Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-12-29
ALL SORTS OF GOODS
Sold Today by the Police for Thei1
Fund.
't1FfRRH1JE9ASSoRqMENq
One Man Of Speculative Turn Of
Mind.
Z II e L o N G. L 1 s T

That It is possible to sell anything at all,
provided only 1t is put up at auction, was
proved again today, wheE the annual police
sale Of unclaimed property was held at
Sloan's auction house, 14O7 G street. The
collection that is put UP every year to be
knocked down to the highest bidders is
comparable only with the dead letter sale.
which the Post Office Department offers to
the seekers after bargains. For the va
riety of articles exposed for sale it may
be said to be unsurpassed. There is 10
limit in the matter Of size, as there is in
the case of the things sent from the dead
letter office, and this broadens the posi-
bilities In tn" premises.
In the catalogue which went with the
sale this morning there were abot 800
articles set down, ranging from Eox con-
tanning sixteen packages of cigarettes to
a partial outfit of ladies' underwear.
A broken banjo, eyeglasses, some very
old clothes and some that were not quite
so old. one set Of eghty-six pocket hand
kerchiefs, several velocipedes and bicycles,
fiat irons and umbrellas, gold bracelet
with two genuine diamond settings" a
pair OF ladies' shoes, number of pairs
or pants'-these were but q few of the
300 articles, for there were few or no du-
plicateS in the list.
Time was when all the weapons captured
by the police were disposed OF in this way,
but a few years ago it occurred to the
authorities that this was simply spreading
the evil over again and was but making
II necessary to contiscate the weapons once
more. AS a result. all such articles that
now come into the possession of the police
are rendered useless, and are eventually
dropped overheard into the Potomac from
the police boat.
For the Pension Fund.
All the goods that were put on sale to-
day were described in the catalogue as
lest, stolen and abandoned property, and
included pretty much everything that
would be likely to come into the hands of
the police without ever finding an owner.
The proceeds of the sale are turned over
to the police pension fund, and are ex-
pected this time to net quite tidy sum.
one or the most curious or at least I'M
usual articles disposed of at the sale today
was lung tester. 1t was handsomely
finished physicians instrument, and SEEM
ed to be quite new. 1t was probably stolen
from some doctors office, and must have
originally cost quite a large amount of
money: Very few people knew exactly
what 1t was at first, and the auctioneer
was loss to know just what to call it,
sc in moment of playfulnesS he dubbed
it telephone, and as such it posed until
he had chance to refer to his catalogue
No one seemed to want it very much
even then, and II went slowly up on scent
bids until 1t was finally secured by young
farmer who was in town for market day.
He got it for 50 cents, and when it was
handed over to him he blew into first one
end of II and then the other, and evinced
the greatest curiosity and interest in his
new-found prize. He admitted that he had
bought the lung tester solely for the pur-
pose of speculation, and when some one
told him that he would be foolish if he
ever disposed of ii for less than SO, he was
most immensely pleased. Emboldened by
his success in trading in a great city, the
young m; n proceeded to invest in a large
number of Ot her things which bn MAJ
as little use as he had for lung tester,
simply because they were cheap.
Mixed Assortment.
BOX miscellaneous was the title of
article 1856. 1t was sold for sl.4O, and
when the purchaser examined the box he
found ii contained about two score of
pocketknives Of all sorts and descriptions.
new pair of shoes of the style usually
known as brogans sold for % cents. as Gid
also lot of secondhand towels and
sheets. A lot of old clothing went off for
10 cents to a secondhand dealer from Al
eXandria, who is always on hand at sucn
sales on the lookout for good thing.
Another dealer in the same line or goods
bought box of dilapidated straw anu felt
hats for I: dime and another dime secured
a hand bag and contents, though what the
contents We're no one knows but the owner,
and he won't tell.
If there had been a plumber In the
crowd he would probably have thought
seventy cents a small price for five spigots
for man in the crowd who prefeSSed to
know said they could never have cost less
than dollar apiece. Two air guns went
for fifty-five cents each, while a handsome
frame for a chrome was cheap at fifteen
So the prices ran, some higher and some
lower, but the general character of the
goods was such that the auctioneer did not
make a very determined effort to run up
to big figures. On the whole however it
may be safely said that tile things brought
about as much as they were worth, and
there seemed to be really nothing that mad
to go without a purchaser at some price.