Common carriers engaged in the transportation of passengers may sell baggage left unclaimed in their possession for a period of one hundred and twenty days at public auction, after publication of notice of such sale once a week for five successive weeks in a newspaper published in the city or town where said sale is to take place. The net proceeds of such sale, after deducting storage and other charges and all expenses of the sale, shall be paid over to the commonwealth.
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 135, § 1