Homeless Man Finds Bag Stuffed With Cash, Turns It In

A homeless Boston man who police said turned in a
backpack containing tens of thousands of dollars in cash
and traveler's checks said even if he were desperate he
wouldn't have kept "even a penny." Boston Police
Commissioner Edward Davis honored Glen James on
Monday, giving him a special citation and thanking him
for an "extraordinary show of character and honesty."
James said in a handwritten statement he gave out at a
news conference that he was glad to make sure the bag
and its contents were returned to the owner. "Even if I
were desperate for money, I would not have kept even a
penny," he said. James, who said he once worked as a
Boston courthouse employee, found the backpack at the
South Bay Mall in the city's Dorchester neighborhood
Saturday evening. He flagged down a police officer and
handed it over. Inside the backpack was $2,400 in U.S.
currency, almost $40,000 in traveler's checks, Chinese
passports and other personal papers. The man who lost
it told workers at a nearby Best Buy store at the mall
and they called police. Officers then brought the
backpack's owner to a nearby police station and
returned his property after confirming it belonged to
him. Authorities said that the backpack's owner didn't
want his identity made public, but that he was a Chinese
student who was visiting another student in Boston.
James, who didn't give his age, said he is from the
Boston area and has been homeless since 2005. A police
spokeswoman said authorities don't know his age
either, but said that James is staying at a city homeless
shelter and that many people have expressed interest in
helping him since hearing about his good deed. The
Good Samaritan said in his statement that he worked as
a file clerk in the Boston municipal court system for 13
years, but lost his job and became homeless after
problems with his boss. James said it would be difficult
for him to hold down a job because he suffers from
Meniere's disease, which the Mayo Clinic describes as
an inner ear disorder that causes episodes of vertigo.
James said that he doesn't want to be a burden to his
relatives and that people at the shelter help him. He said
God has always looked after him. James gets food
stamps and panhandles to make money to do laundry, to
pay for transportation and buy other "odds and ends,"
he said. On Monday, he also thanked the strangers who
have given him spare change on the street. "It's just
nice to have some money in one's pocket so that as a
homeless man I don't feel absolutely broke all the
time," he said.