Gold Found in WTC Rubble

This partial transcript of War on Terror, October 31, 2001, was provided by the Federal Document Clearing House. Click here to order the complete transcript.

COSBY: As the clean-up effort continues around the clock at ground zero, workers came across a buried treasure last night. Here with his big scoop is New York Newsday columnist and Fox News analyst Ellis Henican.

Ellis, thank you so much for joining us with this fascinating story. It's an interesting story. Nice to see something fun and optimistic at this time.

ELLIS HENICAN, NEWSDAY COLUMNIST: Well, there have not been a lot of cheery stories at ground zero the past few weeks, and this actually was something that made everybody smile.

COSBY: Tell us how the gold was found and how much gold was found.

HENICAN: Well, Rita, for weeks there had been rumors about gold somewhere in the rubble.

COSBY: And we all thought it was just a rumor, too.

HENICAN: Well, yeah! You know, it's not the kind of thing you believe. But last night, indeed, finally the workmen got close enough to a cache of gold that is somewhere in the $200 million range. Apparently, it was in the possession of the Bank of Nova Scotia, which was one of the many, many financial institutions that was located down there. Finally, the digging just got there deep enough. Word of the gold arrived. The cops showed up to provide protection. The construction workers...

COSBY: And they were armed. Shotguns and everything, right?

HENICAN: Believe me! They moved all the regular workers back, and they took just a small crew and a little bit of equipment in. And as you say, last night they retrieved two armored carloads of these gold bars. And there was a huge whoop that went up at ground zero. And I can report now that the gold is safe, and that the depositors of the Bank of Nova Scotia...

COSBY: You followed it through!

HENICAN: ... will get their gold back. Yeah.

COSBY: Now, how do we know that it actually belongs to Nova Scotia bank? And what happens if other companies come in down the road? Will there be a series of claims?

HENICAN: Well, I'm not promising you that that's not going to happen. This is New York. It is America, and we are a litigious society. And a lot of people...

COSBY: Oh, really?

(LAUGHTER)

HENICAN: Did you notice?

COSBY: No, I never knew that before!

HENICAN: Hadn't you noticed? But you know, I mean, eventually, I guess you can imagine that getting worked out in court somewhere down the line.

But you know, this is not the first time that we've discovered something like this. You know, as these workers go through this -- this rubble down there, there's a whole life that's revealing itself, and this was just one little chapter. And everyday, we're finding new pieces of the way we were, as a city and as a society, on September the 11th. This was a nice one. It's -- you know, it reminds me -- do you remember the story of ancient Pompeii, you know, where the volcano covered the whole city, and slowly it revealed itself as the archaeologists...

COSBY: And slowly, we saw layers of civilization.

HENICAN: Exactly. We are -- Rita, we're urban archaeologists. We're digging through the rubble, and we're finding stories of ourselves. It's actually kind of a -- kind of a touching moment inside a really wretched story.

COSBY: And it's interesting, too, because there are other things, as you point out, that may be coming out -- secret company files, possibly -- I mean, some things that maybe other folks do not want revealed, never anticipated would ever see the light of day.

HENICAN: One of the most striking things when I was at the scene, just in an hour or so after the buildings went up, was the volume of paper on the ground that came out of these companies. And you're right. There are files. There are memos. There are stuff that probably the people who wrote them wouldn't want us to see. But they're coming piece by piece. Don't you worry.

COSBY: All right. Well, I know you're going to be keeping us posted.

HENICAN: Thanks, Rita.

COSBY: Ellis Henican, thank you very much, and thanks for a nice, interesting story at a time like this.

HENICAN: Great.

COSBY: We appreciate it.

HENICAN: Sure.

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