The daily gazette., 1882-03-04
LOSY---A Bag OF GOLD.
THE STORY OF A HAcK-DRIyER.

"Are you engaged coachman?"
had stopped at that moment 10 water
my horses, and TO quench my own
thirst Ia a saloon near. ! had scarcely
reached my horses, heads, whenl heard
the above question, and saw, as l turn
ed round, young lady standing by the
side Of my cab. Without delay / ans
wered, and, opening the carriage-door, /
helped the lady 10.
As soon as found the number which
the lady had given me, stopped, got
of the box, and opened the door to help
her out. She appeared to be in a great
agitation, as If al unpleasant interview
was before her. received from her,
over the price Of her fare, which she evil
IDENTIFY knew, q little drlnk-money,
thanked her, and she hurried away,
while turned my carriage toward
neIghboring saloon to invest In glass
of beer.
But before l Went IN, 1 proceeded to
straighten the cushions, and sea that all
was right inside. AS soon as opened
the door again, saw some object lying
on the seat. 1t was small linen sack
without doubt what the lady had held in
her lap. l took 1t in my hand, and ils
weight as .onisheG me. With not lit
tie curiosity looked at 1t again and
again, and at las. tried TO open 1t. 1t
was easily doue, for the bag was tss.en-
ed Ouly by lItIle piece Of string.
One can imagine my surprise when /
found 1t was flle1 with gold pieces? /
dared not LOOK At them further in this
place, as = policeman nil sbt possibly no.
tee, And ask bow / came by the gold.
Meanwhile, tied the sack again, and
put 1t In the wide pocket Of my coat.
Instead Of indulging in the glssI Of beer,
drove TO the nearest hack-s5and, and
took my place in the rear of the Ike Of
carriages, so l would be sure of not be-
ing wanted for the next half-hour.
got intS my carriage, as hackmen
often do when they want little re It, and
examined for the second time my new
found Treasure. shock the contents Of
the bag upon the teAt, aud sat with
dazsd eyes before quite pile Of gold.
Alter delighting my eyes with II for
while, counted the money, partly
twenty, partly ten dollar pieces, slngly,
again into the sack, and found II
amounted TO exactly the sum Of fifteen
hundred dollars.
When | now looked more closely at
the bag, found written in ink upon
it the address, "Miss Mildred Berke-
ley, No. 4, Madison place." This ad-
dresss, which had hitherto escaped
me, read with as much disgust az
astOnlshment, fer there now remained
to me, as an honorable man, but one
way. l meditated over it time,
but could come to no conclusion.
"With honesty" said one voice in my
soul, "you will earn no bread; with
honesty you can 60, in your age, 10
the poor-house.'
At Last selfish interest an ! conscience
came to q compromise, and resolved
TO keep the money till the following
day Then, thought, there will be
reward altered, and no one can blame
me for at least prsating by that.
l remained all day in q fever of ex
citement, and when night came, felt
really Ill. | could not sleep. Next
morning was pale and wretched.
went to breakfast where hackmen arc
in the habit of fdrlnking their ooffee, land
eagerly looked for the mernIng paper.
Sure enough, at the top of the column
for lost and found articles found this
advertisement:
LOST. - YeBterday, in hack, a bag
of gold. The finder is earnestly en-
treated to bring the money to No. rs
Grattan street, three flights up, where
he will receive liberal reward.
knew well what this last passage
signitied, fol had already in many
cases learned that this common ex-
preston allowed great latitude. A
liberal rsWard meant perhaps from
one to i've dollars and q glass of beer.
| laughed in soorn and nay ohagrin
was great Ny heart hardened toward
the person who had inserted this no.
tice, and no longer felt the least de-
sire to part with my nswly-found
treasure.
To my great surprise the advertise
ment was not repeated. l could not
explain this to myself, but began to
fear that the police were on my track,
and that some fine day must walk
into prison.
A week passed, and had become q
mere shadow Of the strong, healthy man
had previously been. The money had
been q curse,t to me ever since stretched
my hand out toward it. / had no res.
by night or day; l felt weak and
wretcned, aud visibly plned away.
had noted the address given In the |
advertisement, and 80 drove at noon |
on the tsnth day to rs Graltan street. 1t |
was the place where had driven the |
young lady. The door stood wide open. |
| called boy to hold my horse and |
went up the stairs. asked girl l met |
for Miss Berkeley, and she thought that |
such q psIsln lived on the attic floor. |
went up higher and knocked at the door
| presumed to be the right one. could
not help feeling that had been ras-
cal, and onIy the consciousness that | |
was at last going to do right gave any |
ease to my conscience.
Atmy knock weak voice called |
"Come in l' opened the door and en-
tered,
For moment the darkness prevented
my seeing the interior. The windows
were dim with dust, smoke and dirt,
a