Long Street is the Science Bookstore's blog, posting historical curiosities such as old computers, maps, prints, and price comparisons.
HN links it for historical items like the 1959 paper digital computer PAPAC-00 and a post on what things cost in 1876.
Aren't you then making the correction twice?
It appears it would have been between 1 and 3 weeks wages for someone in a job where they would carry a gun:
http://longstreet.typepad.com/thesciencebookstore/2012/01/what-did-things-cost-in-1876.html
A somewhat decent low skill job these days pays $30,000-35,000, which puts the comparison in the ballpark of $500, not $5,000.
Related, from 1959, many years before CARDIAC:
PAPAC-00 A 2-register, 1 bit, Fixed Instruction Binary Digital Computer
https://longstreet.typepad.com/thesciencebookstore/2010/11/a-do-it-yourself-paper-digital-computer-1959.html
Checks out. [1]
[1] https://longstreet.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83542d51e69e2011571d063ac970b-pi