J ROBBING THE MINTS. Xmkkctor rnrcsTo chats Auour bojik iiiu tmikvks. fortune In tlotd Dint nml Nnnneta -TrMstcit Kmployes Who Dirt Not Unlit Temptation Soma Curious Stories. VISITED the mini at Philadelphia last week, write Frank O. Carpenter 1 n the Washington Star. It now con tain more than 820(1,0011.000, and It has 50,000,000 standard silver dol lars in a single vault. The Han Fran cisco mint has, I am told, more than 150,000,000 worth of precious metal stored away, and in the vaults of the mint at New Orleans there are now something like $20,000,000 worth of gold and silver. During my stay in onr Philadelphia treasure lion no I was shown the different methods by which Uncle Ham guards his hoard. Every atom of gold and silver is wntehed, and, although the mint has handled more than a billion and a half dollars worth of bullion since it was founded, only a small part has been lost. HI ill . the temptation to theft is great, and every now and then tbo Treasury De partment finds a shortage in some of the mints or in the Government assay olllces in different pnrts of the, West. The true details of such thefts seldom pet tuto tho newspaper". They are filed awny in the records of the Treasury Department and in tbo miuds of the detectives and oftlcinls who hive aided in exposing the crimes. During the past week I have heard the stories of a nnmlior of such roliherios, and, in my study of them, I have hud ac cess to the records of the treasury, in connection with R. K. Pro-don, tho director of the mint. Mr. Preston has charge of all the mints in the United States. He is the chief "watch dog" of Undo Barn's treasures of gold and silver, nml he knows more about the mint, per haps, than any other man connected with tho Government, lie has been in tho employ of the United States Treasury for the past forty yenrs, aud he is to-day one of its inost efficient officers. You rcmoniber how, about two years ago, Henry 0. Cochran, the weigh clerk at the Philadelphia mint, stole bars to tho value of SIM, 000 from the gold vault, stealing it bar by bar from a stack of sixteen million dollars' worth of gold bullion, which was there stored away. Mr. i'restau was one of tbo officials who superiu tended the putting away of that bill lion, and he was acting director of the mint at the time that Cochran's theft was discovered. The first steal in the Philadelphia mint occurred forty-three. Tears ago, just beforo Mr. Preston en tered the Government service, and, curiously enough, this theft was do tectod by Cochran, who was an under clerk of the robber, and who by ex posiug his snperior got the placo of weigh clerk, which ho held for forty years, and in which he was at the time bis own great robbery ocourreit. uur ing the investigation at Philadelphia the thief, Cochran, told Mr. Preston the story, and Mr. Preston repeated it to me to-day. "It was away back in 1853,"said the director of the mint, "when a vast - amonnt of gold was coming from Culi fornia that the first big robbery oo inrred. The enlprit w&s James E. Negus, and ho was the weigh clerk of the mint. There was at this time no assay office at New York, and all of the sold dust and nuggets were sent by the banks of the different cities to Philadelphia to bo reduced to bullion. Means had the handling of this troas lire, and he for a long time carried on systernatio stealing from the diner ent deposits sent in. It was his busi ness to take charge of them, weigh them and put them into the vault until they could be melted. By taking nugget or a pinch ff (last from eaoh deposit he was able to steal thousands of dollars, and he probably carried on hie stealings during the whole of the lour years that he was in tne employ of the mint. Cochran was at this time. a boy working in the mint. He acted as Negus's assistant. . He was led to TBS aou vault, rmLADKLrmA mist, uspeot that Negns was taking ont gold dust and substituting blaok (and lor it iu some of the deposits. He took occasion to reweigh several de- poi-its when Negns was not present. and fonnd that they were from five to . ten ounces snort. He went to the su periutendent of the mint and charged .Negus witn tne tnelt, IS ecus was called up. He confessed, and stated that he had stolen $10,600 worth of gold dust. As you may see from the letters here in the records of the tie psrtment. the treasury officials be iieved his confession, but they did not think he should be arrested,' M.be had made restitntion. He was allowed to to free. Within a few weeks ha sailed for Europe, and that was the last that was ever heard of biro. There was no cable in those days, and the probabil 1'y is that be carried a goodly amonnt cl gold away with him. Tho robbery was not from tho treasury, but from the banks who sent in the gold, and there was no way of telling )UBt how much be stole. ''It was in this way that Henry 8. Cochran became weigh clerk of the mint," Director Preston went on. "Ho took the place of a thief, and there is no telling how soon he became a thief himself. He told me that he did not steal anything from the mint until afterthe deposit of that 810,000, 000 in gold bars i bnt his connection with the mint lnited for more than forty years nnd his position was the same as that of Negus. During his whole t-'rin of employment ho had the