Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-18
MANY CARELESS PASSENGERS.
Articles of Value Frequently Left in
the Street Cars.

The sight of well-dressed couple cyl.
IDENTITY strangers. sprinting along the up
per side Of Pennsylvania avenue from 10th
street the other morning, causing pedes-
TRANS to stop and look and wonder whether
they were chasing a thief or a fancy, or
whether the gentleman. who weighed about
200. was INDUCING in matutinal sprint to
reduce his girth. 1t was first the GENTLE
man. and then the lady, when the latter's
wind frightened who passed the cracks on
the pavement first but finally the gentle
man. putting on an extra burst of speed.
caught up with a yellow closed car at the
Raleigh corner. and stopped it.
He disappeared inside and. reappeared in
moment holding In his hand a lady's
hand bag. Then he smiled, the lady smiled
back at him. the conductor smiled at both.
while the pedestrians. who were worried
lest the stout gentleman suffer an apo
plectic Mt and the lady fainting spell at
their evidently unusual exertions. smiled.
too.
THE bag would have been turned in at
the end Of the rum" said the conductor to
a Star man on the platform, land the stout
gentleman. who might have endangered his
life in run like that could have saved
himself the trouble. OF course the bag
may have carried the bank roll or the
family jewels. but in either event it would
have gone into the companys Office at the
end of the run. had seen 1t, or bad 1t been
OiScoNcfcu W pdSScHBtT anu luTfleu
over to me.
you see. the finding of bags, pocket
books and other articles left In the cars
by forgetful or careless passengers is such
a commonplace matter to trainmen and 50
much a part OF their regular duties that
We don't pay any attention to 1t other than
to keep them safely until we turn them In
Where these articles are found By some
passengers, however. II is another matter.
and they are appropriated on the spot, for
the conductors have no means of knowing
whose property they are. 1t is probable
that this thought may have impelled the
stout gentleman to make a cinderpath
sprint Of 1t. or. being strangers. they
feared the bag would be stolen in any
event.
when we find articles In the cars, or
they are turned over 10 us by other pas
sengers, we Will not surrender them
to claimants In the car. Under the
company's rules We are obliged to take
them to headquarters, where the claimant
is obliged to give his or her name and ad-
dress and identify the articles as their
property. Were this rule not In force, any
designing person on the car at the time,
and there are a lot Of 'em. could put in a
claim to the conductor. and thus approprf-
ate the lost property.
while pocketbooks. usually ladies'. are
frequently found 1t is seldom that a bill
a roll of bills is picked up. There are
many trainmen who would turn in loose
money thus found. and there are others
who wouldn't and the same rule holds
1t Is usually case Of wouldn't There is
something about the finding of money,
either In car or on the pavement which
puts queer notions I'm the mind of the av-
erage man as to rights of ownership. per-
haps on account of the difficulty in identi-
flying the true owner. One Of my regular
riders a lawyer. once told me that I'm the
event of finding money the finder had a
prior right to its ownership as against all
but the true owner, even though the finder
were an employe of a corporation such as
railroad company. and that this right
would be enforced by the courts so IL
trainman is really honest and finds a sum
of money which he turns In and which IL
not afterward claimed and identified the
company could not keep him out of It.
Every article found In the street cars
In Washington. and turned in at the various
car ane headquarters. Is carefully tagged,
and will be surrendered upon proper iden-
LITIGATION. If only passengers will remem-
Der this. not give up articles for lost. as
they often do when their property Ia really
awaiting their calling for It, they Will save
themselves lot OF worry and Outlines uns
necessary expense"