Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-07-31

| never 30 TiSnt II 1t IS possible 10 go
wrong and always go wrong if it Is
possible not to go right. They miss
the trains they should have taken,
board the trains they shouldn't have
taken, don't get off where they mean
to, do get off where they don't mean
to, and make all these blunders in tie
very faces of all imag inable signs and
plhcards, put UP for the purpose of
preventing such errors, and in spite of
the utmost exertions of conductors,
| brakemen, porters, gatemen. ticket
sellers and Information clerks who are
doing their best to nelp them.
| We have AL telOrged to this class of
travellers at one time or another in the
cOurs of our lives; and. even when we
| have graduated from it in other re-
| spectS, MANY of us still retain one lin
| g"rlnS weakness, which is that Of for
getting articles when we lc:.ve Our
railway car or steamer stateroOm. II
the transportation companies were as
careless as We are, we should never set
eyes upon our property again; but the
companies are not careless. On the
contrary, they take great pains to pre-
serve the waits and strays they find
/
whenever this car, he done.
| The Lost Article" store1OOm of a
great corporation like the Marine Dis
trict of the New York, New Haven and
Hartford l. 'rlpaEy, which manages the
| Sound steamboats,, contains Il curious
| collection of objects. the majority of
| which are nevertheless seen to fall un-
der several well-dnfned heads, such as
wearing apparel, jewelry, and toilet ar
tiCles. Rubbers, hair brushes, tooth
brushes, Cafes, umbrellas, womens
muffs and sacks. books. rosaries.
| watches. finger rings. ear rings. false
teeth. eyeglasses and glass eyes are
among the things stored here.
| Every morning after tie passengers
have left the boat each stateroom is
carefully searched by one of the en-
| ployes who examines every part of it,
| turns over and shakes the bcdclothes
and sends in whatever he finds to the
| lost article room. All articles found
are duly credited on a particular book
kept in the cOmpany's offices in New
York to the employee who found them
Some men find good many valuable
articles in the course of their service.
From June, 1904. to May. 1905, $3.50 ar
ticlcs We're found in staterooms where
they had been forgotten by their own
ers. One man found $50 in gold. a ci-
gar case, a muff. SIS or $40 in bills, a
diamond ring and diamond pin. An
other found ten gold watches and an
other a pCcketbook containing S237.
| careful record is kept of every man
who has been in the employ of the COM
pany, the dates of employment, notes on
his efficiency and the reason for his leav-
| ing. All the lost articles found in state
rooms are mentioned in the record of
the man who found them, and. some
of them being very valuable, as will
have been seen, they furnish proofs
of the mans honesty of which they are
very proud. Twenty or thirty men apply
| every day for work and through the
spring a list is gradually formed to be
| called on when the summer boats come
| out. If any of these men have been
| previously employed by the company and
the record is not in their favor the fact
IS mentioned to them and they very
| seldom attempt to deny it. One of the
| good results of the union of the Sound
| lines under one mana cement is seen i'm
! 'iiiS' Fpi itIlS Iueu went from one line
| to another. when discharged for cause.
and did not care whether their records
We're good or not. Now they will not
| be employed if the book is too much
against them and consequently try to
| keep clean record, very much to the
| Improvement of the service. Further
| more. the record is a help to the manage
| ment, because if a passenger declares
| that he left certain article in his state
| room and one Of these men who has
| a long record of valuableS found saws
| that he discovered nothing, the company
| believes the man is often able to con-
| vince the passenger that the article
| could not have been left in the room.
something of the same general system
Is pursued at the great South Station in
Boston. the largest railway terminal in
the world All articles found on the
| trains are taken to the lost article Office
and their description is recorded in a
| book. There is also supply of numbered
| tags made in two separable parts like
| railroad tickets. The first part, which
Is attached to the lost article as soon as
| 1t is brought in, containes description
| of the article and the number of the
|
| part containing these details and also
a signed acknowledgment by the agent
that the article is in his possession. is
then torn off and sent at once to the
general baggage agent of the road to
| which the train belongs. On the back OF
the first part is a form of receipt to the
| railroad company which is signed bv
the owner of the article when ne RECEIVERS
it and then the stub is sent to the bag
| gage agent as the other part was This
system, 1T will be observed keeps the
| railroad company informed as to the
| whereabouts of the article in case the
loser makes application to it instead
oil to the station corporation provides
| IL with receipt which also shows when
| ana where the article was lost and safe
guards all the rights of the owner.
| In about two years 526 pages of the
| record, averaging about 40 entries tn n
| page. have been filled with descriptions
| OF lost articles. which would make q
total number for the time of about 81
W" They comprise as miscellaneous am
| assortment as those found on the steam.
ers. consisting very largely of SINAI,