The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1884-10-09

saratogas which Contain whisky, Powder,
Cartridges, and Eggs.

saratogas which Contain whisky, Powder,
Cartridges, and Eggs.
~Why is it that SO many more trunks
are smashed on railroads in the United
States than in any other country 2"
asked reporter of baggage master
as the latter was trying to explain to an
irate passenger, who was gazing rue
fully at the ragged condition of his
trunk.
Its partly on account of quick
transfers." he said, "but chiefly the
fault lies with the owner of the trunk.
It is true we sometimes handle baggage
roughly, but we have to do so in order
to make all connections. Sometimes
we have only few minutes to transfer
large amount of baggage from q
through express train to half dozen
others"
SWELL, but that ought not to wreck
trunk unless you fire it down several
feet or jump ON it," put in the irate
passenger, looking daggers at the bag
gage 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
entirely to the slightest jar. Then the
locks and catches are made OF cast iron
and break off easily. But the greatest
fault with people is that they pack
their trunks too full. This is especially
the case with ladies. This morning
one of them opened her trunk to put I'm
q package, and it took four men, two
sitting on the trunk and two to force
L. 10 hn
trunks are often very poorly made.
Uncovered trunks are the worse.
Sole leather trunks are the best, as
they are pliable and not likely to give
way if roughly handled.
did you eeers Seen anything curious
among the contents of broken trunk ?"
"Yes. 1t would surprise you to know
of the things that travellers will insist
on pihng into their trunks. The other
day an insufierable odor pervaded the
inbound baggage room. An investiga-
ton showed that it 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 a
visit to the country"
Don't they ever make fuss when
you break open their trunks?"
"They usually kick up row. hut we
are used to that; but they hardly ever
sue for damages"
Didn't you ever discover anything
more curious than eggs?"
"Lots of things. Last week the
baggage room smelled ike wholesale
liquor sire. A trunk from Wheeling
was tho cause, and on being broken
open, two kegs of whisky were re-
vealed, the bung of one of which had
come out, allowing the whisky to
rum"
"Anthing else?"
"I'm coming to the best of all if you
will only give me time. Men going on
q hunting excursion will carry powder
and cartridges in their trunks. Last
winter we were unloading n car of
baggage from the west and a number of
cartridges fell out. A moment after
ward package fell ON them and they
exploded. At the same time stick
fell from the top of the baggage car
and hit one of the 'baggagers' 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 rule, are the
poorest and most easily wrecked, L sup
poser"
"That's 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 against everything, and causes
these foreigners to have more broken
baggage than any other class of
travellers"
"Did you ever know of 'baggager'
to smask his owD trunk"
But here an express train arrived