The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1902-11-28

tached TO the passengers baggage Sec
ond comes the special check which Is
used for checking baggage to points off
the companys line. 1t is much larger
than the local check. The strap por-
tion shows where the baggage Is
checked from and where II is going TO.
and the city or State, as the case may
be- 1t also shows the roads over which
the particular piece of baggage Is to
travel and the junction points where
ii is to be transferred TO another road.
A third kind of check is What is known
as a depot or identification check. This
check is used for giving to persons
bringing baggage to the depots and who
are not ready to check the same out,
through some reason or other, such as
not having purchased their ticket, etc.
Carriers are always bringing baggage
to the depots, and this check is used
in their case. They deliver the baggage
to the railway officials and take the
check back to the person from whom
luty ItNGiNGu UdkkdRc.
There are many ways in which bag
gage goes astray, but under the system
now In use 1t is rather easy matter
to trace 1t. Every piece of baggage
when checked is entered on form
supplied for that purpose. When the
baggage Is received into the car the
man In charge also enters it on another
form, but he goes the man in the sta
tlon one better and describes 1t In a
column set aside for that purpose. This
occurs all along the line, and every man
taking charge Of the baggage makes
record of II as lie receives it. These
forms are sent into headquarters daily,
and some idea may be had Of the num-
Der of pieces that are handled in one
day when II is stated that some roads
have 250 trains daily, carrying from so
to 100 pieces of baggage each. In this
way a record Of all baggage is always.
had at headquarters or the divisional
points.
The station or Identification check re-
ferred to above was introduced for the
purpose Of avoiding mistakes in the
way Of passengers claiming baggage as
their own, when, as matter of fact, it
never belonged to them, although it
resembled- what really did belong to
them. The great similarity Of baggage,
Of course, was accountable for this
trouble, but the Identification check has
served the purpose for which 1t was in
troduced. The baggagemen have no
more trouble with passengers coming in
and endeavoring to locate their belong
ings. All they have to do now is to
present their Identification check and
they get their baggage. Another fea-
ture in connection with unmarked bag
gage is that advantage is taken by
evil-dispOsed persons, who, in some
unaccountable way, acquire knowl-
edge of what certain piece of
baggage contains. They use this
knowledge In making claim, and
by proving the contents the baggage is
handed over to them. In such cases
the claimant generally pleads that ne
or she, as the case may be, has lost
the check. In such cases a charge Of
twenty-five cents is made, which goes
to cover the clerical work connected
with the delivery of such a package.
When the enormous amount Of bag
gage handled by the railways of the
country within years time is con-
sidered, it is wonderful that there is
not more of 1t finds its way to the "Old
Horse or lookup, as the stOreroom for
such baggage is called by the railway
men. 1t is pointed out in this connec-
tion that last year on two roads In
America 100000 pieces of baggage
were carried and out of this lot there
were only three pieces which could not
be located. In the course of a year,
however, railway company has con-
siderable amount of unclaimed pack
ages on its hands. 1t Is not as bad as
formerly, however, for the system of
charging for storage has made the trav-
cling public take little more interest
in their belongings. A piece of bag
gage is kept at station thirty days be-
fore it is sent to the "Old Horse" and Is
always kept year before 1t Is put un-
der the auctioneers hammer to be dis
posed of to the highest bidder.
Contracts on all tickets read that the
railway companies do not assume LA
bility except for wearing apparel, and
then only for the sum of one hundred
dollars. All the railway companies in
America carry free $50 pounds, but
over that weight charge Of so much
per hundred pounds according to dis
tance. When there is over $50 pounds
an excess baggage check is issued.
These differ, the same as the local and
special checks, and show the weight,
the amount collected, routing particu-
lars, junction points, etc.
To the uninitiated 1t would appear
that the immigrant would be the one to
cause the baggage department of a rail-
way the most trouble, but this, It ap-
pears, is not the case The railway peo-
pie say the boot fits the other foot. The
by the time he reaches the
new land, has generally had it instilled
into his brain that once he arrives and
has handed his baggage over to the
railway people he has nothing more
to worry about. Therefore he makes 1t
his business on arrival to place his
belongings in the hands of the railway
people and worry no more about them.
A patient suffering from typhoid fe-