LOST PROPERTY HUMOURS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3399, 7 May 1919, Page 54

LOST PROPERTY HUMOURS.

AMAZING ARRAY OF ARTICLES THAT GO ASTRAY. If one takes the trouble to explore any one of the huge, dim-lit warehouses which usually serve as Lost Property Office in most towns, they will see such a collection of articles as would make an average museum monotonous in comparison. In one such warehouse a box of alligators' jawbones was seen keeping company with a barrister's wdg and gown; <+o bottle of hair restorer hobnobbing with four pairs of crutches; and a set of the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" acting as barricade to an incubator. In close neighbourhood were a portmanteau containing 37 pairs of corsets; a set of false teeth and a rosary; a gramophone and a lady's mackintosh, with caps, bowler hats, straw hats, sticks, and umbrellas sufficient to equip a small town—all abandoned by absent-minded travellers in the trains and cloakrooms of a certain well-known railway company. As an official remarked, " We get anything, from a ripe gorgonzola to a batch of bank notes, and from a St. Bernard to a canary!"

He might also have included a singular " find " in the way of passengers' " lost property" which occurred not so long ago at Bell Busk Station. A mother and grandmother left a six weeks' old baby with strangers in the train at Hellifield, whilst they went in search of refreshment. When they had finished they were surprised to find that the train and baby had both gone. The stationmaster at Bell Busk was telephoned to, and eventually found the " lost property." The baby was, taken care of bv the stationmaster's wife until the arrival of the lawful and distracted owners.

The principal contributors to the tons of lost property which are constantly passing through the .lost property offices of the country are the millions of passengers who annually use our railways. As soon as a railway servant discovers any ownerless article upon railway premises he is bound, under severe penalties, to report his find, which is forthwith transmitted to the company's head office. Many thousands of lost articles are dealt with annually, and those unclaimed are generally sold by auction at the end of each year. High Game! —

Railway carriage cleaners are, of course, always on the qui vive for anything that may have been left behind. A certain cleaner felt a cold chill run down his spine one dusky evening when, reaching under the seat to pull out a footwarmer, a thin, bony hand clasped his in an uncanny grip- He was a good deal relieved to find it was nothing worse than a goodsized monkey with which he had to deal.

On one occasion a huge bundle of game (none too fresh on arrival) reached the lost property office of a leading Scottish railway company. Had it been addressed it would have been immediately despatched to the owner; but as there was nothing on it to indicate its destination, it remained, and its presence was always in evidence, though it was hidden from view of the staff. Days elapsed, and no application was- made for it. As time passed on it became a standing joke and the subiect of repeated nastv remarks lv those who frequented the place, until in the end the matter became so serious that a consultation was held to decide whether the clerks should retire and leave the name in possession or evict the intruder. Viewing the matter from a sanitary point of view, it was finally decided, with the sanction of the to resort to eviction, so the bundle was removed to the platform, where it remained an object of much curiosity for a few days longer. Time did not improve matters, and there was just the possibility that unless immediate action -was taken it would be able to walk indoors again of its own accord. Instructions were therefore issued to have it destroyed.

Very shortly after this had been done the owner, a' late distinguished Scottish surgeon, Avrote to headquarters complaining 0 of his loss. His letter was referred to the- TiQst Property Office for inquiry,

with instructions, if found, to forward at once to the address given. As the books bore evidence of the find and the date of the burial, the truth had to be told, with the result that all who had anything to do with the destruction of the package were immediately summoned tp attend a court-martial at headquarters. During the examinations, the language used by the president was almost as strong as the smell emanating from the bundle on the day of its funeral, and his finding ended in a severe censure of all concerned for their apparent lack of knowledge of game at its best. The president -wound up the inquiry by volunteering the information that he -would never think cf touching his game until it was three weeks or a mouth old. Had it been possible to introduce the pungent subject of inquiry at an early stage of the court-martial* there is very little doubt that the president might have been induced to alter his mind. A "Mystery" Solved.—

