Contents of 130-year-old safe remains a mystery

Monday, May 05, 2008 |
ASTORIA (AP) — A one-ton black safe, 130 years old, sits quietly in Astoria and oozes mystery.
Gold? Cash? Documents? Nothing? Nobody knows what’s in there.
But the safe, labeled “Hall Safe and Lock,” is not coughing up its combination easily.
Portland TV station KATU (2) says the Victorian-era tumblers so far have refused to yield their numbers despite the efforts of professionals who have tried to crack the combination.
The heavy metal door remains tightly sealed.
Modern technology probably would circumvent the lock. Holes could be drilled to open the door or just peek inside.
But owner, Floyd Holcomb, who found the safe during a renovation effort for the Pier 39 shopping area, will have none of it.
“We’ve had several people come and attempt to get in to it, nobody’s got in to it,” Holcomb said. “It’s an artifact. Would you go out and drill an artifact? No. I think the challenge is the fact that everybody’s lazy today.”
Holcomb is no professional safe-peeler, but he has spent some time twiddling the large, well-worn dial on the front of the safe.
“Hall was a real smart guy, he’s done all these fake spots, you can feel it,” Holcomb said of the safe’s builder as he turns the dial slowly and internal mechanics tick and click, but no more than that.
He has looked for local old-timers who may have seen what was in the safe long ago when it was the property of one of the many salmon canneries along Astoria’s busy marine industrial district.
“Everybody scratches their heads. They remember the safe, they don’t remember it ever being opened,” he said of talks with workers who remembered it.
Holcomb is considering a safecracking competition to see if anyone can crack the combination.
Until then the contents, if there are any, are, well, safe.
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