Mar 29, 2006 12:48 pm US/Eastern
Million Dollar Purse Lost...And Found
SAUSALITO, Calif. (CBS) ―
A California man is being heralded as a Good Samaritan for turning in a purse holding a $ 1 million worth of jewelry. A Canadian couple lost the bag on Sunday, and it has since been returned to them.
The lost-and-found bag begs the question: what would you do?
It wasn't a pot of gold but close. This bag of baubles said to be worth about $1 million was left behind on a park bench in Sausalito near San Francisco. A Canadian couple reported it lost on Sunday.
"What I want to know is: Why someone was walking around with a purse full of emeralds, diamonds and jewelry?" asked Jerry Young, a tourist from Chicago.
The Canadian couple was in the city for their daughter's wedding, and police said the woman was distraught over the loss.
According to Officer Michelle Gonzales of the Sausalito Police Department, "The owner of the purse was visibly upset. She was sitting down with her head in her hands, crying, and both of her sons had to console her."
Lucky for her, along came John Suhrhoff who spotted the bag. He waited, but no one came so he took it home.
Suhrhoff said, "There were some receipts, a license, charge cards -- but no phone number. I called Canada a couple of times, but it was an unlisted phone number, so I couldn't get a hold of her."
Suhrhoff took the purse to the police on Monday, and he's not sure what all the Good Samaritan fuss is about.
"Everybody I know would return something if they found it. That's what you do," Suhrhoff said.
The find does raise the ethical question would you turn it in?
"Of course, yeah, for sure. Yeah," one person said.
New Yorker Steve Winikoff said, "Even though a million dollars is hard to turn back in, being a New Yorker, we're honest. I think we would have absolutely turned it back in."
Kay Richards from Sausalito said, "We would have turned it in. Maybe they'd give us a reward."
So far, there's been no mention of a reward. Suhrhoff said he's thought about it, but a thank you would be just fine.
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