conlldvucn of every one. I have a letter here, signed by Daniel Stur geon, who was treasurer of the United (States when he was appointed. It is he who advises the appointment, aud he describes Henry 8. Cochran as honest, able and courteous. Cochran seemed to be crazy for gold. He fell in lovo with the preoious metal, and when we found thnthehad robbed the mint of $113,030 he hated to give up his stealings and he complained bitterly when the moti5y found in his home was taken awav. When he was appointed weigh clerk Ue was about twenty-three years old. When his robbery was discovered ho was sixty three. He was then a deacon iu the Prebylerinn Clinreh, and was organ izing a camnaigti for tho Salvation Armv in tho neighborhood in which he lived. Ho had been married and divorced. Ho had a grown-up daugh ter. He nppoarod to be eininoutly resppctablo iu every way and still hu had been stealing for years. 'How did you como to suipoot hiui of the robbary?" I n-ked. "It wit through his own actions, rep'ied Iho director of tho mint, "i-fe had, fyou know, tho charge of the vaults which contained tho gold bull ion. Much oC this bullion had been untouched lor years. Iu the vault from which tbt robbery was mudo there wero :? lO.IMW.OdO worth of gold bars. 1 his vault had not been opened for tix years. Tbo gold had been brought from tho assay olUce in New York in 1SJ1 nud stored away in 18S7. 1 aided in putting it in. The gold bars were piled up crosswiso like rail road ties, uud they were arranged, us nunl, in a Beries of molts. When we FIFTY MILLION 3 OF SILVER BAGS AND BOXES. put the gold in tbo vaults wo put eaoh melt by itself. Each gold brick has its number, and it is marked as to the melt to which it belohgs, so we can toll just exactly how many piooes of gold thero uro in a vault, just where eaoh piece ia and jus, what it welcbs. This bullion was weighed twice before it was put in. Thero wcro about twenty-llvo tons of it. I superintend ed the weighing. I helped to seal the doors of tho vault when we wero through and saw that everything wai seenred. From time to time the vault was inspected, but the seals wero in tact, and no ono had any idea but that the gold was all there. About two years ago Secretary Garlislo gave orders that this bullion bo coined. The vault was opened and moro than 400 pounds of gold wero missiug. We had little trouble in detecting the thief, CoohrAn had been much excited when I told him of tho intention to coin the bullion, "Ho objected, and said the gold was so nicely piled np, and was such a beau tiful sight to show to visitors, that the Government had better bring some of its bullion from Now York and ooin it I laughed at this, the Coohran then insinuated that the gold might not be all there When ho found that we really intended to coin tho gold, he came over to Washington to see me, thinking there might bo yet a chauoe to stop it. He called at my house hore at 11 o'clock one night, and asked if it was really true that tho Government was going to take the gold out ot that vault. 1 replied, 'Yes.' He then said : 'Well, yon won't find all the gold there. Borne of it is laissiug. It was never rightly weighed, and it is not there.' It was at this time that I bs gan to saspeot him, and I said to my self. 'Well, if any of that gold is Ion, I think yon know where it is. A day or so after this we opened the vault, and we fonnd the gold was just $113, 000 short. - Still, the seals were in taot. The steel walls of tho vault were nnbroken. and there was no sign as to where the gold bad gone. Coohran seemed very nervous, and upon finding that be was suspeoted, be oonfewed hi was the thief. He showod bow be had fished the gold ont with a crooked wire. He wculd pull it down from the pilo and drag it to the door of the vault, and then by slightly pushing the door at tho bottom be was able to get it out through the oraok between the door and the floor. Ha had car ried it off, bar by bar. ia bis lnnoh basket, or in bis trouttrs pooket, aud had taken it to bit borne in the fubuibs Of Philadelphia. "What did be do with the gold!" 1 Maid, "He told it fight baok to the mint from which he had stolen it," replied Mr. Preston. "He did not dare to do this without remelting it, as the gold was so fine that it would be snre to create suspicion. He bad at his home a crucible and he remelted the gold, wEuinixfl ooiiO srArps. mixing it with silver and lead. This last prodnot he sont to us through tho express company, and was able to do so without suspicion. Wo fonnd ono bar of gold in Coohran's house tho day he confessed, and we also found 83000 in gold eagles. It was a curious house. It was honeycombed with secret clos ets, aud it was in theso that the money was fonnd. Cochran kept up bis steal ing to tbo lust. The day the weighing wait completed Cochrau came down early. He was there beforo any of the other employes of tho mint. We had woighod part of the gold. The vault was open, and there was a truok in it loaded with bars of bullion. Cochran, II tiding no one about, picked up twenty of these bars, and, one at a time, throw them into the ventilator shaft of tho vault, so that they fell in between the roof of the vault and the floor above. When he confessed he told where this gold was and we got it back. The remainder was