Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1897-04-10
"MRS A l.
LOST IN CARS.
Articles Left In Sleeping Apartments
by the Passengers.

" hANhts bSt creeping AshiE
by the Passengers.
Some curious things are picked up
by sleeping car porters and a goodly
proportion of them are turned over to
persons in authority to be restored TO
their owners if called for. The found"
bureau of a palace car company often
affords an interesting study. An in
Vulnerable variety of ticketed articles
there displayed bears ocular testimony
to the freaks of observation-disclosures
There are pathetic as well as amusing
suggestions in these lost articles, for
some of them are obviously mementos
of tender associations. A baby's tiny
worsted shoe, for instance, found in a
sleeping berth where no baby had
been, tells its own touching little story,
Each article, as soon as it is handed
to the custodian of the found" bureau,
is made into a neat parcel and marked
with the day and hour of finding, name
OF the sleeping car number of the train
and the name of the finder. Most Of
these mislaid personal effects are found
under the seats or in the lavatorics of
the cars. Fully two-tlirds of the wom-
ems belongings which are picked up
by the sleeping car porters are toilet
articles or jewelry left in the la%vatories.
IL was only a few days ago that a por-
ter found two valuable finger rings in a
washbowl. They had been sucked into
the escape pipe together and fortunate
ly became wedgod there so that they
were not carried away by the outflow
ing water. The owner of the rings
said, when they were restored to her,
that she was "sure she had put
them in her satchel" and seemed
quite indignant Mt the temerily
of the porter in insisting that he found
them in the ~washbowl.
Umbrellas, canes and shawl-straps
constitute a majority of the finds in
sleeping cars. They are seldom re-
claimed, although kept by the com.
pany's custodian for a year. Some of
the oddities in the bureaus collection
may be enumerated as follows: One
white satin slipper, a woman's bead and
lace bonnet, chatting dish, pair of trous-
ers, two hair switches, one set of false
teeth, silver candlestick and wax cam
die, one fine linen nightrobe, package of
perfumed letters tied with pink rib
bon, an ear trumpet, one crutch and
three or four Gagged birds.
One in a great while a pocketbook
containing money is turned in at the
"found' bureau. Such finds" are
quickly called for. The loss of money
is usually discovered before the loser
leaves the car, consequently if it has
been mislaid on that particular car it
is searched for then and there. Pas.
scngers usually feel for their money
the first thing after awakening in the
morning and, finding that all right. ap.
parently do not tax their minds with
anything else. Occasionally, however,
men who carry their money loosely in
their pockets lose it by pulling it out
with a pair of gloves, a handkerchief
or a notebook. Not long ago the con-.
ductor OF a sleeping car which had lust
been emptied of its passengers in the
Grand Central station found $500 in
oills lying on the platform just outside
the door. He took it to the office of
the general superintendent and it was
called for within an hour.-N. Y. Times