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The E-Sylum:  Volume 4, Number 34, August 19, 2001, Article 13

GLEANINGS FROM "A MIGHTY FORTRESS" 

   Just a couple interesting tidbits from "A Mighty Fortress: 
   The Stories Behind the 2nd San Francisco Mint" by Richard 
   Kelly and Nancy Oliver: 

   [Discussing the 1st Mint] "As production continued to soar 
   in this dark, small mint, so did embezzlement.  One lesser- 
   known case involved the janitor of the building.  He had been 
   praised many times for his ability to rid the mint of rats.  But 
   one day he was found to be sewing $20 gold pieces into each 
   dead rat before throwing them into the trash.  After hours, he 
   collected the rats and retrieved the coins inside." (p14) 

   "San Francisco ... had more than its share of insanity and 
   suicides.... In 1874, 58 people committed suicide.  One of 
   the 58 included the melter and refiner of the San Francisco Mint, 
   John M. Eckfeldt while he was involved with the transfer of 
   equipment from the 1st mint to the 2nd.  A telegram dated 
   October 8, 1874, from Superintendent LaGrange, reported 
   that "Eckfeldt shot himself at 9 a.m. that day due to depression 
   of spirits caused by overwork on new mint machinery." (p18-19) 

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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