The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1895-03-27
THEY TAKE CHANCES.
People Who Attond tho Wash
ington Dead Letter Sale.
Crowds Throng Around tho Auctioncer,
All striving to &c, Something for Next
I" Sothini-t'ow tho Debris Is Dis
posed OF and What Is Realized.

1t is aphoristic among gamblers that
there IS Il sucker born every second"
froof would be attainablc in Washing
ton that the above reflection is at least
hall true Nor does the evidence lie
more thiclly to the hand than when
some auction of the government,
whether of post Office or custom house,
calls it to the surface. Mankind, purely
Tor the elements of luck and chance
does dearly love an auction. The
Ioodlcs family under u variety of
aliases bristlcs 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 ficnds.
Not that all people who attend auc-
tions are ficnds who smoke cigarettes
or work cameras, but there is large
class who make n recreation of attend
ing auctions as most people do of going
to thcntcrs. 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
1T is when he gets through with it he
has to advertise and sell il. The cov-
crnment departments have cold boss"
otherwise junk, sales, every year, and
one can buy anything, from a worm
out cannon to n combination safe that
has lost the combination. But the
feast of fat things for the habituc of
the nuction-room is when the annual
dcnd-lcttcr sale comes around. That
joyful time came the other day, and
Thomas Bowling, Washington's vet
Gran auctioncer, who iii his time has
Knocked down everything from patent
lying machine TO suburban subdi-
vision, was Uncle Sans deputy who
cricd out the accumula ton of things
that had gone astray i II the mails.
The proportion of articles lost in the
mails is relatively infinitcsinal. 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 were divided into three schcd-
the second, books, and the third,
jcwelry and kindred articles. The last
schedule contained genuine articles in
The Jcwclry line, and the 'snidc'' ar
tielcs were thrown in with the misccl-
iancous and SO labeled There were
100 miscellaneous packages, ILL
books, of which Il little over 100 yverc
foreign publications, and 1876 packages
of jcwclry. The crowd was more than
the average sizc-larger, in fact, than
has attended dcad-lettcr 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 publics money for
the 1000 or moro heterogeneous pack
ages that were bid Off. Tho bidding
were short, sharp, and decisive, and tho
sale averaged about two packages a
minute fer the actual working time.
This record was beaten for occasional
spurts, however, the nuctioncer getting
away with as many as six packages in
q single minute.
The government, while it really ran
q lottery scheme in the auction, was as
fair as possible to it's 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 n consideration, had
the size given also. For instance, the
second package in the list was given
as pair of woman's corsets, 90 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. "Pipc and tobacco"
might mean sos mccrschaum and
five pounds of choice Turkish, or it
might mean short-stemmed dudenc
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 SIS for the latter,
that was your fault, not his. Razor
and pair of Shoes" which was ono
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
polcemen's brogans and one OF the
sort of weapons that the police justice
gives tho residents of Bloodfeld 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 till he opened his package But,
I'll Ill III 4.