The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-08-21
BIG THINGS LOST.
How the Largest Articles Sometimes
70 Astray.


Human nature will insist on losing
and mislaying things, but when the ar
tIcles get to be as big as a boiler or a
bridge, human Ingenuity fails TO I'M
derstand how 1t happened.
A short time ago the Cincinnati
Hamilton & Dayton railroad had to is
sue pathetic advertisement in the To-
cal papers. They had fixed a twenty
elght-ton steel bridge ON three fat cars
chained together and dispatched 1t to
Dayton, Ohio. with their blessing. At
an intermediate station the bridge was
observed to be bearing the Journey ex-
tremely well. and was seemingly in the
best Of spirits: nevertheless, when the
train arrived at its destination not a
sign of the bridge could be discovered.
and, owing to the inability Of the COM
pany to discover any trace Of their lost
property, the advertisement was issued,
begging the public, should 1t meet with
wandering bridge, to return 1t to its
owners with all dispatch, when sub
stantIaI reward would be given in ex-
change.
On the Belgian railway line between
Antwerp and Termonde a catastrophe
was thought to have occurred early in
the spring OF 1897. The passengers at
the intermediate stations between these
places, after waiting for some time for
tbe train due 10 leave the former place
at eight minutes past seven in the
evening, were not little alarmed when
no train was Forthcoming. Many peo-
pie thought an accident had happened,
others shook their heads and thought
of all the kidnapping stories they had
ever read, while the light-hearted
suggested that the Grant train hnd lost
its way. AS a matter OF fact, thefe was
no accident. and no train-napplng, nor
did the engine lose Its way; indeed, the
only individuals who lost anything were
the officials who lost their heads, and,
by an unaccountabIe oversight, forgot
to dispatch the train.
Railway wagon No, eO,l74 is the prop
erty of the London and North Western
Railway, and fifteen months ago 1t was
missing, with its contents, consulting Of
one ton of copper. Toward the end Of
August the wagon turned up on sid
ing at Leicester, but how It got there
passed the understanding of all rail-
way men.
A year ago an advertisement ap-
peared in an English country paper
stating that reward of fifty pounds
was offered by great engineering firm
to any one who produced full grown
torpedo that had been lost about a mile
and o half east OF the Trow Rocks. II
was comforting to learn that there were
no explosives in the torpedo. Strangely
enough. month later. a singular "fsh"
put in an appearance at Aldeburgh, in
Suffolk. This torpedo was marked with
crown and numbered 24l4 X, and
though originally charged with a
working pressure Of 1850 pounds when
It was recovered 1t was exhausted.
Early in 1897 a peculiar case was
tried at woolwich regarding an extra
ordinary piece OF lost property. It APP
peared that a man bought for Els a
boiler whose size can be estimated
from the fact that It took six horses
and twenty men to move 1t. While this
operation was being carried out the
boiler, by some remarkable freak, man.
aged to lose itself. and where 1t went to
no man knew. nor could they find out.
though the police were put on its track
and 1t was requested to return to Its
sorrowIng friends Some years elapsed.
and then, when a surveyor in the office
Of works was estimating the value of
fine crop Of scrap iron that a piece Of
ground known as mo Mans Land" had
yielded, he spIed the boiler: but being
ignorant OF its history, ordered 1t to be
sold by auction. at which sale It really
ed s2 los. Then the original owner
recognized his long lost property, and
sued the surveyor for the ELS 1t cost
him, Eventually the Judge awarded
him ten guineas, while the surveyor re.
celved 1--WE shIllings for the trespass. It
was learned that the -year-Iost
boiler had hid itself on a piece of land
quite near its owners residence.