2013 New York Consolidated Laws
GBS - General Business
Article 18 - (280 - 287) FREIGHT AND BAGGAGE
282 - Packages to be opened and contents sold; proceeds of sale.

 
    §  282. Packages to be opened and contents sold; proceeds of sale.  In
  case the said property shall remain unclaimed for sixty days  after  the
  said  publication,  it shall be the duty of the person or company having
  possession thereof, to apply to a magistrate of  the  town  or  city  in
  which  said  property  is  retained,  in  whose presence and under whose
  direction said property shall be opened and examined, and  an  inventory
  thereof  taken  by said magistrate; and if the name and residence of the
  owner is ascertained by such examination, it shall be the  duty  of  the
  magistrate  forthwith to direct a notice thereof to such owner, by mail;
  and if said property shall remain unclaimed for three months after  such
  examination,  it  shall  be  the  further  duty of the person or company
  having possession thereof to apply to a magistrate as aforesaid; and  if
  said  magistrate  shall deem such property of sufficient value, he shall
  cause the same to be sold at public auction, giving six  days'  previous
  notice of the time and place of such sale; and from the proceeds of such
  sale  he  shall pay the charges and expenses legally incurred in respect
  to said property, or a ratable proportion thereof to each  claimant,  if
  insufficient for the payment of the whole amount; and the balance of the
  proceeds of such sale, if any, the said magistrate shall immediately pay
  to the public welfare officials of said town or city, for the use of the
  poor  thereof; and the said public welfare officials shall make an entry
  of such amount, and the time of receiving the same, upon their  official
  records,  and  it  shall  be  subject,  at  any  time within seven years
  thereafter, to be reclaimed by, and  refunded  to,  the  owner  of  such
  property, his heirs or assigns, on satisfactory proof of such ownership.