The Savannah morning news., 1902-02-27
TOOK NINETEEN YEARS.

Dut the baltimore Man Collected
His Claim Of si.51 From the
u. A. o.
From the Philadelphia North Amer
lean.
Baltimore. Feb. Nineteen years
and thirty-one days ago last Saturday
George r. Gambrll, of the Chamber OF
Commerce filed claim against the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company
for $4.56, an overcharge for freight on
a car OF wheat shipped from Hagers-
town TO Baltimore in January, 1888.
Yesterday Mr.. Gambrill received the
money on his claim, and it's receipt
ends about the funniest campaign on
record. During the first year of it's ex-
istence the claim was the subject of
perhaps a half dozen inquiries on Mr..
Gambrill's part. The second year he
gave himself much enjoyment by writ
ing the claim agent sarcastic letters.
beginning something like this:
My Dear Mr.. -: | had intended
some days sipce calling your attention
to a small claim" etc, or perhaps
something like this:
Having made my Will. and desiring
TO seal with it an inventory of my es-
ldNts WOulV you hliiuly, WlinOuL
ing yourself i'm the least" etc.
Toward the last of the third year Mr..
Gambril got angry and made UP his
mind that he would have that $4.56 IL
II took twenty years. SO he began a
literary bombardment OF every official
of the company. from president to sec
ticn boss. asking why in thunder they
didn't give his claim attention" He
had every employe on the line from
Baltimore to Chicago guessing The
Gambrill claim became historical by
word.
If the company thought to shake off
its creditor by ignoring him It rocked
not of Mr. Gambrill's bump of tenac-
ity. Along about the tenth year Mr.:
Gambrill had just begun to fight. It
was not until the fifteenth that he
rolled up his sleeves and began to
show his real lighting qualities. In that
year he caused to be printed a thou
sand cards I'm lurid ink and letters so
big that one could almost read them
In a cave with the lights out
These read: MY claim-$4 56. How
about it?' These were relgiously de-
livered to the higher officials of the
road daily. one president, IL is said,
failing to see how funny the thing
really was, got angry. and announced
to his private secretary that "the next
time he found 5ne of those d--d Gam
brill cards or his desk somebody would
suffer" But still the cards kept COM
ing and office boys kept goipg which
leads TO the suspicion that Mr.. Gam
brill had friends at court"
During the eighteenth year Mr.. Gam
brill took to sending not only his own
Office boy but those loaned him by fell
low consprators on the street with
scented notes, addressed i'm the long
and scraggly hieroglyphics of the pres
ent fashion, to various high officials of
the line.
These letters proved to be the last
straw. and won the battle. for it does
not require any great discernment to
understand that high railroad officials.
especially married ones, could i'll af-
ford to have scented notes laid on their
desks when their better, halves were
liable to drop-in at any time. and thus
make explanations necessary
The note that accompanied the re-
mittance was brief. and merely stated
that the claim had been allowed. and
thanked Mr.. Gambrill 'for kindly. call
ing the attention OF. the company 10
the error" and awaiting his further
kind commando which goes to show
that all the funny men are not writ
ing jokes for the comic supplements
OF the Sunday newspapers.
lust how much money Mr.. Gambrill
has expended IN his nineteen years
campaiEh. nj postage and stationery
he does not know. and by the same
token he does not care m
With number OF allies" Mr. Gam
brill yesterday made merry with the
long pursued 's4.56 illustrating the old
adnge of easy come. easy go..'@,ttt