The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1900-08-31
-sArcHEL THIEVES AT DEpoTs
Travelling Men Sometimes suffer se-
(, rtous Loss from Raids of
"Grip-Grabbers.r


people who do not travel have nc
idea of the number of grips and parcels
that are stolen from travellers in tho
depots of Chicago" said a furniture
salesman who travels out of Chicago
the other day, relates the Inter Ocean
There are thousands Of grips stolen
at the depots every year, and the po-
lice seem unable to stop the thefts
The satchel snatchers have become
the bane of the travelling mans life
| The worst feature of the business Ii
that travelling mans grips are Otter
filled with property of great value tc
him In his business, but of no value te
anyone else. The thief will sell to 6
pawnbroker for dollar grip which
Is worth hundreds to the owner, and il
is seldom that these grips are reeov
cred. Sometimes travelling man vii
lose whole seasons trade because
some cheap sneak thief steals his grip.
containing samples which he cannoi
readily replace
81 had an experience of that king
myself recently. In my line the onl,
samples we carry are photographs Of
the different pieces Of furniture we
Isell. had over 1000 photographs il
two grips, and caeried my persona
baggage in another grip. had made
all my preparations for my spring
"trip, and was buying my Pullman
sleeper at the Union station. l hae
put the grips down beside me while !.
bought the ticket and kicked then
with my feet every few seconds te
make sure they were there, When
finished examining the ticket turned
to take my grips, but they had disap.
| peared,
while making complaint of my
loss to the depot authorities three
other people who had been similarly
robbed came up. One was fellow
travelling man, Another was woman
who set down her grip and parce.
while attending to her baby and who
found them gone on her return
| The third was young EnghshmaL
who had been In the country only {
few days and who was furious at h.
loss In all seven grips representing 6
value TO their owners of several thou
sand dollars had been stolen from on4
depot in few minutes time. We al
made our way In o driving rain to the
Desplaines street police station ani
reported our losses. We received cour
teous attention, but doubt If the DO
lice recovered one of those grips.
"The loss was serious 30 me. Il
| meant the expense of several hundred
| dollars and the loss of my spring bust
ness II was forced to secure new sam
pie photographs from photographers
IN different parts of the country. ]
valued the photographs at $1,000 al
least, but I knew they were useless te
anyone else and would probably be de.
stroyed by the thief. l advertised In
the newspapers Offering a reward fol-
the return Of the photographs and nc
| questions asked, but received no re
| sponse. After delaying my trip for 0
couple of weeks I gave 1t up, and with
the few photographs could secure
here, started out again. would
have Jared badly had it not been fol
ON order book which was In one Of the
| grips While on, the road / received
word through the firm Irepresentfrom
the janitor Of fat building on the
North side that he had found the or.
der book and two bundles of photo.
| graphs behind steam radiator.
sent the jandtor s25 and got my photo
| graphs back month after had lost
| them.
| II know of others who were not SC
fortunate. There are several hundred
furniture salesmen representing Chi
cago and Grand Rapids houses who
pass through the city, and there are
few of them who have not lost a griF
or two"