Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-12-28

~ JCH an "ad' in the Lost I'd
Found column would be quite
= near the truth. for thousa nds
of articles, the intrinsic and
sentimental value OF which is
fnestimable. are lost or misplaced
daily by Washingtonians.
San annual average of 5000 lost
and found" advertisements is printed
in The Star alone, while thousands
Of persons resign themselves to their
losses and resolve that lit never will
happen again"
"A policeman lost his badge a dairy
man could not find his butter and
nurse misplaced her sstcheI of sur
gical instruments during a single
recent week. For a while the police
man could not make arrests, the
dairyman could not sell and the
nurse could not heal But their en-
barrassment and anxiety were slight
compared with that of a forgetful
newly welded couple. They left the
n.nds, which were to finance their
honeymoon and trip home, lying on
the seat of a Georgetown street car
A visit TO the Georgetown car barn
of the Capital Traction Company or
to the central offices of the Washing
ton Railway and Electric Company
provides food for thought. There. in
rooms reserved for the pugl,us-. are
thousands of articles which haze been
left on the cars by careless persons
To begin to list them would be futile.
They lie there. mounting up to
$4,000 each year, awaiting identifca-
tion by their owners
Can the reader picture a row of
5000 raised umbrellas? They would
extend along Pennsylvania avenue
from the Capitol to the White House,
then up Sixteenth street to Meridian
Hill Park. Umbrellas and parasols
TO that number are left on the cars
every year.
Three thousand persons each year
start from home with umbrellas but
upon leaving the cars. forget the
umbrellas and go about their bust
ness, absolutely unmindful of the
fact that they have abandoned their
property. Even the falling of rain
against car windows is not enough
TO make some remember their UNI
brellas
!: i: j x
by looking around the lost-article
~ room of the w. +. K f. Co one
may tell easily which days were
clear and which We're CLOUDY The
shelves which line the room are di-
vided into 80 compartments. one for
each day of the latest three months
and compartments Of those days on
which it raiRed are pac!.ed with UNI
orellaS, while others have not one
Each year 1000 people leave pairs
of gloves on the cars. There also
are 500 odd gloves disowned in this
way. And 100 passengers every year,
apparently having no immediate de-
sire to wear their furs. decide to
store them in the cars.
What about lunches? Two thou.
sand Neutrality-suspicious. buy theirs down
town each year becadse of their
forgetfulness. They ,leave them on
the cars. Market baskets to the num-
her of ESQ are forsaken likewise dur
ing the same period
Purses generally are needed if one
would buy lunches or shop. vet con-
ductors turn in 1000 pocketboolIs,
handbags and bilIfolds annually. Two
hundred women this year have filled
their shopping bags WITH bargains
and then left them on cars, instead
of taking them home to show to
hus stands.
Keys? No homecomer can unlock
his door without one, yet 200 attempt
to do the impossible each - months.
for this is the number of key sets
found
Musicians sometimes lapse into
most disloyal observation-disclosures.
Thinking perhaps, of the applause
they just have won, they will alight
from street cars, leaving behind the
instrum which made possible
their success. SaXophones, violins.
ul<uIeles and practically every other
kind of popular musical instrument,
except the piano, are forgotten to a
total of IS a year.
Yes. radio fans have been known
to dismiss radio from their minds to
the extent of leaving on the cars APP
paratus which they have purchased
for their receiving sets. This month
five tubes. each marked So, were
turned in at a car barn.
Men lose their hats more often
than do women, but together mem
bers of the two sexes annually leave
on the cars enough hats to dress a
Mankind forgets its hat, especially
curing May and September, when the
change from felt to straw or vice
versa is being made. During those
months new and old hats alike are
found, as well as enough boys caps
Ito indicate that the rising generation
lis "a chip off the old block in the
matter of losing it's headwear.
H Candy, % boxes of it, is left on the
cars each year, and some make the
Same place a depository for 80 bottles
Dof medicine during a like period.
hThen there are those who leave books
500 a year-perhaps for the en-
or entertainment of con-
Iductors and fellow passengers.
Whether it would pay passengers
bearing articles to note down the
4 the end of their ride is questionable,
because $50 persons each year do
take notes and then forget to take
their notebooks from the cars.
= **
A LII these things - and several
"A babies-have been turned in by
conductors.
Only half of them ever are claimed
by their owners, although staff of
railway employees makes every effort
to find the losers, by examining lost
articles for names and addresses and
by scanning lost and found adver-
tlsements.
Lets see if this bag contains any
clue as to who lost it, said Frank
]. Davidson, chief of the Washington