During the holiday season business in the Lost Property Offices is always carried on at a record-breaking pace, owing to the numerous losses that occur going to and coming from the holiday resorts. What was regarded as the " absolute limit," so far as lost articles were concerned, was reached a year or two ago at a certain big railway station. The claims mounted up by leaps and bounds, and the detective staff, always on the watch, were completely baffled' as to the explanation of the numerous and mysterious disappearances of so much valuable property. This state of affairs continued rampant for about three months, when the mystery was unexpectedly solved. As the 6.30 train arrived from the north one evening the luggage was, as usual, bundled out on to the platform, and the usual scramble followed. The detectives observed a woman tackle a piece of luggage. Its weight, however, overtaxed her strength, so she dropped it, and selected a small trunk.

Her movements created suspicion, so a watch was set upon hex. Making her way to the ladies' waiting room with the trunk, she laid it down, and was busy scratching out the name on it when the detectives introduced themselves, asking her, by w,ay of a start, what she was doing. "Oh," she replied, "surely I can do what I like with my own property." "Very well," was the reply, "if you will come with us we shall see about it."

She was marched off to the police office. On the way she repeatedly tried to get at her pocket, but this was prevented, and a good job, too, as it contained the clue to the solution of the mystery. Her pocket was found to be full of pawn tickets, and these localised her address, which was afterwards visited, with the result that nearly the whole of the missing propery, or at all events what remained of it, was found. There was quite a variety of trunks of all sorts and sizes, numerous holdalls, hat boxes, portmanteaux, and Gladstone bags—all literallv ruined, for they had been simply smashed or ripped open when a key was not available.

She was tried and sentenced to 18 months, and it was a lucky thing for her that the L.P.O. staff wore not her judges, or she would have got 18 years instead, with hard labour added. Big London " Finds."— By far the largest lost property office is, of course, the Police Department at Scotland Yard, which is distinguished by the title of ''" the" L.P.O. Its' chief customers are omnibus conductors, taxi and cab drivers, all of whom make some curious hauls in the course of their chequered careers. Being under a penalty of £lO for the failure to hand in, within 24 hours, articles that may be left in their conveyances, they are naturally careful to deliver up their finds at the earliest possible moment. In addition to this there is the certainty of the reward which the owner has eventually to pay before he can Tegain his property. This varies between 3s and 2s 6d in the pound, according as the find takes the shape of jewellery or of ordinary umbrellas and handbags. One can understand a man parting company in a forgetful moment with _an umbrella, or even a treasured briar pipe, but how are we to account for his leaving £3500 worth of jewellery on the top of an omnibus or £7OO in good gold in a cab? And yet Scotland Yard has on its records these and many other remarkable cases. One day's harvest at the yard's L.P.O. included a diamond set worth £IOOO, a black bag with £3OOO in cash and securities, and, among nearly 200 other derelict articles, a couple of jewelled fans and a pair of navvy's boots. A well-known hotel manager stated recently that the collection of articles visitors left behind made a very interesting museum. "It contains almost everything at times," he said. " Money is included, and bank-notes. We actually found a wrapper in one of our bedrooms not long ago, in which were notes amounting to nearly £SOOO. Not a name was there or address. And the advertisement which we inserted proved of no avail. The owner did turn up, though, but it was a year afterwards. It transpired that he had discovered his loss while on board a steamer bound for India. He was so overjoved that he gave the chambermaid who picked up the wrapper a checme for £IOO. » "Perhaps the strangest thing left here by a guest was a young snake. A maid found 'it in a carpet bas? underneath a bed. We sent for a naturalist, and just when ho was taking it away the owner appeared quite anxious to know whether the fright which his pet had given had led to its destruction."

"Trying It On."— Railway companies, _ naturally have many curious claims to investigate. One celebrated case was that of a., foreign gentleman who a few years since made a claim,upon the Great Western for £ISOO,

being the value of a case of ancient manuscripts -which, he stated, had been lost, between Oxford and Paddington. Despite the most searching inquiries, the missing papers could not be found until a little verbal slip of the claimant gave the company's detectives their chance. also gave the " distinguished foreigner" 12 months. But that is another story.