She Left Her Backpack and Life Savings Behind on the Train. Railroad Workers Returned It All to Her

A woman who'd stowed away most of her life savings in a backpack for safe keeping was heartbroken when she realized she'd accidentally left it behind on a commuter rail line in New York.

Juliet Barton, who lives in Far Rockaway, Queens, said she realized something was wrong when she got off a Long Island Rail Road train at the village of Rockville Centre.

"I don't have my bag," she'd said to herself, according to Newsday.

Barton raced to Penn Station to file a lost and found report with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. But at the time, she hesitated to disclose what the bag contained: Her $12,000 life-savings.

After an anxious night spent praying, she returned to Penn Station the next morning and finally revealed to workers why the bag was so important to her.

She said John Persico, the LIRR senior terminal manager, immediately sprung into action.

"He looked at me so concerned," Barton said. "Right away, I feel that love — like, he's going to help me now."

Staffers determined the specific train that Barton had been riding on and looked through the objects that had been turned in by that train's conductor.

A worker eventually emerged with the backpack, which had remained untouched.

"Not a single dollar" was missing, according to MTA chief executive Janno Lieber.

Barton described the five workers who helped recover her backpack as the “best in Long Island...not because of the money, but because of what they did.”

Those workers also received special commendations during a ceremony for their recovery efforts, PIX11 reported.