The Cordova daily times. [volume] (Cordova, Alaska) 1914-1947, 1918-02-08
OWNER FOUND
AF TER WORLD
WIDE SEARCH

Solved at last is the year old mys-
terry of the black leather bag. Today
the bag, with its valuable contents, is
on the way to its owner E. Launcelot
Hildebrand, sometimes of London,
Liverpool, Chicago, San Diego. Las
Vegar N. NJ, and last but not least,
Bundle Bee, Ari.
After months of fruitless search, the
untiring efforts of the lost and found
department of the Pacific Steamship
company have been rewarded The
bag has been expressed to E. Launce-
lot Hildebrand in Las Vegas. and
Perry Ottosen, port steward for the
company in Seattle, in charge of the
lost and found department. has paused
long enough in his labor of locating
other owners to breath a deep sigh of
relief.
Perhaps the reason was that Cap
tain W. Long, of Cadegan Gardens,
London, is with the Crusaders in dis
tant Jerusalem. At any rate, he never
responded to an inquiry sent him oc-
casioned by a note in the black bag
which said that in case of accident to
e. Launcelot Hildebrand to notify Cap
tain Long of Cadegan Gardens.
There seemed to be enough letters.
mining claims, receipts for the sale
of horses in carload lots. water right
grants and other legal and PERSONAL
papers packed in the mysterious black
the world, but all except one failed to
the world, but all except one rallied to
divulge even the approximate habitat
of the Elusive Mr.. Hildebrand.
The last remaining clue, which,
eventually proved that the owner oil
the bag was an actuaIity and not fig
ment of the overWorked brain of Mr.
Ottosen, was an engraved announce
ment of the marriage of E. LauncelotI
to the daughter of Mrs
Robert Topham Steele, 81 PrinCessI
avenue, Liverpool, England A Iet-I
ter OF inquiry sent to Mrs Robert Top-I
ham Steele finally brought reply !
postmarked Las Vegar, from Mrs. Il.
l.. Hildebrand, who asked that the
black bag he sent to her husband at |
that town, but the failure of Mr.. Hide
brand to make inquiry for his bag still
unexplained although it can :.
be accounted for in general way.
Long experience of the Pacifie |
company has proven that /
large proportion of travellers leave I
articles behind and are not
able to recall, even approximately
where they left them A report Just .
by a. R. Gardner. head of
he Pacific Steamship company's com
nissary department, on the subject |
shows that during the year 494 ar
,iCles of value were left in staterooms |
by passengers. OF this number only
1923 were claimed by the owners, and
n many instances the owners had to F.
be run down as was Mr.. Hildebrand.
According to Mr.. Gardner, to a per-
son not acquainted with the ms and
outs of a lost and found department .
If steamship or railroad company or
a large hotel, it is astonishing how
careless the travelling public IS with
regard to its valuables. The years
sleanings included numerous watches,
the value of one being $500. A pass
enger on the Yale walked hlissfully
ashore, leaving behind a wallet CON
tanning 5000 in cash. Incidentally. the
honest steward who found the wallet |
turned it over to the company received |
no reward from the owner when he
finally claimed it.
Mr. Hildebrand left his bag on the
Schley in October, 1916 For
several months it was held without |
being opened, awaiting it's owner to
claim it. Then it's contents were ey-
amined, their value ascertained, and |
the worldwide search for Mr.. Hide |
brand was begun. Letters of inquiry
to him at the Onwentsia !
Polo club, and Deer Path Inn, Lake |
Forest, ILL.,, Coronado Country club,
Coronado, Cal, and elsewhere failed
to reach him. Inquiries sent to the
secretary of the Arizona Cattle Grow
ers' association at Phoenix, to the
postmaster at Bundle Bee, Ariz., and
to various other persons in this coun-
try and Europe were equally futile.
The lost and found department clung
to its quest, however, to the very
last address in the battling black bag.
The determination to find the owner
became an obsession with Mr.. Otto
sen. He dreamed about it at night and
saw its many papers march across the
foot of his bed in tantalizing array.
No more, however, will it hang. figura-