Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1879-10-30
FORTUNE IN A CHICKEN COOP
W hat . Commtssioa Merchant Found In .
Coop Of Chickens and How II Game
There.
From the BaItImore RulIeiin.

=,
wart Il Co. commission merchants
as South Howard street, had JUS,
sold the fourth of the tour coops OF
chickens, aud the Arab by whom
they were bought was about to
transfer the purchase TO bis wagon,
late Saturday night, when a clerk
10 the store made most astound-
ing discovery 10 one Of the eoots
At first sight be object upon which
the young mans gsze was riveted
appeared to be only piece If pa.
per, but as the clerk approached
nearer the coop, the object took
tangible size. shape aud color, and
the greedy fingers of the now ex.
cited young man grasped the bun.
die and drew out we'll flied mon.
ey express package. Mr. Stewart
opened 1T, and what was his sur.
prise to discover that it contained
no less than $1,000. immediate
search was made in the coop for
any other bundle that might be
strsying around loose, and sare
enough. 10 the bottom of the same
coop, almost hid by dirt and feath-
ers, 50, 500 more were fished out.
The ast6 nishment of the mer-
chant at this particular iuncture
can be better imagined than de-
soribed. He was simply dazed, and
IL was some time before he could
recovor from the astonishment suf..
fciently to,setile in his mind where
The money could nave come from.
md who it might belong TO. He
knew very well that the coops had
come over The line of the Baltimore
and Ohio railroad, aud that by ex
press, out WI at tn money was do.
ing in them was problem. Won.
deiirg thus, he took the contents
of the parcel to The office of the ges
eral superintendent of the Balti
and Ohio express. Mr.. Trego. how.
ever, was out west. and mr. Stew.
art, not wishing to be left 10 posses
sion OF so large a sum so unexpect.
eddy, visited Adams Express office
and handed the money over to Mr..
John @. A Herring, superintendent
OF the company Later on Mr.. Her.
ring returned the money 20 Mr.
Trego's representative, Mr.. Ettipgs
at the office of the Baltimore and
Ohio Express company, and it was
found to be link in chain that
was thought to have been irretrei-
vabiy lost Only few DAYS ago a
baggage express train, bound from
Columbus, o.. or Mt. Vernon. O
accounts are conflicting in regard
to the starting poiDt-on The Bal,i
more and Ohio railroad, drew up at
Benwood. just at that point on the
Ohio river where exprestmen are
changed, and one expressmau goes
west and the other returns east.
Packages travelling from west to
east by express are transferred TO
the expressman coming east. In
this case the express agent from
Columbus to Benwood had under
bis charge large number of par
GELS. These he transferred to the
charge of Peter Dahme, The agent
coming from Benwood to Balti
more, and among these packages it
seems were two. one containing S.
600, another So 500. Dahme took
possession of the packages, receipt.
cd 'hem, and made tho usual mani.
fest of them. The receipt was Civ.
en- TO the agent on the Ohio side of
the river, and Dahme, while trans
ferring the packages from one car
TO another, is supposed to have
placed the packages containing
their precious burden of 81 500 on o
chicken coop. As a piece of care
less negligence this act YVES unpre>
cedented.
The packages were placed on the
coop, it is supposed, ia order for
Dahme to make way for them il
his safe. a: any rate they were
placed there, and, the agent forget
iiog them, the coop was moved and
the two bundles of money fell
through the netting into the coop.
The coop came to Baltimore. and
the money turned up as described.
Meanwhile, however, Dahme had
continued on his way towards Bal
timore, and it was not until be
reached Baltimore and examined
bis manifest that be found his way
bill called for two packages not 10
his safe. He eoud not account for
it, but concluded that the fault lay
with the agent on the west side of
the river. At Harper's Ferry, there
fore, be telegraphed to the agent to
know where they were. The agent
replied that he had bis (Dahme's)
receipt to show that BIO (Dahme)
had them. There the matter wss
dropped. Arriving in Baltimore
the fact was reported at headquar~
tiers. "eiegraphic communication
between the company and the
agent west of Ohio began. Dahme
had the manifest and the agent had
the receipt.
This Was proof positive that the
fault lay with Dahme, and the dis
covery of the money by Mr.. Stew.
art proved conclusively that Dahme
had been only guilty of gross negli.
gence and carelessness. He was
therefore dismissed from the COM
pany's servics on that ground. The
axpressman, whose act OF careless.
ness might have resulted so serious
~, lives In Baltimore. lie had been
employed by Adams & Co.'S express
prior to his obtaining a position in
the Baltimore AID Ohio Office. He
had been in the business Tor twenty
odd years, and was always looked
upon as reliable, CAREFUL man.