MOMENTS OF INTEREST.

Bush Advocate, Volume XVII, Issue 3, 5 January 1905, Page 7

MOMENTS OF INTEREST.

SOME LONG-I>EiLAYEI> REYVABDS. Two thousand pounds for a brave act performed ton years ago is a pleasant surprise which few have the good fortune to realise. Yet thjs was. the experience of William Bradford, an Englishman) who was for many years a sailor aboard a merchantman "belonging to Captain R. Packard, of Chicago. In. 1894, Captain Packard was engaged in trading along the shores of Lake Michigan, and had taken his little daughter Eva for the voyage. By some mishap the child fell overboard, arid was in imminent danger of drowning, when Bradford jumped in and saved her./ At the time Captain Packard merely thanked tho sailor and never referred to the incident again. Five years later Bradford left Captain Packard's service, and became engineer in a big hotel in Kansas City, where he Is still employed. He had 1 totally forgotten the incident of saving the child's life, when a few weeks ago he received a letter f roni a lawyer informing him that his old captain was dead and had bequeathed him in his will the sum of It is a somewhat curious fact that four years ago Captain Packard's wife and second girl, Pearl, were drowned at almost the precise spot where Bradford, had saved the life of Eva. In his will Captain Packard left two-thirds of liis oetate to hi 3 surviving daughter and the remainder to Bradford. A couple of years ago an interesting example of a long-delayed reward occurred Li Paris when a labourer named Paul Delpit received the suni of 50,000 franca for saving an old lady's pet dog from a fiery death. In the, spring of '96 the house of Mme. Girot, situated not far from the Rue de EivolL took fire and burnt so rapidly that it was only by a miracle' that the family managed to escape. The. conflagration, which occurred at 2 o'clock >in the morning, was at its height when Mme. Girot remembered that her little dog Musette was still in the building. She implored the firemen, to rescue her pet, but they politely declined, declaring that it was impossible. .The little creature's mistress, then appealed to the men who were standing around watching the flames, but they remained immovable, "while some even laughed at her frantic requeste to save her doomed Musette. Then a labourer named Delpit, moved by her cries, caught up a fireman's blanket, saturated it from a hose near; by, and,' in spite of the attempts made to dissuade him, entered the burning building, and forced his way to the room which the old lady had indicated. . He found the little creature, still unsinged, but almost at her last gasp for smoke, wrapped her in a corner of the blanket, , threw the rest round his head and jumped from an, open, window Uninjured. He placed the rescued Musette iv her arms and then disappeared in the crowd. When she had somewhat recovered from the shock of the fire and the destruction of her property, Mme. Girot proceeded to make enquiries respecting her pet's rescuer, fibut in this she was unsuccessful, the man having vanished as completely as if tho flames had consumed him. After three years she discovered that he was a labourer, and that his name was - elpit, but further information she could not obtain.. An advertisement in the principa' Parisian papers, however, brought a letter from the much-wanted Delpit, who declared in an uneducated hand that he was glad he had rescued the dog, and that -he wished for no reward. Mme. Girot re-

spected hia expressions and sent him none, but when in 1902 she. died it was found that in. her will she had bequeathed him tho sum of 50,000 francs, together with tho charge of Musette, who though getting old and iisthmatical, was still sufficiently animated to take an interest in life. A remarkable case of a belated reward has lately been going tho rounds of the New York Press. No less than 33 years ago a poor man named Patrick Murphy, an Irish immigrant, was walking down Bleeker Street, New York, when he noticed a. substantial looking pocket- book lying in the gutter. He picked it up and retiring to a quiet spot, soon made the pleasing discovery that his find consisted of cheques and bills to •She value of between JJ7500 and JJBOOO. Being of an honcet turn of mind he held tho pocket book intact and kept his eye open for a possible reward. None appearing, he abstracted a few shillings and inserted an advertisement in. one of the papers asking the owner to communicate with him. The day following lie received a letter giving an accurate description of the pocket book and its contents while the writer himself called on Murphy later in the day. He proved without a doubt that he was the right person to whom the book should be returned, and on receiving it carefully counted the money, approved of tho money having been taken for the advertisement, placed the book in his inside breast pocket, buttoned up his coat, and handed honest Murphy a shilling. The man merely said, "Thank you, sir," and showed his visitor out. This part of the story has been told innumerable times, but it was 'only last October that the sequel occurred. Murphy, now nearing 60 years of age, was, astonished one evening", while smoking, before his own front door in the Bowery,, to receive a visit from a lawyer, who, after satisfying himself that he was addressing the man whom he was in search, informed him that he had the pleasant duty of acquainting him that he had come into a far-; tune of .£BOO 2s— a sdmewhat curious sum of money, until it was explained that this was the exact sum of money less Is, which was contained in the pocket book which h^ had picked up 33 years before. An old gentleman named Tanner, tho owner of the pocket book and also much real estate in New York, had bequeathed the legacy to Murphy in recognition of 'the only real act of honest disinterestedness I have experienced during my long life in this dishonest world." No on© disputed Murphy's right to the fortune, and he is now spending his days in ease and comfort together with his wife and two children.