The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1893-11-02
FOUND ON THE TRAINS
A MAN WHO FOR FIFTEEN YEARS HAS
BEEN PICKING UP THINGS.

! gotten Belongings.
Whenever during the daytime New
York, New Haven and Hartford train
rolls into the Grand Central depot stoop
shouldered, little man, with keen gray
eyes and beard that doesn't grow with
sufficient luxuriance to require frequent
trimming, strolls down to the end of the
platform. When the train stops and
while the most laggard of the passengers
are still leisurely alighting, he hops MIN
bly, ON the rear platform of the last car
and proceeds to literally Ego through"
the train. Sometimes a much excited
passenger who has suddenly recollected
that he has forgotten something rushes
madly back into the train and discovers
his portable property in the hands of the
little man. Then, if he is of suspicious
disposition, he glares and scowls at the
! little man, and sometimes pounces upon
him and Indignantly demands to be told
what he is doing with "that."
Then tired look comes into the little
mans face and he mildly explains that
he is employed by the company to search
incoming trains for articles left behind
by passengers, which he conveys to the
lost property room, where the owners
can always get possession of them again
by furnishing presumptive evidence that
the things belong to them.
When Charlie-that is what the other
employees about the depot call him, al
though he has another name which ap-
pears on the payrolls of the company
first began this work, his beard wasn't
tinged with gray, and he wasn't bit
stoop shouldered. That was Is years
ago. All these years, from $3.50 in the
morning until $3.50 at night each day, he
has been picking up things that careless
passengers have forgotten to take with
them when they left the train.
1t would make any man stoop Shout
dered to be continually looking for
things that long. But his eyes are as
keen as ever, and his honesty is still proof
against all temptations. If that were
not the case, he could have retired with
a snug little capital From the pocket
books and purses and "wads" that he
has found while pursuing his unique oc-
cupation he could have slipped enough
into his own pocket to render him quite
independent.
There are no blanks in his daily rec
ords. Never day goes by that he
doesn't find something that somebody
has forgotten. He picks up fewer things
on Sundays than on any other days, be-
cause on Sundays travel is comparative
ly light, and passengers are apt to be
less preoccupied with business cares and
therefore not so likely to forget things.
On some days his list Of articles found
on the incoming trains is quite formi-
dable one.
This, for instance, is what he turned
into the lost property room on Aug. II:
Thirteen umbrellas, two rings Zone plain
gold and one with diamonds), one over
coat, one package of legal papers. one
satchel, one lady's jacket, one Derby
hat, one valise, one cape, one cane, one
package Of underwear, one macintosh
and one pocketbook.
And this is what he found on Aug. 81:
Seven umbrellas, one parasol, one shawl,
one overcoat, one pair of shoes, one pack
age containing suit of clothes, one pair
of spectacles, one purse, one flask of
whisky and one smelling bottle.
When the articles are taken to the lost
property room, they are labeled with the
date on which they are found and the
number of the train. Nearly all the ar
ticles that have any intrinsic value are
redeemed. The rest are simply stored
away for the gnawing tooth of time to
prey upon.
Charlie is of the opinion, and surely
he may be regarded as an expert on the
subject, that everybody is liable to for
get something at some time or other.
Umbrellas are the articles that are most
frequently left behind on the trains by
travellers. The man who could devise
an infallible system by which the owner
of an umbrella would always be sure to
remember it would reap fortune.
Charlie has tried his own wits at it, but
was forced to give it up.
He has come to the conclusion that a
state of ecstatic happiness, equally with
one Of intense preoccupation, is apt to
produce forgetfulness of portable prop
erty. He has discovered that newly
married brides and grooms are quite as
apt to forget the little things they may
be carrying with them as the man who
has got so much business on his hands
he can't think of anything else. The
man who never travels without a flask
of whisky seldom forgets it. Perhaps
that is because the act Of putting it into
his pocket Immediately after taking q
nip has been so often repeated that it
belongs to the category of unconscious
cerebration.
1t is not an infrequent thing for man
to leave stovepipe hat on the rack and
walk out of the car with little skull
cap on. But when he gets into the
Dtreets the small boys are sure to shout,
''Shoot the hatp or Where did you get
that hatg' Then he discovers the mis-
take that he has made, but the fact that
he is never grateful to the small boys
for reminding him Of it and never re-
wards them must be regarded as evil
dence of that perversity inheritent in
human nature which so often puzzles
the philosopher.
Charlie is of the opinion that some
people would forget their own mothers
in-law if they had half chance. There