New-York tribune., 1903-04-19
THE 4PRIL UMBRELLA, ,
1t Is the Most PerTerse Of Its Rand
IN All the T7CeLUemOnth.

THE anri1 aggregate OF lost umbrellas is larger
than that of any other month. according to the pre-
siding genius OF the lost and found department
of one of the great urban railways. That such a
department incidentally Is most necessary adjunct
OF any railway experience has amply proved. Some
thing over a hundred parcels day is the average
on one New-York lins During April the majority
of these umbrellas. A showery morning with
a sunny means perfect harvest. The lost
and found man gets be quite parcelwise. and.
according to the weather prepares his stacks of
tags and labels
a hundred articles day little work.
as each one go through certain routine of
classification before being Laid the shelf for
possible future identification. An umbrella. for
instance left on the is turned in by the con-
ductor to the agent at the terminal That is' OF
course. provided that some passenger has not pre-
viously relieved him of the trouble. The conductor
gets receipt from the agent and later the latter
gets from the company Then a description OF
the sgayed artcIe is entered in a huge ledger
plus date car number, etc If there is any ADDRESS
or means of Identification about the article a lost
property postal is sent out. The ledger. however
shows that scarcely q third of the articles entered
have been reclaimed
The rooms devoted 10 these waits though sizable
get filled ceiling high in very few months, and
twice year least an auction sale is necessity
Then for brief space IS this place of lost par
cells this realm OF regrets. swept and sarnlshed
and III a state of civilization. But the respite is
brief for at the rate of a hundred cay
the "strays'' begin to in. and year after
year ii is the same old story
The variety of lost articles is thing of IN
terest On the shelves and in the closets lining
these big lost property repose a wider
range of articles than any department store ever
compassed. There are jewelry-watches by the
score-and links Of bologna sausage; there are re-
volvers and overalls bicycles. fans, mouse traps,
cats canaries (only these not kept the
shelvesD false teeth and suit cases. dinner pals,
music rolls, cameras and spectacles. Each thing,
with car and conductor number, route, month and
year. and the day and hour of receipt entered
additionally in the ledger. Originally the day and
hour marked the tag fastened to the article
but when it was discovered that numerous per-
sons in need of umbrellas. etc. were in the habit
of calling ostensiDly to look up lost one noting
the details on the tags OF several of the best in
the collection and sending in different friends to
ask for these. it was thought best to make the
identification little more difficult
The umbrellas that find their way TO the lost and
found departments are stacked separately by
months At the end of six months they are sold
in lots of three and six at auction. Often four
or five dollar silk umbrella with couple Of %
cent cotton ones will go for few cents
The auctions are advertised and haunted by sec
ond hand" men, as we'll by those who hawk
umbrellas around Park Row rainy days. press
ing them upon drenched pedestrians at 'only %
or only 35'' cents apiece.
Large sums of money frequently left on the