Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-11-28
TRACING LOST PACKAGES
HOW THE EXPRESS COMPANIES
HUNT UP STRAY BAGGAGE.

Dead Bodies and What 1t Costs.
Tracing" with the big express COM
panies nowadays has been perfected into
80 neat system that it is only when the
messenger or agent has been gagged"
or has gone off on an irregular run"
with the valuables, that the express
companies or those they serve suffer
loss. Every company has way of its
own by which misdirected or lost baggage
is traced to the point where it went sstray,
or If damaged, just where the damage oc-
CURED, and who Is responsible. These
ways vary only In detail.
The shipper delivers his property to the
express company to be transported, and
Whetner 1t Is package OF money or a
Jersey COW, the owner does not bother
himself concerning 1t, 80 certain is be that
II Will be taken care of and will reach its
destination all right.
WATCHING THEFREIGHT HANDLERS.
A MORNING NEWS man was standing
in the offices OF the Southern Express
Company yesterday with Agent Cooper
watching the handling of the hundreds OF
packages, some large and some small. to
be sent out on the night trains.
'Do you often lose sight of anything in
handling so much ireightW asked the
NEWS man.
"There are more things that go astray
in express channels tnan most people
think" said Mr.. Cooper, ''but it takes
less time to find them than II did a lew
years ago, and there are so few that are
not found that they do not deserve to be
noticed at all"
How do you go to work to trace
them?'
TRACING LOST PACKAGE.
swell, when a loss Is reported the
owner of the lost package shows the re-
ceipt, which is com pared with the sheet
from which it is torn, and which bears
the corresponding number. The tissue
impressions of all way bills TO Savannah
are then examined and the date and num-
Der OF the way bill on which the straying
package is entered is found. 1t may be,
however, that the tracer will find no trace
OF the package In the way bills.
Ii not, descriptions of the package, that
is the name, place and date on which il
was given to the company, and a careful
description OF its contents are sent out to
all the Offices where there are package
lots made up for Savannah. These pack
age lots consist of number of small
packages placed in safe for greater se-
curity in transportation. Then as the
mistake Is most likely to be in sending
the package to the wrong office OF two
or more of the same name, duplicate OF
the description is sent to
EVERY TOWN IN THE COUNTRY
Of the same name as the one to which the
package was addressed. But far from a Ii
the mistakes are made in that way. Go
TO big post office and see the number of
letters from all classes of people that are
improperly addressed, and you can appre-
cIate what the express companies have
to contend with from the same source,
The street, number and State are likely to
be correct with Charleston or Atlanta, or
any other city without any similarity of
name written for Savannah.
IMPROPERLY ADDRESSED MATTER.
''This improperly addressed matter
accumulates in all large offices in con-
siderable quantities. and every week the
agents send to headquarters reports of
the accumulation. Then, after sending
out the tracers, the clerks OF the tracing
department examine the reports from the
1900 or 5000 offices to see II the straying
package is among the 'accumula-
tion." lift is not, careful examination
of the route the package ought to have
taken is made"
SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
"What is done if it is not foundv'
if after thorough search no trace of the
package is found, or such a find has been
made as to convince that it has been lost,
the agent who should have delivered the
package, had 1t carried properly, is notI-
fed to secure q statement of its contents
and value. The person to whom it was
sent is considered the owner, and he is re-
quired to certify that he has not received.
he then gives an order, on which the
ahinnar ha
lost package"
"What becomes of the unclaimed stuff
the old boss ~
sit is held for year and then sold at
auction. There 10 scarcely any article of
exchange that Is not shipped by express,
and it not unfrequently happens that the
intrinsic value ut the article does not
equal the express charges. 1t is such
stuff, in the main, that is unclaimed, and
goes to make up the bulk Of odd hoss.'"
"oLD HOss."
The company has an annual sale of this
stuff, and occasionally a valuable pack
age is found. The last sale held in Savan-
nah was about a month ago, when over
200 unclaimed packages were disposed of.
The sold boss" of TINS office, though, Is
very small, and does not exceed 30 pack
ages In year.
Mr.. Cooper went on to explain how the
number is Kept down so low. 1t is partly
through the system which Mr.. Cooper
himself has introduced, that OF writing TO
the shipper, the party to whom the package
Is addressed. and to the agent at the office
from which it was sent. "lf everybody
sending package would give the full
address, city or town, street and number
OF the party to whom it is sent, and also
their own address in full there would be
fewer unclaimed packages" he said.
THE HOLIDAY RUSH.
"The holiday season is about open
when the express companies are rushed
with business" he went on, land IL is
then that we have more trouble than at
any other time OF the year. People are
careless in addressing packages, and
sometimes they don't want to give their
own names. All these matters render the
liability 10 loss greater than II they exer-
cised care and gave their address IN full"
"What constitutes the most of tho I'm.
claimed matter?"
trunks, clothing and furniture are
the most numerous. Trunks demand
extra precautiOn against loss. They
might be opened, rifled and closed while
In the care OF the company and no one
could detect il. To avoid that the trunk
is weighed when IL Is taken and seal 10
nut on 1t so that IL will be dangerous for
an employee or any one TO attempt to
open 1t. When II 10 called for by the
owner 1t Is again weighed and II the