Frederick citizen., 1895-01-18
THEY TAKE CHANCES.
People Who Attend the Wash.
ington Dead Letter Sale.
Crowds Throng Around the Auctioneer.
All Striving to Get Something for Next
TO Nothing-Eow the Debris Is Dis
posed of and What Is Realized.

-. =
1t is aphoristic among gamblers that
''there is a sucker born every second"
Proof would be attainable in Washing
ton that the above reflection is at least
half true. Nor does the evidence lie
more thicllly to the hand than when
some auction of the government,
whether of post Office or custom house,
calls 1t to the surface. Mankind, purely
for the elements of luck and chance,
does dearly love an auction. The
Toodles family under a variety of
aliases bristles like asparagus through
every directory. Washington, besides,
being the Mecca of cranks and the
haven of faddists of all sorts, is the par
adise of the country for auction fiends
Not that all people who attend auc-
tions are fends who smoke cigarettes
or work cameras, but there is large
class who make recreation of attend
ing auctions as most people do of going
to theaters. And there is no place in
the country where this class gets in its
recreation with more effect than in
Washington. Poor Uncle Sam can
never give or throw anything away.
No matter how worthless or worn out
it is when he gets through with it he
has to advertise and sell it. The gov
ernment departments have ''old hoss,"
otherwise junk, sales, every year, and
one can buy anything, from a worm
out cannon to combination safe that
has lost the combination. But the
feast OF fat things for the habitue of
the auction-room is when the annual
dead-letter sale comes around. That
joyful time came the other day, and
Thomas Bowling, Washington's vet
eran auctioneer, who in his time has
knocked down everything from patent
flying machine to suburban subdi-
vision, was Uncle Sans deputy who
cried out the accumulation of things
that had gone astray in the mails.
The proportion of articles lost in the
mails is relatively infnitesimal, but
even fraction of per cent. out of the
millions of letters and packages trans
ported mounts up to the thousands be-
fore the year is out, so there were
over 5000 packages, containing any
where from one to half dozen articles
each, that were piled up in the auction
rooms waiting the opening of the sale
These We're divided into three sched-
ules, the first, miscellaneous articles;
the second, books, and the third
jewelry and kindred articles. The last
schedule contained genuine articles in
the jewelry line, and the "snide" ar
ticles were thrown in with the miscel-
laneous and so labeled. There were
4,252 micellaneous packages, I'LL
books, of which little over 100 were
foreign publications, and 1856 packages
of jewelry. The crowd was more than
the average size-larger. in fact, than
has attended a dead-letter sale in
Washington for years. 1t may be that
this was because of the approaching
holidays. when many people were look
ing for bargains in Christmas presents
for their more or less dear friends, but
however that may be Mr.. Bowling took
in about $500 Of the public's money for
the 1000 or more heterogeneous pack
ages that were bid off. The bidding
! were short, sharp, and decisive, and the
sale averaged about two packages
minute for the actual working time
! This record was beaten for occasional
/ spurts, however, the auctioneer getting
away with as many as six packages In
single minute.
The government, while it really ran
a lottery scheme in The auction, was as
fair as possible to its customers. All
! the packages were put up in closed
bundles, and all one had TO judge by
was the size of the package and the
description in the catalogue But in
the case OF damaged goods they were
SO marked, and all articles of clothing.
where size was a considera tion, had
the size given also. For instance, the
second package in the list was given
as pair of woman's corsets. - inches"
SO there was no ground for grumbling
If the stout gentleman who bought
them found they did not fit.
But mere description of the concise
sort given in the catalogue was not
much Of guide. Pipe and tobacco"
might mean S25 meerschaum and
five pounds of choice Turkish, or it
might mean short-stemmed dudene
and plug of three-ply. You named
your bids. and If you got the first
named for 81 cents you were that
much ahead of the game. and If the ex-
element of your next door neighbor
led you into bidding IS for the latter,
that was your fault, not his "Razor
and pair Of shoes" which was one
package, might mean Damascus steel
and mother Of pearl handle. with
pair of the best Kangaroo leather and
calf tops, or it might mean pair of
policelnen's brogans and one Of the
/ sort Of weapons that the police justice
gives the residents of Bloodfield six
months for carrying. Whichever it
was, Bowling did not betray by word
or gesture what sort Of bargain he
was giving, and the customer did not
know til he opened his package. But,
taking it all in all, the government
and the bidders about broke even in
the race