to place the bags of money in pine boxes of uniform appearance and size. Assistant Treasurer Jackson ordered 500 such boxes made Ea.-h was 12 inches wide, 16 loQhes long and 10 inches deep. When deliveifcil at the sub-treasury they werejnot unlike any other pine boxes. They might have been made to contain sardines or hardtack for all that any casual observer might know. Once in the office of the treasury castiron handles were placed on the ends of the boxes and the coin was put iu them in bags. Coin valued at $40,000 made a box full. In some boxes there were four $5000 bags and two $10,000 bags. In other boxes there "were four $10,000 bags. By Wednesday afternoon the millions had been inclosed in the boxes. Then it was found that they were so bulky it would be impossible to carry them all back into the vaults for the night. In the sub-treasury office, on the floor back of the desks, was fully $10,000,000 in gold. It would have to stay there all night. Between it and the street was a plate-glass window. It was not a very good plate-glass window at that, for it came out cracked from its encounter with the Berkeley explosion. John P. Jackson was in such an apprehensive state that beads of cold perspiration stood out upon his brow. Cashier Burns was worried to such an extent that he forgot to go out for dinner. What to do with the $10,000,000 was a query which puzzlsd them. It was finally concluded con-cluded that it was best not to post extra guards about the building. It was feared such action would attract" the attention of thieves who might be induced to take tremendous tre-mendous risks for $10,000,000. "I'll tell you what I'll do," said Cashier Burns finally, 'Til stay here in the office with this gold. I couldn't go home and Bleep under the circumstances, and I might as well sit here awake as anywhere." So all night long Cashier Burns of the sub-treasury kept a lonely watch by the pile of ordinary Eine boxes with extraordinary contents, 'uring the long hours scarcely a sound broke the silence. One or two pedestrians passed the building, but they did not take the pains to look within. On Thursday morning the work of preparing prepar-ing the boxes for shipment went forward rapidiy. The bags had each of them been sealed before being placed in the boxes. It remained to seal the boxes themselves. This was done by putting wax on two of the cracks where the corner was fitted on. The wax was imprinted with the United States treasury stamp. On the cover of each of the boxes a postoffiee registry stamp was placed. This last stamping was done by men detailed especially for the work by Postmaster Backus. Each box was receipted for by Postmaster Backus' men and then by Superintendent White in person. The railway mail service took charge of the shipment as soon as it left the doors of the sub-treasury and consequently conse-quently guarded the gold on the way to the train. In carrying the millions in coin from the treasury building to the side track, a mile away, where the train was waiting, trucks were ueL Two two-horse trucks backed up to the steps of the sub-treasury at 10 p'clock in the morning. The drayage company furnished drivers, and the five guards who went with each truck were railway mail .agents. The boxes weighed 155 pounds apiece or nearly so. One strong man could Jiandle a box, but it would have bothered liitn to run away with it and its contents of $40,000 even if there had been no guards around. Fifty boxes were placed on each truck. One layer of boxes was placed all over the bottom of the truck and part of another an-other layer in the center, On each truck was 7750 pounds of gold coin, canvas bags and pine boxes. Tbe two two-horse trucks made three trips back and forth from the treasury to the train. A four-horse truck carrying 100 boxes on each trip made two trips. If that four-horse team had been frightened and run away, it would have scattered a cool $4,000,000 in the streets. As it was, though, the trucks loaded with gold were scarcely noticed. It is safe to say that of those who did see the pine boxes, not a single person imagined what a treasure was within them. Even at the train there was no crowd. The work of loading the boxes from the trucks into the cars went on without the slightest interruption. Contrary to expectations the gold was equally divided among the five cars, $4,000,000 going into each. No more gold was put in the steel bullet-proof Union Pacific express cars than in the Burlington aud Lake Shore mail cars. During the two weeks from the time the order to prepare the gold for shipmo nt reached Assistant Treasurer Jackson until the specie train started off on its long journey jour-ney to New York every precaution was taken to . prevent tbe news from reaching the ears of newspaper reporters." When Superintendent White left Chicago with the |