The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1886-08-11
A LOST PROPERTY ROOM.
Curious Articles Left in tho Cars b,
Paeeenrerx.

!
| Passengers.
The queerest looking junk shop in the
country is located at No. Front street, New
York. Everything from o bent hairpin to
plethoric pooketbook can be seen there.
Battered and rusty tin cans repose along.
side dainty wraps and fancy reticules. All
of this miscellaneous mass of property is in
the keeping of the property clerk of the ele-
waited railroad company, and all of 1t was
picked up in the elevated cars. Whenever
an honest train man finds anything he
leaves it with the dispatcher at the end of
the route, with the number of the train, the
hour and the direction in which it was GO
ing. The dispatcher then makes minute
description of the article and sends it to the
property clerks office. There it is placed
away with numbered tag attached to it to
wait until an applicant for its recovery up
pears.
You have no idea" said the gentleman
In charge of the Office, "what variety of
knick-knacks we get here, and what queer
people come to hunt for lost property. You
see over in that corner those loosely covered
packages7 WE'LL they are bustles We
now have on hand 1873 bustles large bustlea
and small, white, blue, red and purple. I
never knew how many designs there were
in this article of female attire until we go.
this collection. Next to the bustles, wrap
ped up in thick yellow paper, are some
other interesting things-false hair and
such. When tho ladies lose these things,
they try their best to get into tho thickest
of the crowd, and forget all about their
loss. have been here three years, and in
oil that time only one hustle has been claim.
ed"
How about false hnir 2'
The false hair is asked for, but most of
The time messenger boy or child is sent
Tor it. Even if the article Is not valuable
we never give it to messengers, and insist
upon the losers calling in person. That Ia
done to avoid cheating. Nearly every day
some attempt is made to recover lost prop
erty by person who did not lose II. The
loser tells some of his or her friends about
the loss, and, II the thing is valuable, one
of the listeners may claim it. Before they
get it they must give an accurate detailed
| description, with the hour 1t was lost, the
| direction of tho train and the number Of the
| train"
Do you get much money ?"
Well, yes, considering everything.
Several times we have had pocketbook,
containing 800 and 5000 and over brought
here by the finders, but of course you know
such cases are rare. Small change Is also
found and kept until claimed. We cannot
tell very we'll whether the claimant Is really
the owner of a stray half or quarter, as it
isn't often that man knows just what the
date of the coin was or that it had any pri-
vate marks In the case of pocketbooks,
however, the matter cf accurate description
Is easy. In year suppose we get in be-
tween $500 and 81 900 in money. The
value of all the property amounts annually
to 5000 or more. Sometimes some valu-
able trinkets, pieces of jewelry and dia-
monds arc recovered. This speaks very
we'll for the honesty of the companv's en-
ployees.
Have you many women claimants Z"
"They are our best customers. They can
lose thing easier and make more fuss ovnr
it than an old-fashioned circus clown The
women too, are In the majority of claimants
for things they didn't lose. If some Of
those women get their pockets picked in the
cars, they come down here and insist that
we ought to make good their loss. The
most peculiar case though is that of an old
Ia1t h. l..
WOODEN shawl last October, in one of the
early evening trains, and she has been CON-
ing here regularly once q week ever since,
to look for it. She is oil right, l suppose,
@ sho reported tho loss Immediately after
leaving the train, and the description wat
sent down here. We have the description
yet, but the shawl has never put In an ap.
| pearanco.
Here Ia an instance of how people will
| be dishonest and try to steal from their
friends A diamond in ono of the earrings
worn by lady became loose and dropped
out. 1t was noticed by gentleman, who
picked II up and turned It over to the ticket
agent where he got off, taking receipt for
it. That diamond remained here for three
months and during that time we had no less
than thirteen claimants for IT, Some OF
them described 1t pretty closely, but all Of
them forgot to say anything about its being
slightly Clipped In the back. The lady who
lost II had told her friends about it and
showed them the mato, but Of course she
never told them about its being Clipped.
Those friends of hers thought they could
get it, and several diamonds precisely SINH
lar were brought here by the claimants to
prove that it was theirs. Every one of
these claimants was a woman, and all were
richly dressed and seemed TO belong to tho
wealthy class. The owner had to 20 away
from tho city the morning after her loss,
and II was not until her return that she
proved property and got 1t back. She wrote
US two letters about 1t, but it never occurred
10 her to refer to the little break until she
game into the Office"
"What do you do with the property that
remains unclaimed ~
Every two or three years We have q
sale. When we get too much of the lumber
to keep conveniently, we sell off the Oldest
articles. Oh, no there isn't much realiz-
cd on it, and what the company does get
doesn't pay for the necessary clerk hire
Knives, handkerchiefs, pipes, carpenters
tools and, in fact, nearly everything you
can imagine are put up at this sale. Sec
ond-hand dealers, street hawkors and the
men who have stands on the street corners
are the principal purchasers.
| Seen ON u Chicago Street.
A lady was walking east on Madison