Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1867-10-25
prl,. From Tinsley's Magazin
SOMEBODY'S BAG.

.ses. You have doubtless heard of that famous
-3 carpetb bag which was associated with the
sss5 Watcrloo,Brldge mystery. Wen, L am
about to tell you much more dreadful
sz story Tor one which seems to me to be SOY
, s about another carpet bag, the owner of
which the much Wanted sagacity of the
police has also failed to discover. In both
& cases, however, as though in revenge for
their own incapacity, they have not hest
ea l. tated to cast q sur upon innocent lndlvdu-
@.,j. - ais My neighber 3. and myself were
turning one November afternoon, from our
club, where had looked in as usual, just
sts- to get a glimpse of the evening paper, In
~ order to take the last Geographic intelli-
gence to my vile at home when, finding
-<1 ourselves late for our respective dinners,
we hailed g hansom and got into it it be-
II ing arranged that should drop B within
.&-@ streets length of his own house. ,aa,a
"HulloW cried my companion directly
we had started oil; why, here's carpet
bag which somebody has left behind him."
'' :" Halves! exclaimed |, with a sudden
and uncomfortable impulse, the springs of
which lay far enoughsaway in those days of
boyhood when the rights of property are
SO mperfectly understood. gFY'
=. 90 "No, no." replied b, severely it is not
yours, my friend. You know 10 aoas That
found It,"
"Really, my dear B, returned /, "You
stst quite surprise me. You must be aware
that it belongs to neither of us, but to the
unfortunate person who had engaged this
hanson"
"Very true" assented B. but little re-
~ ",
- -t deemed it tight to take; for however
q Divines may preach, and (Which is worse)
the law may dictate, when one has found
. u thing, one does seem TO have some sortof
tn. ,tir claim to it. Ii L were asked to point out
.t,-aa what is par erceltence THE law of nature,
should answer, 1t is that which is called on
ct yFaa. land the Right of Trover," and on the
10 '.ls' seashore that of "Flotsam and Jetsam."
{,t q. Here was a carpetbag left by the tide of
humanity,-or at least by one careless
wave of it, and here were We, its finders,
s'J + ss% . P sssass ss S.R Sss
to plump down (WthOut hurting himself)
. RI upon the property in question, which
might Just as well have been on my side
of the hanson as his The question arose
~ then, How were we to deal with it?
w n cit will never do to give it up to the
cabman, eh?" observed b, tentatively che
will keep it for himself to certainty"
"Qute out of the question:" assented i.
fl]4li The fellow who lost 1t would never have
chance of recovering it."
81 think had better take it home and
advertise it in The 4snaes," suggested my
.s- friend. ea
Ono, my dear fellow" said |, firmly
.,. you shall never be troubled to walk with
that great black leather bag" Git was an
uncommonly large one,) Through the
streets. The cab takes me, you know, to
A my own door, SO IN take it to my house"
"Very WELL" said b, slowly handing
over the property into my charge, with the
." air of co-trustee, who, while executing
some undoubtedly lawful decd, yet cannot
,.,rl- help regretting that the person who acts
ID ~ with him should happen to be an attorney.
You'll take great care OF 1t, won't you ?"
"Of course l WILL" returned |, indig-
go nantly :" | shall either advertise it in the
tt Times or take it to the police office the first
thing i'll the morning"
tro =" just So" said b, who had now arrived
asfsFse at his journeys end. l should MT at all
oz wonder if we reward offered for it
30 ~ tomorrow III the second column. If we
were Door peODlc this might be quite q
So god-send, might it not ?" >--f
s'''.a "You shall have halves" said l. "what-
ri ' ;ry ever it is"
- 80 And so we parted with another shout OF
t.~ merrment. But when | glanced through
the little window, saw B looking after
FIJI me with an intensity of expression, which,
s4" although we are always sorry to wish each
othe good by, never noticed in his friend
@i ly Countenance before. H.
l 1t may be asked, perhaps, how il was
ff that the cabman, seeing me enter his vchi-
Gle without luggage, and emerge from ii
f. with the property in question, did not at
Hi once question my right to the same for il
Is scarcely to be supposed that he was met
81 81 aphysican enough to allow that could
,e have evolved not only the idea of carpet
ss" bag, but carpet bag itself, out of my in
ner consciousness.
The reply to this apparent difficulty is
.i,i that it was dark Moreover, won swear
ds that did not hold the carpetbag rather
behind me, so to shield it from observa
rs tion while paid the man his full fare ant
1888 sixpence over, for which, as usual, he die
pbo7q not stay to thank me, but drove swiftly
away
@et My wife was exceedingly interested il
this carpetbag--a black one, evidently
vt-s divided within into compartments-anC
7T a punched it vigorously, with the object o
X dgt discovering, from the nature of the resist
F 'iass ancc offered what was the character of it
contents. .'If we could open it," argued
she. awe should surely learn from interna
"a, evidence the name and address of tn,
sa.2 owrer, and be able to forward it to hin
Immediately"
But when all the little keys in our pos
session had been tried without effect upol
ito r,atant Lock we decided that il cOulI