The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-10-04
BIG REWARDS.

The biggest reward ever given fol
thing not really worth a penny
changed hands when Clements Mark
nam, the Diamond King" recover
ed his lost watch charm.
he owned a bullet which had
wounded his grandfather, Lieut..
Markham, in the Crimean War, and
he naturally set great store by it. 1t
always hung on his watch chain, but
one day it broke away and was lost
while he was trying to pass through
a great crowd of sightseers in Lon
don during the late Queens Jubilee.
Headvertised in nearly every paper in
London next day, offering so pounds
for the recovery of the bullet and
when no reply arrived he put the re-
ward up to 100 pounds. Three days
later an ex-policeman named Brooks,
who now lives in High Barnet, found
the lost charm on St. James street,
and took it to its owner, who, he de-
clared, shed tears of joy on getting
the priced bullet back. The offer of
100 pounds had caused lot of talk,
and the finder even then had hardly
believed such sum would be given
for an apparent trife. But the de-
lighted owner not only paid him at
once IN notes, but made it guineas in
stead of pounds, and told the lucky
finder to come to him if ever he were
in difficulties.
Gladstone once lost pocketbook in
the streets of York, and advertised
for it, not saying what price would be
given. 1t was of no possible use to
anybody but the statesman himself,
but contained budget of notes on
Homer, whom Gladstone was trans
lating. The pocketbook was found
by one Orton, young clerk in
York bank and he forwarded it to
Hawarden Castle. The G. o. M. re-
turned to the finder a cheque for no
pounds, saying that the notes in the
portfolio represented a whole years
spare time, and the reward was still
below the mark, if anything. That
clerk, by the way, is now wealthy
business man in Manchester.
1t is hard to imagine that anyone
would set much store by a bad shil-
ling, but coin of that kind, dated
in the year Queen Victoria came to
the throne, was regarded as a mas
cot, priceless in value, by the late
Sir Arthur Sullivan. 1t was once
passed on the great composer for
genuine shilling, and so far from be-
ing annoyed afterward, he declared
that it was the luckiest emblem he
ever owned; for Sir Arthur, like
many musicians and poets, was lit
tie superstitious. He carried it about
with him for ten years, and when he
lost it one day at Hen1y regatta he
was inconsolable. He offered 10
pounds, 20 pounds, and finally SO
pound for its recovery; and during
shillings were attempted to be palm
ed off on him as the lone and only"
Finally, an old man named Bowring,
a retired waterman, picked it up on
the towpath and took it to its owner,
receiving the reward and the COM
poser's grateful thanks.
A much bigger reward for thing
worth only little more was the re-
compense of 800 pounds given by
Baron Rothschild for the recovery of
a dog he lost in London. The dog
might have been worth los at its best,
for it was a mixture of a good many
breeds, principally Skye terrier, and
not the kind of dog millionaire
would be expected to have. 1t be-
longed, however, to his little nephew,
who was inconsolable at the loss, and
whom nothing in the way of costly
dogs could compensate for the affec-
tionate mongrel. Nearly ten weeks
the dog was at large; for it left Lon
don at once and made its way over
the country toward Southampton.
The rewards, which were advertised
in all the leading papers, went from
10 pounds to 900 pounds, which lat
ter is the highest ever offered for a
dog-in this country, at any rate.
The dog was found eventually near
Portsmouth by well-to-do shipown-
er, who claimed the reward, with the
request that it should be divided
among three hospitals.