Fantasy fiction; Utopian fiction; Utopias -- Fiction
"I quite agree with you, Mr. Peck, that we ought not to let this matter
drop without at least trying to discover if the safe mentioned in the
paper is now in this department. I wish you would take the matter in
hand and thoroughly search the old vaults, especially the one mentioned
as containing the safe on January 7, 1904. Notify me if your labors
are rewarded by success. Good morning," and the Treasurer bowed to Mr.
Peck as the latter left the office. In passing out, Peck motioned to
Mr. Howell to follow him.
The vaults of the Treasury were cut up into many small and minor
vaults. Some had been used for the storage of old documents of the
department which had no further value than that, by law, they could not
be destroyed. One series of these latter were the certificate vaults
containing the stacks of fraudulent certificates used by the Chinese,
in the latter part of the nineteenth century, to gain admission into
the country, and in one of which the safe was supposed to have been
deposited.
An investigation was at once made by Peck and Howell in these vaults,
and resulted in complete success; for, hidden behind huge piles of
papers and boxes of documents, was found the small safe taken to
Washington in 1888, by Hugh Craft.
It had taken several hours for the two men, with the aid of a couple
of janitors, to unearth, or rather unpaper, the iron box; but it was
there, nevertheless, and they read the legend painted upon it with many
expressions of wonder.
At 10:30 the next morning, when the Treasurer came to his desk, they
reported the result of their search, and informed him that they had
gotten the safe out into the main corridor of the vault, awaiting his
orders.
Mr. Brett immediately accompanied Peck down to the vaults, and saw for
himself the safe. He read the legend upon it, and could not conceal his
astonishment: the letter was genuine, and the safe was there.
The contents of that iron box had been placed in it over one hundred
and thirteen years ago! What were the secrets it contained? Why was it
sent to the Treasurer of the United States, with instructions not to be
opened before a hundred years had passed? Why was it not opened at the
proper time?
All these thoughts quickly passed through the Treasurer's mind.
Carefully noting the inscription upon the door of the safe, he informed
Mr. Peck that he would at once communicate with the President upon the
subject. He then went back to his office.
At 11:15 that morning the President was informed that the Treasurer of
the United States had most important business with him, and desired
an immediate audience; it was granted him. The President was sitting
in his private office, in the executive mansion, and received the
Treasurer with a kind smile of welcome as he entered.
Mr. Brett immediately communicated the purport of his mission, and
handed the President the letter which had been found.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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