A NEW YORK BANK.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 263, 12 May 1888, Page 4

A NEW YORK BANK.

\Vu\i look^ like tho hon-iailed dnov ot a coll may lie .=een ju^t besond the cntiancc to the Lincoln Uank. It i> the passage\\a\ tothe\ault ioi mono) and \aluublo. The cell dooi bah\,i\> locked, and m the da\ tune a man is al>\ a) sin the \ ault. Besides the open non-iading door theie is a -el ol otheisof steel plates u liich clo^e in the passage-wax. The vault is lighted by gas, and e\< opt tor a small desk iheic is notlunu to be -cen in it he-ides, steel and non And eoppoi. The lloois and Mails and ceiling aie ot steel lour and a hall inches thick. The \aull is on the gioundlloor, and it 1- behe\ed th.'t if the building should fall 01 be bunud down by me the \ault100m would leiuain uuhanned and intact DJin-. <i> tliK k a- the la^ei.s .it Pompeii might fall upon it, but 1 he \auib Mould still lie theie all light. And the bank people think that w it li a little delcnce by guns the place -would be mob pioot, too. The 100 m l- not ni-.ich moie than twenty feet bquaie, am 1 a tall man can touch its ceiling \\ itli his hand. Theie ate 2,500 laige and Mnall .-alr-> built in it- wall--. The,> lent for fiom sS to a jeai. People keep bonds, sto<_k-, nioit^a^c^, clced^., other \aluable papei-. and jewels and money in them. \\ hen a man call- to cut oil hi*, coupoi^ or look at his pajieit. he i^ identilied by the ke(>pei ot the \ault, who stands- by him ■whde lie unlocks his eompai tment. The man take-, out (he tin box and i> ushered into one ot a seiics of little 100 ms oil the \ault. They arc about a^ big as a Turkish bath tbsrobmn-clotet, and contain a desk and one ol moic chairs. The minute of the aim nl of the man, his name, the box numhei ho opened, and a lew other tiling* aic lccoided in a book kept by the keepei. The little closet he is shown to i< extunmed to &cc that there ib nothing iv it except the desk and writing mateiialri and the chairs. When the man has clipped hi-, coupons and blinds back hih tin box to put in his .safe, the time oi his dcpaitmc is leeoided, and the closet he occupied i^, inspected to see that lie left nothing ■\alunlilo behind. 801110 ot tho rich men come to look at their papers only once in a month or l\\o. Others go theie once in the morning, when they arc going down toun to their oflices, and t hen stop there again in the alteinoon when returning home. Tlic.se aio the , men >\ ho lea\o theie ■v\hate\er extia actual money they ha\o i 10111 day to day. But gold, and .silver, and tieasmy notes are not largely lefb in the vault. The contents, of the boxes are chiefly the paper.s representing money. LLowo\er, at the time oi the (frank and Ward failure, plenty of people got irightened, and brought big' rolls of bills from down-town bankb, and btuded them into their compartments. Lots of men Avho don't rent boxes permanently, did hiro them then for .short periods. Many of the safes are used by trustees ot estates. These safes cannot bo opened by one person. For as many trustees as there aie, there are as many keys, and whenever tho sate has to bo unlocked all the trustees havo to come. Each one pertorms a. dillerenl- service in opening tho lock. The keeper will insert the key, "twist it, and thus prepare the lock for tho insertion of Trustee A's key. Trustee A's key it, put in by him and turned, and this makes it ready for the key of Trustee B. At last tho bolts are turned, and tho door may be opened. This meelmnieal device has to be lcsorted to in order that no single trustee may got access by himself alone to tho papors of fcho estate.