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Woman, 83, Loses Cash in Freak Accident

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[November 29, 2007]  MONTAGUE, Mass. (AP) -- Mary Olive Corbiere watched helplessly as a delivery truck drove away with her purse and $1,100 of her holiday shopping stash stuck under its wheel.

Now police in this northwestern Massachusetts town are urging people to return any of the money they might have grabbed after the 83-year-old retiree's battered denim purse split open, spilling the cash around a bridge Tuesday.

"I got a little money back, maybe $100, maybe less. It's pretty beat up," Corbiere, a retired English teacher and nurse, said Wednesday.

Corbiere had left a drugstore Tuesday and was putting her bags in her car when a wind gust pushed her shopping cart -- still containing her purse and cane -- into the back of a nearby delivery truck.

The cart somehow became stuck in a rear wheel before the truck pulled away and disappeared into traffic.

"Everything was normal, then I turned around and the cart had taken off," she said.

The cart was dragged for blocks along one of the town's busiest thoroughfares as the truck's driver, oblivious to what had occurred, headed to the next delivery. When the purse finally burst open, witnesses told police strangers stopped and grabbed the fluttering currency that Corbiere had withdrawn that day for holiday shopping and bills.

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Officers found Corbiere's tattered checkbook, broken credit card and some other belongings -- but little cash.

Police say no charges will be filed against anyone who returns the money. Some residents made anonymous donations Wednesday at the police station, and a local coffee shop started a collection to help Corbiere.

"We're hoping people will do the right thing," Montague police Sgt. Charles Dodge said.

Corbiere, though, isn't waiting around for the money's return. She was headed to the bank Wednesday to get a new checkbook and make another withdrawal.

She didn't even bother to retrieve the battered purse from police.

"That's no use to me now," she said. "What I really needed badly is my cane, and I am lucky I did get that back."

[Associated Press; By MARK PRATT]

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