Omaha daily bee., 1908-11-16
THINGS LOST IN A THEATER
Enough to Break Junk Dealers Heart
to See Them Burned.
KERCHIEFs ARE MOST COMMON
some JeweIry and Money is Picked Up
and Efforts Are Made to Re-
turn Them TO Their
Owners.

TIL heart of a secondhand" dealer
would have suffered the pangs Of the
eternally condemned had he seen the
merchandise which was thrown into the
furnace Of the Orpheum theater yesterday
morning. Incidentally, a woman hater
would have reveled in the discovery that
30 per cent of the handkerchief, wells and
a hundred other kinds Of articles destroyed
had plainly been abandoned by members
OF the so-called weaker sex.
Handkerchiefs forgotten by theater pa
irons are not kept long and there is a
weekly or fortnightly incineration OF these.
for the danger OF infection is too great,
But other articles are kept a much longer
time against the appearance of the owner
at the box office window. When TIL
amount of apparel or other articles of al
most every imaginable kind becomes too
large for convenience the wares arc re-
morselessly thrown into the furnace and
one Of these immolstions occurred yester-
day.
kerchiefs Most Numerous.
Handkerchiefs are Of course the most
numerous article and this furnishes a brill
liant argument that lovely woman should
either be o~utfitted with. pockets or that
she should be taught TO retain a more
careful clutch on the square Of linen
cotton or lace which she generally carries
in her hand or in a chatelaine.
Next to handkerchiefs come wells and
handbags of all kinds. some of them OF
highly valuable material or ornamentaton.
Besides these there were about a hundred
articles which no one at the theater could
identify. but are described as being some
thing like a suspender, in that they were
OF elastic constituency and were circular
in construction. The problem must DO left
unsolved.
OF hatpins there were a great number,
but these articles did not go into tho
furnace. AS valuable things as these are
held a long time and one other thing
escaped the vandal flames. 1t was a tiny
baby shoe, which Manager Byrne himself
retained. The diminutive shoe has been
kept now for some time and there is little
likelihood that the real mother of the
baby will come for It.
Big sum of Money Lost.
The largest sum of money ever lost in
the Orpheum was s225 in a purse belonging
to a woman. 1t was not returned to the
box office because tho finder, a man, car
ried 1t off. 1t was recovered by a process
In which chance and a little detective work
by Mr.. Bryne both played a part. He had
been, of course, informed OF the loss. Some
days later a chance remark overheard by
him on the street led him to prick up his
ears. 1t was the finder relating to a
friend his good luck. Bryne demanded and
was reluctantly given the money. The
owner had given up all hopes of recover
ing il.
There are many articles lost to which
considerable sentiment is attached and new
brides and engaged girls have often weep
ingly enquired for wedding or engagement
rings. While the staff of ushers at the
Orpheum is of unquestioned honesty. 1t is
rare when a ring or thoroughly valuable
piece of jewelry is found by them and the
deduction is inevitable that most articles
OF this kind lost. are carried off by the
finders. who argue with some correctness
that there Is an ever chance that the real
owner might not get the ring and that the
finder might as we'll keep it himself. With
desire urging it is easy to convince ones
self this way, although on the contrary
the number of men and women who are
scrupulously honest about returning found
property is large-far larger than cynics
imagine.