Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-09-22
STRANDED TRUNKS
By Frederic ]. Haskin

A conservative estimate of all bag
gage handled by the railroad COM
panies in the United States for the
month of September places the number
ninetynine % a. per rec cent. of this s great mass Tlss
| of trunks, suitcases, satchels. bags and
bundles reach their destination so
promptly that the owners of the few
special and personal grievance. Most
of these delays are only temporary,
| ranging from few hours to a couple
| of days. Occasionally, however. despite
the precautions taken, trunk may be-
come stranded for weeks or months in
some out-of-the-way locality, which
seems to defy discovery.
A bridal couple, making a tour of
the Great Lakes this summer. had a
stranded trunk experience which will
forever darken the memory Of their
agara Falls. and their baggage was
supposedly checked for transference
from the train to the steamer. While
their trip was to be confined to Ameri-
can soil, in some mysterious way a
trunk containing a charming
| trousseau was pitched into the wrong
ada. The owner and her husband spent
| the last possible minute in admiring
the beauties of Niagara and did not
board the boat until just a minute be-
asked for the trunk in order 10 take
out the coat she had provided for the
! voyage. thorough search indicated
! honeymoon waned from that minute.
The bride wearing. her husbands ton
coat in lien of the dainty garment she
had provided for herself; was fearful
and sulky. The groom. shivering from
the lack of the coat he gallantly lent
| to his bride, was cross and impatient.
Upon their return to Niagara two
the missing trunk. IL was finally To-
Gated In the attic of Canadian sum
| mer hotel.
Millions of Pieces Handled
Such a happening comes near being
With the 2o,6oo odd %HTps pieces Of f'Sase fag
gage handled in this country annually
It is doubtful IL twenty are lost for SC
long a period. Considering the care
lessness of the owners in looking after
| their own checks this small number
| is most creditable to the baggage Of
hcials OF the railroad companies.
gage handling in the large railroad
ed BY the traveller, with little rec
ognition of the patience and care given
| to the handling of their property. The
| Union Station at Washington has beer
in use for over seven years. Consid
erably over 100000 pieces of baggage
go out from it annually. Yet in these
! seven years only one piece. a suitcase
has been lost. This is GENERALLY con.
ceded 20 have been stolen by a pas
| scnSeT. IN New 1OrK. { chicago, st
Louis and other large railroad centers
almost equally creditable records car
be given.
This small loss is due to the per
| lection of the checking system, which
| includes reserve checks numbering uT
to million, so as to prevent the pos
sibiiity. of duplicates. The numbers
/ are broken by a hyphen separating the
last two figures to faciiitate reading
Rubber stamps are provided to eIimf-
nate writing the name OF te station
upon the check by, hand. Illegible
| writing was formerly responsible for
the miscarriage of many stranded
| trunks. Thc large union stations are
now all provided with two sets of rub
Der stamps which include the names
OF practically ever station upon con.
Meeting lines. Sometimes as many as
$4,000 stamps are required. These are
arranse1 alphabetically in way to be
most accessible to the hurried work OF
the checking agent While all smal
stations have not yet secured a com.
piete rubber stamp check-marking out.
ht' they are being rapidly introduced
so that written check will soon bt
as much our-of dat2 as a written post.
mark upon a letter.
Many Difficulties Arise
Inc nXlng OF values upon the ar.
ticles IN a stranded trunk is going tc
be difficult matter to adjust in con.
iorhlance with the new law. A travel
ing salesman set cut from New York
| with trunk full of samples of wo.
mems clothing which he insured foI
$4,000. The trunk was stranded in :
boNcar upon a siding in the Middl,
! West, because of the wreck of tht
train in which 1t left Chicago. II wa,
picked up. by freight train and moi
reported for six weeks. The railroad
company, through it's lawyers, insist
tnat the valuation was excessive, as the
articles could be purchased at the time
or recovery for half the amount claim.
ed. The salesman insists that he Is
entitled to the value of the samples a
| the time theV left New YORK xrhap al -
were in the heighth of style. He also
claims damage from loss of business
| because he was deprived of having
| them to secure sales.
| , The new ruling as to valuation tn,
| hedvy excess baggage rates, the dfffi.
| culties of having baggage TRANSPORTED
| from the house to the station and from
| one station to another, where union
| stations are not provided, and the pos
sibllity OF lessened expense, are Ieadine
larger number of travellers each
month to ship their baggage by express
instead of checking by rail, despite the
care being taken of II by the railroad
companies. A number of tourists go
ing from New York to New England
summer resorts this summer, found
that the express companies would call
| at their New York home, take their
baggage and deliver 1t in the room OF
| the hotel at the desired resort for little
| IL any more than the charges of tho
drivers and baggage men who would
have to handle Ii during several
changes IL checked. A woman coming
from San Francisco with two trunks
lpaid $40 excess baggage and checked
tthem. Another woman had her extra