Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1903-08-27
THE LOST MONEY BAG
BY Albert Ross.

There Is a mining man In Butte VINO
is congratulating himself just now.
and he has q congratulation or two
coming. He does not live here-it is
said he belongs in Alaska About
six months ago he dropped into the
city, and with him came a small,
rusty-looking satchel containing $1,000
in cash. the money being principally
greenbacks. Like many other men,
this man is In the habit Of having
good time when he strikes a city like
Butte, and as soon as he arrived here
he threw care TO the winds and start
ed out for the purpose OF enjoying
himself. One of the places visited by
him was Joe Harmon's saloon, on
North Main street. Realizing that the
little grip" was a handicap TO him
to one Of the barkeepers. and asked
him IL he would put It behind the bar
and keep 1t until he returned, the
barkeeper accommodated him, never
suspecting however. that In that rusty
looking thing there was enough
money to buy something useful The
stranger was then pretty well along
on his journey towards the happy
mood. The barkeeper threw the
satchel on top of the safe along with
some other traps, and the stranger.
after taking a drink or two, left the
house. Although he had promised TO
call for 1t in a short time, he did not
return, and a month or two later the
satchel was thrown into the basement
with a lot of other stun that had been
accommodating in the barroom.
Two days ago a man called at the
saloon and asked one of the barkeep-
ers IL he had left a satchel there last
fall. He described the grip" and
said he would like to find 1t. as it con-
tanned something he needed in his
business. The barkeeper knew
nothing about the satchel. but ven.
tured the assertion that If II was left
in the house il should be In the base
ment, where all things left in the sa-
loon were thrown when not called for
by their owners within a reasonable
length of time. He then repaired to
the basement. and. after long search,
dug from the dust and dirt the long
lost satchel. The dirt was brushed
from its sides, and 1t was then taken
upstairs and handed to the stranger.
'Thanksr' exclaimed the, man, his
eyes lighting up, This is the one"
Producing a small key from one OF
his pockets, he unlocked the satchel
4ke, Inc do nf
aggregating $1,000, and transferred IL
to one of his pockets.
"T thought sure 1 had lost the
money" he said II left this grip
here about seven months ago, but
was not aware of it, l knew l had
left 1t in some saloon, but being
stranger in the city, the location OF
the place was mystery TO me. Be
sides. | had a comfortable jag aboard
when l struck the town, and that
helped me to forget the places ! had
visited. After disposing of the satchel.
/ kept going the rounds. finally bring
ing up in that part of town in which
I afterwards learned neither man or
his money might be any too safe.
While there l was robbed Of some
money, but just how much do not
know. After / got sober / tried my
best to think of the place where had
left the satchel. but it was all
blank to me- had no idea where |
had been that day or night. With
the little money had left went East
and spent the winter. and there was
not an hour that I did not endeavor
to think of the disposition had made
of the grip Finally, happy thought
struck me. l concluded to return to
Butte and ask every saloon man in
town IL had left a satchel with him.
I figured that If l had left 1t in re-
spectacle place 1t might still be safe,
and l would recover it. AS soon as
struck the city I began systematic
search, going from one saloon to an
other. and my work has at last been
successful. 1t is a good thing left 1t
here instead of some place where
things are not stored, or / would be
out $1,000. / guess I'll go north again
now"