ELLSWORTH, Maine — Goodwill staff and police got more than they bargained for last week after a book was donated to the Ellsworth location.
An employee was going through one of the books and found a gun inside it on Jan. 30, according to Ellsworth police Lt. Harold Page.
“It just looks like a regular book that somebody had cut the pages out of the inside,” Page said.
Page said Goodwill has a central warehouse where they receive items from, and the gun was discovered upon the book’s delivery to the Ellsworth location. An employee called police upon discovering the weapon.
The lieutenant said the gun, an antique derringer-style pistol, did not show up as stolen. Police ran the serial number but did not locate an owner.
“I’m guessing what it was, somebody was cleaning out a house and didn’t realize that it was in a book,” Page explained.
The weapon was not loaded when it was discovered, according to Page.
“In my 36 years of law enforcement, I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said. “This is a new one.”
