The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-08-02

The Confessions of a Manager Of n
Warehouse.

Warehouse.
New York Times.
Whenever New York people buy anything
or have anything given them that they do
not want Just then, but which they think
they may want some time, they put IL in
storage. Naturally, household furnishings
and wearing apparel constitute the bulk or
this embalmed property but warehouses
gather into their capacious quarters many
things not included in either category.
There is medicine, for instance. Nobody
but the manager of the woreh0use has any
idea how many bottles of medicine are con-
signed 10 his keeping in the course of a
year, and even he never knows till he comes
to sell unclaimed goods.
I'VE store away medicines by the GAL
lon," said one manager. There are patent
medicines and medicines put up according
to prescriptions OF all the trash on which
people pay room rent 1t strikes me that on
nothing else is money so absolutely wasted.
1t is really dangerous investment Wheth-
er the people who put the stuff in storage
have so little consideration for their own
welfare as to take il after ii has been
packed away for a year or so is ques-
ton. If they do. it is their own funeral,
figuratively and literally. Only small por-
in a doctors paraphernalia. Families and
unattached individuals gather up whole
chests full of medicine which they are loath
to part with, and it is put in storage to
ferment and work out its deadly combina-
tons.
Another thing that strikes a warehouse
stuffed birds and animals we are asked
to take of. When L was youngster
L was not in a position to make much of
study of natural history, but you would
have to go far afield to stall me nowadays
in that particular science. III there is any
kind of bird of the air or beast of the
forest or fish of the sea that have not
got acquainted with I'm the past ten years,
L should like to meet him right OH. AND
l have gained all that knowledge through
hobnobbing with stuffed specimens that
have been put in storage.
But not all the pets my patrons would
like to put in storage are stuffed. Some OF
them are very much alive. Only a rev
weeks ago a woman living in Central Park
West telephoned me to come up and make
an estimate on storing her furniture. l
looked a.l through the house and figured
for a few minutes. Just as l was about to
name my terms the woman came at me
with new proposition
at haven't shown you quite everything
/ should like you to take care Of she said.
'They-the rest of the things are down in
the cellar
Her manner made me curious. oh
said |; and what may they be?'
them. They they a. are the dearest little creatures
in the world. / don't know what shall
do with them while / am away. / have
offered them to all my friends. but nobody
you think you could keep them"
Another queer customer L ran up against
short while ago was man who wanted
still a young man, and the case interested
me.
such grewsome memorial thus early in
your career?
1.-The fellow grinned cheerfully. 1T was
a bargain, said he. L always had a keen
eye for bargains. There isn't a woman in
greater distance. L knew this stone was a
bargain the minute | set eyes on it. l
spotted it one day while nosing around in
1 cl,< IL tod
with the exception of the name and date,
and 1 fell in love with it at first sight. l
| asked who it belonged to. The dealer told
| me- but don't remember the mans name.
Anyway, it doesn't matter about that
| He'll never get to use it, said the dealer
sadly. It's a pity, too, because it was his
own design, and he was quite proud of it.
why can't he use it?' said L..
" Because he was drowned in Lake
Michigan six weeks ago. said the dealer,
| and won't need a. tombstone
:" of course, was sorry the lake had
| cheated the fellow out of the pleasure of
resting under his own tombstone, but in
| one sense l was glad: because l wanted
| that stone. asked the price of it, The
| dealer named figure, which he finally cut
| down forty-five per cert and | took it, L
| kept 1t in my own room for about a year,
| but my folks complained that it made them
| nervous to see the thing standing around
| there so L have concluded to put it in
storage.
"'In point of numbers, what one article
asked the visitor.
Clocks" was the reply. eff all the
clocks we have on hand at this moment
could be set going there would be no excuse
| for anybody ever going wrong in the matter
| of time. Letters probably come next as
to quantity. When cleaning-up time comes
we find great bundles of them. / never
| pay much attention to them myself but
| some of the clerks who are not SO busy as
l am often find time TO read few pages.
| Occasionally they unearth very interesting
| stories, but no matter how romantic the in
| cdents, i always take care that strangers
never get hold of those letters. Generally
| the owners of the correspondence thank me
| for destroying it, but now and then 1 run
across a person in whom the bump of graft
| tude is wholly undeveloped, and am treat
/ ed to a peppery lecture the evils of
| wanton destructiveness. / remember one
| woman who claimed that / had destroyed
| letters which she needed in a divorce case.
| She threatened TO sue me for damages but
| of course she couldn't do anything, and
| anyway hers was an exceptional case