Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-08-24

|
their owners
Once girls forgetfulness saved her
life. She had quarreled with her fan
, &c. and had written him a letter tell
ing him that she was going TO kill her
self. The letter unstamped, went into
her handbag. Beside it lay a bottle OF
poison which she intended to drink
she spent a nickle of her last quarter
for street car fare-and forgot her
pocketbook when she got off the car.
| Her better angel must purposely have
| dulled her memory to sleep for she
had no money TO buy more poison.
| The pocketbook and its contents
were taken to the custodian of lost
| things. These forgotten letters he al
| Ways stamps and sends on their way.
! Sc he sent the letter to the man to
whom it was addressed, and laid the
| pocketbook. money and poison aside.
| In great alarm the young man has
tened to his sweetheart's home. He
found her better angel still holding
| the fort In word, they forgot their
quarrel, were married that very day,
| and, so far as l know, have lived hap
| PLY ever afterward. The pocket
| book and the 20 cents they sought af-
ter the wedding as a precious treas
ure and to the clerk they told the
story as | have given it to you.
Who doesn't forget? One would
think that an author surely would
place his manuscript where it would
be safe from the lapses of memory,
yet there are found in New York each
year stories sufficient to fill every
magazine printed there.
What playwright. YOU ask, would
forget the child of his brain? Yet a
show that was produced on Broadway
would never have been staged had not
an honest subway guard overcome the
temptation to keep the manuscript.
What playwright, YOU ask, would
forget his latest song in street car?
shall not tell you their names. but if
you want to see dozens of their origi-
nal compositions, visit the lost prop
erty rooms.
What burglar, pray would forget
his loot? Yet thrice within twelve
month have trolley men found de-
serted bags of silver plate and cut
glass on their cars
One jewelry salesman left his case
of gems on a subway train and found
II at the dtpOl III lpSl tIliliSS. lie
case had not been opened; not even
the sparkle of a diamond was miss
ing. And a matchmaker who lost so
odd gold watches on the subway re-
covered them safely "A hours later.
There are few things lost on New
York's transportation roads that do
not fetch up at the dusty rooms with
the dinSy window glass. The clerks
claim that lost things know, unaided,
their way to the lost property room
To prove it, they tell the story Of the
unchaperoned monkey which once trod
the ties of the elevated railway, four
blocks to jump through the window of
the lost property room and settle COM
fortably on the busiest counter. This
occurred four years ago At the end
of three days the monkey left as I'M
tremendously as it had come. They
were not entirely sorry that it had
gone out of their lives. for during its
stay it had set about remodeling the
entire system.
Probably the most forgetful person
in New York is the man or woman
who carries a book to read on the cars.
There is vast army of SUCH Their
favorite diversion is to read glutton-
ousiy until the very moment when the
guard shouts their station. Then they
hastily turn down the corner of the
page, close the book. thrust it beside
them on the seat and break for the
door. This has happened hundreds
of times.
At the lost property room you can
find enough ties, collars shirts and
underwear to start you in business.
Half a dozen or so suits. brand new
from the tailor or retail clothier, so
to the property man every month.
One man actually lost the shirt he
was wearing in a subway train last
summer. 1t happened during the
terrific spell of heat that camped in
New York for two weeks. The man
with the shirt was delivering news
papers at each station. He found
his shirt was q burden, took it off.
hung it on a brass bar at the end of
the car, and walked out with a smile
He nailed the shirt later at the lost
property room.
Half a dozen policemen went to
sleep on the L" once and allowed
their revolvers to drop out of their
pockets, Each gun was forgotten
when the policemen awoke and scram-
bled to get off at their station. Later
the whole armament was claimed.
There is a new law in New York
which forbids every one except a
policeman. a soldier a United States
sailor or national guardsman to
have firearms in his possession. This
law has raised an unusual question
for the lost property man. What
should be done with firearms found on
trains and street ears? The guard
who sees the weapon may not, under
a strict Interpretation of the law, pick
it up and take it to the lost property
room, for il he were to do so he would
be its temporary possessor. But as
Stunning that he actually did this and
escaped detection, what disposition
can the lost property man make of it?