LOSERS WHO WHERE IN LUCK.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1671, 5 March 1890, Page 4

LOSERS WHO WHERE IN LUCK.

»I^A.lt^^ JferiNCES OJ THE RE. cavEKr*op'.vif.uKßir¥Bpy. ' • The ,^9i&l^2ta bom:' ' pan* htriniftfw hftt^a¥>.enf%<B<{sfon' wot tout ort' r one' owation WUIi'SOiOOOJoI fc*pa> off his employes. l The money 1 was » earned under this arm, wrapped up ih an 1,,01<J newspaper. He shopped at a little Jlde eating house for .dinner, and on k away, in .a fit of absent-minded-Jleft the money lying on a ohair. ad not gone, many imles from i the r.-v» before he miised it, and his dismay on .discovering; iff loss "oan well be imagined' Almost despairing of recovering, the, package Jeft in . w-, public ,*» place, , h> J( harried,, back,, and. with, trembling voioeasjse^,. the .woman in charge if she had' aeeti the parcel. ' 'There's a bit of paper on tile chair beyant,' she said, ' perhaps that's it,' which it proved to be, And 'the gentleman retorned a happier and wiser man. . Another man : in the same city lost a rqll, of bills amounting to IO.OOOdoI which also was wrapped up in a newspaper.* He told a. friend of hi» loss and the friend made h[m describe all the ground he had been over since he had the money. The last place mentioned was the Post-office. Tbe.tUightwas wet overhead »nd slushy .underfoot.. They visited the Post-office, : and going to, the spot where, the man had been standing, they fonnd two or three torn' bits of newspaper. It was the same. They * looked further, and at last found tte idst treasure. It had been kicked in turn by everyone who came into the office, and when found was untied and soaked with water. It was ■41 there, however, and the friends re* turned to their hotel and spent, several hours in cleaning and drying it. The gentleman was so grateful for the sensible advice which had saved him from serious lose 1 that he took out his friend and bought him the handsomest gold watch andjohain.that.he ponld find in the city. A still more remarkable incident is related of the finding of £26,000, lost by M. Pages in the Northern Railway Station in Paris some 10 years ago. As one Ezelot, a f French soldier, was walking with two comrade* through the station, they Noticed oa th» floor ar small package wrapped in a newspaper* They kicked it along before them for some distance* and whan Kzelot was getting, into the train, going home on short leave, one. of his comrades, picking up the package, thrust it into the canvass forage bag 'at his side, Ezalot going on his way without having perceived the little pleasantry. Arriving at Neuilly, where his parents lived,' Ezelot's mother, emptying the forage bag, discovered the bundle, but thinking it a roll of old newspapers, put it on a table in the kitchen. There it for four or five days, till a married sister calling in and seeing the package, was moved by an unwonted cariosity. Opening it she discovered documents representing the £26,000, the loss of which M. Pages had advertised throughout Europe. The soldier and his parents, however, had not seen the advertisement, and not knowing what else to do, had. recourse to the Maire. That functionary communicating with Paris, speed' ily brought down M. Pages, who, gladly paying the promised reward of £1000, went yffwith-his oddly recovered treasure. It would be an interesting supplement to the. narrative if we could have a record of the feelings of the soldier who thrust this unexpected good fortune upon Ezelot when he heard the sequel to his little joke. A still more wonderful tale is told in a periodical. A gentleman was walking along^the shore of Hastings when he discovered that a valuable ring which he wore had slipped . off. •. Althouuh a diligent search was made no trace of it could be found. A year afterwards — indeed, it is «yen said, on the very anniversary— -the gentleman -again visited r the spot, and while'stroHirig'albng the shore a fisherman near him stooped down,- picked up some: thing, and ran after, him saying, 'Did you drop this.?', at the same time holding , up £he identical ring iqst 12 months before. Some of the most curiousbsses and. recoveries of which we haye any record, are tjeCa^ecl in regard to fanydua jewels. Among these the De Sancy diamond mi j be mentioned as possessing a particularly singular history. The first known owner oflthiliigem* was Charles the Bold; Duke of Borgnndy, who is^said to haverworn it in bis helmet. It was lost in the battle in which its. owner was killed, but was picked rip by a Swiss soldier, who sold; it to a priest for a florin. The priest, as iftnoirant as the soldie? of 'its v rare , value, imagined that he had made a good-bar-gain whetthe-Bold-it totbtrKingof Portogal fora/flpriiliandahalfi The profit of the King, however, was somewhat larger than that of the unwordly priest, ior¥^ received °b less than 100,000 crown* for it from the wealthy Harley De Sancyyin whose family it remained several Hepjqraturas. Finally one. of his descend-, antiji wishing to pawn it in order tplend Henry IW. some money, sent it to a Jew broker by the hand of a.ser.vant in whom, be'hiul'the utmost; oonfidenpe^ The. ser-s Taat ; mif «r ; returned, and the brother dedaredi that the man 1 had "never made his ■Upranmrr with' tbe'dUmbnd. In spite, of thitj Mssrtion rthe oonfidence bf > De Sexwj^injtbe honMjty of hjs old: servant was ; unajiak^ ..Tbe^cgßfiience,,; as it (s ( s f D»f^ed^^as not. m.splaced for tfter a time the, boay of • murdered ; nn^ was-dis<»'veired' near ibe City walls in t a ttee^ditohr w&ich was" recognised as > thai otthtf missing servaiiti An attempt »t rqbbe'ryohad evidentlyubeen made, »pdi^he;fa..ithlttlfeHow.h!idlremained true to hw^maaterfSrißterestSvto his last moment* ; J fyi . on^the surgeon[*' f eiamining tto Dpay the diamond wa*.fpund in his rtoß^cb, he ha/ing swallowed it as the bhff xt naint left 1 to him bl r pntwittiojr bis yAfttihto^ ' diamond in the posMMWn of the family for several more fledsrationsv but mi at last sold to James iifafyj. ,, it mmv* *m*g the crownjejrel* pf Franog^for some.t|me. but was qnally purchaaed by ihe ftujnian banfreV.'Bemidoff. ",....,,-....„ A*iwfer>«ting»necdote is related m the Ufe4Jilitffa John Lawrence, in regard to that' mosti famous dUmtond, the Koh-i-noor. When tie: precious gem was committed to.th^^iF«soiiior4i*wrence he jtufted A it into hfl, wfjfio^ g»W and went ifc w^hiui^usiqesi. Diwer Uwe *mvinj, n« W«nged hji ciothet,. and ArewhU' waUicoat aside. Six weeks latet § message came that tne Q'leen desiref the diamond to be sent Home at onoV The uaatter had entirely escaped ihe memory of the absent-minded lord, and he at first a»ow«i that he had forwarded it long before. When the facts «a«e back to him he yasbaily ; frightened,, bjotaUowedjafi mUgi'ings to appear^ and tc^l^jSrstPfiWF^nitr io#lip,away> bja bamk ,t&m. -?#no» there; with his jheart in his mouth, he sent for hU native

servants «nd sajtft" h^ra*: . 'Hjaye you got a small box which was in my waisfcpat pocket some time ago?' ' ! Yes, Ssthib, 1 the Than replied' «I found it and put it in 'Me of ynurbbjes: - 1 ' T Brfrtg'it here;' said^hS £ahib." Upon this' thfc old;seirrvMitfwent to a broken-down 'tin box and' produced <;<tbe little/ one from it. 'Open . itif, paid Lord, Lawrence, ' and see whijt is inside.' He watched the man, anxiously,, as. fold after fold of cloth .was taken off. 'and,, great was his relief when ; the brilliant gem appeared.* The servant seemed' perfectly unconscious of the immense treasure he had had in his keeping. ' There 1r nothing here, Sahib ' he said,"' «W» bto'of glass*' ' ThuVCtirooghithe indifference rof a 'native servant, what might have been a serious loss was turned . into a happy recovery.