"HEAVY DOORS AT ALL ENTRANCES SLAMMED SHUT"

TREASURY BUILDING ALARMS ACCIDENTALLY SET OFF BY EMPLOYEE

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) In the morning of July 12, 1926, a female employee at the Treasury Building* accidentally set off the burglar alarm system as she "tampered with the lock on an opened vault door."

According to The Evening Star, guards drew their weapons and took up positions in the hallways to block attempted escape by would-be burglars.

The alarms could be heard by people passing by on the street.

"All the heavily-barred doors at all entrances were slammed shut."

*Treasury Building, located at 15th St. & Pennsylvania Avenue, became a National Historic Landmark in 1972.  Its West Wing facing the White House was completed in 1864 along with a burglar-proof vault.

SOURCES

"The Treasury Building," United States Department of the Treasury, www.home.treasury.gov/

"Treasury Excited By Burglar Alarm Set Off by Woman," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., July 12, 1926, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/

 

 

North Entrance

U.S. Treasury Building

Washington D.C.

Photo by Sealy j (2017)

CC SA 4.0

"IN POSITION RESERVED FOR COVERING SOLDIER DEAD"

OFFICIALS ORDER REMOVAL OF INCORRECTLY HUNG FLAGS AT TREASURY

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On June 2, 1923, The Evening Star reports "flags that had draped the columns of the Treasury Department Building" here in the Nation's Capital were removed after local patriotic organizations criticized the "erroneous" use of the flag.

The flags, part of decorations in honor of Shrine Week, were "hung...in the position reserved for the covering of bodies of the soldier dead."  The stars of the flags, according to regulations*, should "hang at the observer's left."

Treasury officials stated the columns "should not be covered with adornments."

*The United States National Flag Code was created in 1923 & became law in 1942.

SOURCES

"Do's and Don'ts for Display of Old Glory," by Susan H. Lawson, July 1, 2019, www.defense.gov/

U.S. Department of Defense, "Flags Removed From Treasury After Criticism of Positions," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/

 

 

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