partially covered by that which we fouud at tho bouse, and wo reouived something .torn Cochran's property and bis bondsmen. Unolo Sam is, however, still $12,000 or $13,000 short from that." "What did they do with Coohran?" I asked. "He was tried and sent to the peni tentiary for a term of sis years and seven months. He is now in prison. He weighed 250 pounds when he was arrested. He does not weigh 150 now, and has lost 100 pounds sinco his theft was discovered." "Do you think be was insane?" "That is a question," replied the director of the mint. ("He seemed to be'a monomaniao on the snbjeot of gold. Ho claimed that he bud saved the United States millions ot dollars by gnarding its treasures, and be was indignant whon the gold was taken from bim. Sinoe that time wo have not kept gold bullion in vaults of this nature, and there will probably never be a robbery of that kiud again." "Has Unolo Sam ever lost as muob as thi in the past?" "There was little loss in Coohran's case," replied Director Prestsn. "The. money was nearly all reoovered. There have, however, been big losses in the past. In 1855, just about the time that I entered the Treasury De partment, Unole Sam lost $150,000 at the Han Francisco mint. When one of the settlements was made it was found that this muoh was short. The smelter and refiner olaimed that this was waste, that it had been lost iu re fining or had esoaped up the flues. It is a question in my mind whether he did not tell the troth. At any rate, ho was arrested, bnt not oonvioted. Shortly after bis trial be left the United States and went to South America, He was drowned there. " "There was a queer robbery at San Frauoisoo ia 1878, by which a oolored night watohman stole $20,000 ia gold. It was known that gold was in some way or other being taken out of the mint, but it could not be traoed. The deteotives finally discovered that Henry Smith, tho night watohman, badbeen selling bullion. They arrested bim -and oharged bim with taking it from the mint. He denied the crime, Thoy then went to bis house and thor oughly investigated it. They took up the floors and broke the furniture, but could find nothing. They next attaoked the yard. They dug the soil over with spades, and found a little furnaoa in whiob gold had evidently at some time been melted. This was shown to the watohman, but be said be knew nothing about it. They then went baok and dug up a flower bed, whioh tbey bad not touched on aooount I ol ue beanty. it was ailed with pansies, ! and the ground abont ft was covered with rose bushel and geraniums. They had dng abont two feet lown into this bed when they fonnd a big earthen pot whloh was covered at the top with melted was. Breaking this, they dis covered a saucer beneath it, and under this there were seven oones of yellow polll, worth, alt told, about $0000. They took this to Smith, and he at once confessed. He bad stolen about $20,000 in less than three years. Ha had taken the gold from the separating tanks by means of a spoon, The bullion was placed in such tnuks and treated with aoid and water to remove the silver. Ily the action of the aoid, the gold fell to tho bottom in the shape of a flee blaok preoipitate, and the silver solution was washed away. The tanks were covered and locked at night, bnt there was a bole iu the bottom of them in which a hose was inserted for the washing of the pre oipitate. The watohman unscrewed the hose, and then, by means of a spoon, ladled out a few spoonfuls a day and took tbem home. Eaoh spoonful wns worth about $20, and he laid the precipitate aside nntil he could bay a furnace and crucibles. With these he turned the blaok powder into yellow gold by melting it, and bo sold the produot to the bullion dealers of Ban Francisco." "What was done with this man?" I asked. "He was arrested, tried and sent to prison," replied Mr. Preston; "but his fate was rather an exception to that of the mint robbers of tho paBt. Many of thorn have escaped punish ment. I do not believe in this at all. I think they should be prosecntod and punished to the full extent'of the law." Food of Moles. Little is known of tho habits and food of our native moles. Professor II. Gormen has examined tho stomachs of fourteen moles in Kentucky, where it sometimes becomes troublesome in gardens and lawns by loosening the soil about newly set plants or marring the appearanoe of the sward. While strongly accused of eating soed corn after planting, it appears that the bulk of its food eousists of earthworms aud inseots, especially the former. It is especially fond of tho May beetle, the parent of tho white grub, so de structive at times to lawns, and ap pears not to eat corn or vegetables of any sort. Now York Indopondont. C A LP HITll"llKEE LEAS. He Ifas Only One Front licg, and Was Horn That Way. There is a three-logged calf at Shioksbinny, Peun. The tripod be longs to H. O. MoDaniols. Five months ago his faithful family cow presented bim with Bon. Bon is the name ot the calf that has become fa mous for being not like other calves. His right leg is entirely missing. Both hind legs are perfectly formed and plaood. His loft fore log is also just as porfect as any calf's, but it is almost in tho middle of bis body. All the ribs are naturally formed, reaching all the way to the neck. Thore