The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1884-10-01
SMASHED SARATOGAS.
HOW AND WHY TRUNKS ARE BROKEN.
The Inconsistent Things with Which La.
dies Fill Their Travelling Portman-
teaus, and How Baggage.sniash-
ers Are Troubled Thereby.
Rochester Post-Express.l


"Why is it that so many more trunks are
smashed on railroads in the United States
than in any other countryp asked a re-
porter Of a baggage as the latter
was trying to explain to an irate passenger,
who was gazing ruefully at the ragged
condition of his trunk.
"Ins partly on account of quick trans
fers," he said, "but chiefly the fault lies
with the owner of the trunk. 1t is true we
sometimes handle baggage roughly, but
have TO do so in order to make all connec.
tions. Sometimes we have only a few
minutes to transfer large amount Of bag
gage from through express train to a
ahalf dozen Others"
swell, but that ought not to wreck q
trunk unless you fire 1t several feet or
jump on it," put in the irate passenger,
looking daggers at the baggage.master.
"Oh, you give us rest" replied the
man Of baggage. "Half the trunks are not
fastened properly, and very often the
hinges are loose and will give way entire
ly at the slightest jar. Then the locks and
catches are made Of cast iron and break
of easily. But the greatest fault with
people is that they pack their trunks too
full. This is especially the case with la.
dies. This morning one of them opened
her trunk here to put in package, and 1t
took four men, two sitting on the trunk
and two to force the lid down, to lock 1t,
Again, the trunks are often very poorly
made. Zinc covered trunks are the worst.
Sole-leather trunks are the best, as they
are pliable and not likely to give way II
roughly handled"
''Did you ever see anything curious
among the contents Of a broken trunkW
eyes. IL would surprise you to know
of the things that travellers will insist on
pling into their trunks. The other day
an insufFerablo odor pervaded the in-
bound baggage-room. An investigation
showed that 1t came from trunk which
had been lying in the room for several
days. 1t was broken open, and the odor
was found to come from eggs which had
been broken. 1t was a woman's trunk,
and she had been on visit to the
country"
Don't they ever make a fuss when you
break open their trunksr
"They usually kick up row, but we are
used 10 that; but they hardly ever sue for
damages"
"Didu't you ever discover anything
more curious than eggs~
"Lots of things. Last week the bag.
gage.room smelled like wholesale liquor
store. A trunk from Wheeling was the
cause, and on being broken open, two kegs
Of whisky were revealed, the bung Of one
of which had come out, allowing the
whisky to run"
Anything elsep
"l'm coming to the best of all, II you
will only give me time. Men going on a
hunting excursion will carry powder and
cartridges in their trunks. Last winter
we were unloading car OF baggage from
the west and number Of cartridges fell
out. A moment afterward a package fell
on thom and they exploded. At the same
time stick fell from the top Of the bag.
gagc.car and hit one Of the 'bagsagers' on
the head. He yelled: pm SHOT, and
would not believe otherwise until we
showed him where the bullet had lodged
In the top OF the car"
"American trunks, as a rule, are the
poorest and most easily wrecked, sup.
pose"
"Thavs where you're wrong. The
American trunks are the strongest and
best that we handle. The poorest are those
OF immigrants, who will insist on having
huge paddock attached, which catches
ON everything, and causes these foreign.
ers TO have more broken baggage than any
other class Of Travellers"
"Dld you ever know Of 'baggager' to
smash his own trunk"
But here an express train arrived and
ie conversation came to an end.