£14,000 FOUND

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 10, 12 May 1939, Page 6

£14,000 FOUND

BOX USED AS A FOOTRESf RAILWAYMAN'S DISCOVERY The story of a man who used a box us a footrest for two years in a railway station goods office has just] come to light at Kimbeiiey, South! Africa. As a man lay dying, years ago, in Arians Vlci, in South-West Africa, | he made his will on a scrap of paper j crammed his £14,01)0 savings into a wooden box, and had it sent to a railway station to be delivered to the wife in Gricjuatown, near Kua. bcrley, who I' 1"! divorced him 1-iO years before. Then he died. The box m;:de its journey, but, the widow, thinking it contained only clothing or unimportant a l . Mcles, refused to pay th,> .~)s 7d. demande; , . for railway transit. OfTie als decided 1o send '-the box to the lost property oliice, but by some unexplained mistake the wrong box was sent. The one containing the forturo. remained in the goods office of Kim_ beiiey railway station. After n railway official had used iit a.s a fool rest for two years the box suddenly broke open. The (>.*icial bent down to pick up the pieces and found a £-'■) note sticking out of a belt. Then he p'llled out other belts and two sergo wads packed solid with notes. lie handed over the money to the Master of the Supi'eme Court. A few days later the widow received the battered pieces of the box she had refused, and the £11,000 found inside. This time she quickly found the 5s 7d which the railway i demanded.