is not even the trace of a shoulder blade on the right side. The calf weighs 200 pounds, and can run aud play as lively as any calf with a full set of logs. Store piles and ditches are not obstacles to bim ho frisks over them, tail high in the air, using bis fore leg on the prinoiple of a jumping polo. He has been much potted, and follows the members of the MuDaniola family about like a dog. At the tender ago ol four weeks Ben TBS CALF BORN WITH TBItHR 1X08. left bis mother and went with bis mas ter on a jaunt about the surrounding oountry, attraoting considerable at tention and earning considerably more than bis living expenses, thanks to the willingness of Americans to pay to see freaks. He has not missed a meal in bis life, and is unusually strong and healthy. New York Journal. Extinguishing Burning OH. Never throw water on burning oil it only spreads tho flame. Dry sand will quiokly put out the burning flams by sraotheriug it. If sand is not at band in such emergenoy throw some heavy woolen substance, as a rug, a carpet or a damp towel or sheet, over it Excluding tbe air is the great eoret of extinguishing all fires. Saved. Hare "Well, that waa ' a bare breadth escape I" Truth. COAT AND BASQUE, BOMB WEW ATT II ACTIONS WOMAN'S A IT AUK L. IN Stylish nnd Attractive Coat With Slushed Collar An Kxqulslte French Model Hasque of (Striped Beige Cloth. 'OBAOCO brown cloth, velvet a.. . a uraiu nun nmoKQU penri out 1 tons are stylishly ootubined (, in tbe smart top garment de picted in tbe first large illustratiou. The pioturesqne hat of brown felt, writes May Mantou, is trimmed with velvet-edged ribbon and brown ostrich plumes. COAT WITH BLABHED COLLAR AND The coat fronts are loose-fitting, olosing in double-breasted fashion by three fanoiful tabs at the top on tbe laffe ftiln Thn flr.nnfnl anil na.fAnflw. I fitting baok is shaped by seams that extend to tbeshonlder, whioh are con oealed by straps of cloth applied iu tailor lasnlon. Tbe center-baok seam is omitted(the newest wrinkle, by tbo way). Below the waist line tbe back is laid in deep box plaits. An attractive feature is the stylish collar, out in deep slashes and out lined on its free edgos with braid. It is so arrangod npon a deep band as to provide the fashionable flare. Tbe one-seam gigot sleeves are of moderate but fashionable fulness, and are completed at tho wrists by flaring enffs of velvet to match the oollar. Prettily shaped pocket laps oover inserted pookets. Melton, covert, whipoord and all regulation plain or mixed cloakings may be employed in making this stylish ooat with decorations of fur, Astrakhan, braid, or plainly finished by maohine stitching. To make this jaoket in the medium size it will require two and three fourths yards of fifty-four-inoh wide material. . iiadibs' rr.BKca model B.isqva. Striped beige olothmado tbe exquis ite basque that doses in centre-front with small buttons and button-boles, THEN CH MODEL BASQUE as shown in the second large engrav ing. The waist, of becoming length, is rendered glove-ntting by double bust darts, nnder-arm and side-back gores with a curved centre-back. A smooth standing oollar of velvet fits the neck olosely. The ono seamed gigot sleeve of fashionable fulness is ar ranged over ooat-sbaped linings and finished at the wrists with flaring vel vet cull.. When cut with "V" shaped neok and embellished with trimming, the waist it suitable to complete dinner toilette, while the circular ol square neck will be appropriate for an evening bodice. To make this basque for a lady hav Ing a thfrty-six-inoh bust measure, it will require twj and seven-eighths yards of forty-four-iuoh wide material, NEWEST MODM 1H WAISTS. , Poaoook blue and preen shot silk made this stylish waist, whioh is one of the newest modes. The rolling collar and on (Is of white linen are ad justable and enn be removed to have laundered when necessary, or when made 'to match the waist they can be permanently seenred. A handsome stook collar of satin ribbon is tied nn dor the collar in a large bow at the centre back. Belt to match closed with silver buokle. Five small tuoki riCTDftESQCE HAT OF BH0WN FELT. are laid at the neck on each side ot the box-plait in centre front. These plaits spread gradually, allowing an easy, graceful lulnoss over tbe bust whioh is confined again at the waist line, and the lower edge is conoealed under the dress skitt. The full back ladies' waist. is stylishly plaited or gathered, aa preferred, aud joined to the straight lo.ver edge of yoke lining, the hand snmoly pointed yoke in newest design beiog'laid flat over the plaits or gathers and stitched on the curved edge. Tha stylish bishop sleeves are fashion ably wide, gathered at the top and finished with wrist-bands to whioh tha OT 8TIUFED BEIQE CLOTH. cuffs are buttoned. The neok ia fin ished with a close-fitting collar, to tha upper edge of whioh the linen collar is bottooed with single studs in front, closing in back on two separate but tons,whioh are sewed inside tha collar. These stylish and becoming waists are a pronounced feature of the season's modes, made ot cashmere, Frenoh flan nel, orepon, brilliantine, fine plaid and mixed woolens, as well as of silk, atin, broeada aud other fauoy silk textures. ,
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