Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-01-26

would you prefer to be the recipient over
the slick counter Of a nice, tender young
alligator or would you prefer to wind a
healthy boa constructor around your arm
while you tied the check number to the
end of his frolicsome tail? Well, if you
were In charge Of the checkroom at the
Indianapolis Union station you could
have the pleasure of becoming intimately
acquainted with both. But, alligators-
not alligator travelling bags-and snakes
are a small portion Of the collection that
sojourns within the four walls OF the
checkroom. Several hundred suitcases
per diem find q parking place in the
checkroom while their owners travel
luggageless through our mo Mean city
But, speaking Of checking, the beauty
of the things is that you can check any
thing dead or alive provided you can
lug it to the window, all for the sum OF
a dime.
"Now, there isn't anything that you
can't check here so long as you can carry
1t in" explained the man in charge. THE
other day a man came in and checked
safety razor with instructions that we
were to be careful not to cut ourselves.
COLLECT ALL
STRAY DOGS.
Eve also collect all the stray dogs
which we find wandering around the de-
pot. Now, over in the baggage room
they ship dogs two ways: Dogs Grated
and dogs uncrated. Occasionally dog
which is intended to be Grated becomes
a dog uncrated and takes a walk over
here. The other day we adopted one
which a lady claimed was hers She
rewarded US 80 cents for caring for Fido,
had US do him up and ship him to her
home. The next day the real owner came
In and told us Fido had escaped hts box.
When we told her where he had been
shipped to she took the next train for
rescue Of her pet And the woman who
claimed him from US told her she had
paid IS for him.
But those are very tame incidents in
comparison to some OF the excitement we
have here at times. Things begin to
liven up when an alligator which was
OF infantile proportions when 1t left Flor.
ida reached our room. During transit
1t underwent a transformation, having
doubled In size and developed a habit
for biting"
Among some Of the pieces Of bag
gage parked in the checkroom are par
rots. According to the check man, there
are two kinds of parrots, those which
talk and those which don't. The latter
are the most desirable, In his estima-
ton.
Yesterday we had a polly checked in
here who had the choicest line OF cuss
words / ever heard" be explained. THE
man who trained her must have been a
graduate of n correspondence course in
swearing. There were about a million
effective adjectives in that parrots col
lection which l never heard before and
never hope to hear again. Why, that
parrots vocabulary made me absolutely
Jealous.
CROW AMONG
STRANGE VISITORS.
last week a man checked a crow here,
one Of the devilish. sOoty kind. When he
left it he told US that it would talk,
but we never heard word out Of it.
guess be meant that It would carry on
crow conversation, because 1t sure did
sduawk."
The check man grew more communlca-
tive.
Soldiers have a liking for light tan
luggage" he said. Il guess they get
sort of fond OF that colored stun. The
carkIes carry dark brown. can bet
anything that can tell travelling sales
man any place this side Of the Suez
Canal. ! have seen a good many sales
men pass their baggage across this
counter and l think that, with half a
dozen exceptions. 1t has always been one
travelling bag and one suitcase each.
They are never OF the same color. One is
usually black and the other a middlng
tan.
with the women you never can ex-
pect the Same thing twice. Mostly they
carry a lot Of junk such as dogs. cats,
canaries and rabbits.
guf
floats across this counter is How much
is itT You can have a sign six feet
high with the charge for checking a
package and every mothers son Of them
will shoot It over and ask the price"
He turned his attention to a woman
carrying q small Pekingese dow under
one arm. with care the Pekingese was
deposited upon the counter. She passed
cushion over with him and gave in
structlons that he be kept out Of draft
and not be allowed to get his paws dirty.
TWINS LEFT
TO BE FED.
'These womenr sighed the baggage
man. 1.-THE other day woman left a
pair Of twins with me and said to feed
them the cookies she left in the bag at
quarter past three.
zone day we had a monkey IN a cage
checked here. AS soon as the tag was
placed on the cage he proceeded to re-
move it and eat 1t. He must have been
hard up fr eats. When the owner Pre-
scented the duplicate he had to identify
Mr.. Monkey. The little wretch didn't
seem a bit glad to see him and Chartered
angrily."
Although the function Of the checkroom
was not intended to be that Of n free in
formation bureau. travellers seem to think