The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1896-06-20
ROMANCE IN The SEWERS.
Articles of Value That Are Found-LOst
Money Recovered.

Money Recovered.
The sewers of New York have a little
romance of their own in the curious ar
ticlcs that are found in them. Scarcely
a receiving basin is cleaned out or one
of the big pipes thoroughly scraped
of it's coating of mud and heavy refuse
but something more valuable than
rubbish comes to light. Things have
been thrown in by frightened thieves,
who wished to hide the evidence of
their crimes, and were willing to lose
their booty for the sake of n whole
skin, or else were dropped by accident
into the cutters, to lie there unnOticed
and be flushed into the sewer at the
first flushing Or heavy rain.
Jewelry, watches, money, small
pieces of silverware, and even umbrel-
l4s ard canes are the articles most fire.
luently discovered buried in the thick
.nud OF the sewers and basins. One of
the forcmen of the depar tment has at
his house to-day handsome silver
topped cane, picked out some months
ago, for which no claimant has ever ap-
pcared. 1t does not happen, as a rule,
that the owner of property lost in this
peculiar way can be found, and the Ia
borers themselves generally keep what
they run across. From n money point
OF view, the pickings are of really little
value. Even a gold watch is not much
Of 4. prize, after all, for as the days go
on the mud oozes into it's case and dam
agea its works beyond repair, so that
it can be sold only for old gold.
There are some strange stories bound
up in the sewers. They nearly all deal
with special searches made for lost
property of considerable value. On one
occasion eight SO gold pieces were
hunted for, having been stolen from q
Catholic priest uptown. This priest
lad befriended a young boy, had taken
him with him for n short time, and
finally found him a position to run err
rands. The boy proved ungrateful for
these benefits, and one day he slipped
into the house and stole this money in
a purse. 1t was not until the owner
cf the purse returned that the loss WAS
discovered. A detective was at once
set upon the boys track, and there
was little difficulty in getting Him to
make confession. He acknowledged
that he had taken the money, and that
very night, knowing that he was shad-
owed, he had dropped it in the nearest
sewer. The department was informed,
rnd men were ut once sent up To empty
out the basin. One by cnc the eight
gold pieces were found in the mud.
An even more remarkable find was
that of two ISIiIroad bonds, one for $500
AID the other for $1,000, which were
stolen under almost exactly the same
circumstances. Another boy had
robbed his employer, and had taken
these securities, together with
pocketbcok containing $27 in bills and
silver He spent the money up TO the
last cent, but found the bonds to be of
no value at all to him. Afraid. however,
tn have them in his possession, he cool
ly dropped them down an adjacent
sewer, and thought he was secure
After he had confessed n search was
made, in precisely the same manner,
and the bonds came to light, rather
the worse for wear, it is true, covered
with liquid mud. but still legilble, and
in quite good enough shape for the
owner to be able to prove his property.
Crime, though, is not an invariable
accompaniment of losses like these.
There was a case in the department
several months ago of a working girl,
who, returning home hurriedly little
after six o'clock one night, stumbled on
the curb, and in doing SO let her pock-
etbooIo fall. With fatal bad luck it
rolled toward the sewer as If it had
been aimed for it and disappeared in its
depths. The sum of SO was in it, an ex-
ccedingly heavy loss to the girl.
II 1. ,hn having
given up all hopes of ever seeing it
again. Several days went by, and she
WAS trying to become reconciled to her
loss, when it was suggested TINT she
send word to the sewer bureau in the
city hall. The upshot of it all was that
tho little pocketbock was recovered.
and after a thorough washing and dry
ing in the sun, was returned to the
Young woman intact and without
cent missing.-N. Y. Tribune.