Fate is sometimes very strange, and luck turns to face a person when he most needs it. Could an elderly homeless man suggest that the bonds he took to a pawnshop in his youth are very expensive in ours? Of course no. He found out about this quite by accident, and - most curiously - the securities returned to him precisely when he most needed funds.
Who is this person? What's his name?
30 years ago, a young soldier Woodrow Wilson visited a small pawnshop in the town of Junction City, located in the state of Kansas in the United States. The military unit was stationed nearby, and the soldiers, leaving for dismissal, found themselves on the streets of this city.
Woodrow was 28 years old, and, of course, he did not think about the distant future, about the loss of potentially profitable investments and about other similar things at the moment when he pledged bonds. He just needed some cash to have fun. For securities, a pawnshop employee gave $ 100 to a soldier.
How did the events develop?
The owner of the pawnshop, Mr. Mathis, handed over the affairs to his son Chris. The man decided to make out things, papers, values accumulated over the years and understand what can be done about it. During the “spring cleaning” Chris discovered a whole bunch of bonds that he wanted to return to their previous owners.
The man easily contacted everyone who was on his father’s list, except for one person. Finding Woodrow Wilson from Chris did not work. However, Chris Mathis decided not to give up and find the missing owner of the securities.
How was Woodrow Wilson searched?
It took Chris Mathis a whole year to track down Woodrow Wilson. All that the owner initially knew about this man is that he served in a military unit near the city and lived somewhere in Chicago.
The owner of the pawnshop contacted the police of this city, but law enforcement officers could not help in the search. All they did was give Chris a photograph taken a few years ago at the time Woodrow Wilson was detained for vagrancy.
But Chris did not give up and went to the editorial office of local newspapers. Also in the Chicago area in which the arrest was made, leaflets depicting Woodrow were posted.
How did you manage to find a homeless person?
Many locals recognized Woodrow Wilson and said they had seen him on the streets many times. But about where to look for this person, they, of course, did not know anything.
Homeless managed to notice one of the reporters who knew that Chris Mathis was looking for him. The journalist informed Woodrow that many years ago the securities handed over by him for a hundred dollars to a pawnshop “matured” and rose in value.
How did Woodrow react to the news?
Homeless did not believe the journalist. He decided that they wanted to either play him or deceive him. Indeed, who will return the old bonds if they can simply be cashed?
The reporter had to call Chris Mathis and hand the phone into Woodrow's hands. After talking with the owner of the pawnshop, the homeless man realized that there was no question of any raffle. But he was very surprised by Chris’s act, and the whole situation. The bonds “returned” to him after so many years and at the very moment when they were most needed.
When the local journalist approached Woodrow Wilson, he had been sleeping on the street for two whole weeks and was not even able to wash normally, not to mention taking a shower. Local shelters for homeless vagabonds were crowded, Woodrow went around almost the whole of Chicago in search of an overnight stay, but it was useless.
He did not want to leave his hometown, although the approaching winter scared him.But even more than the 58-year-old tramp was afraid of the trip "to the warm lands", because he did not know anything about other cities. I had no idea where to get food, where to stay at night, where to wash, where to earn extra money. Therefore, the money earned for old bonds turned out to be very helpful.
Agree, this story is more reminiscent of the plot of a Christmas tale than real events. Nevertheless, all this actually happened.