A Boston cabbie is being praised as a Good Samaritan after finding and returning a passenger’s inheritance — nearly $200,000 in cold hard cash — accidentally left in the in the back of his taxi.

“Fifty percent of people say yeah, you should have done that, the other fifty percent say you should have took it, but I’m not a crook,” said Raymond MacCausland, who found the green backpack full of approximately $187,000 in cash in his cab on Saturday. “I always return things.”

MacCausland, 72, a taxi driver for fifty years, said he picked up the passenger on Massachusetts Avenue and Tremont Street, and took him to a nearby stop so the man could run an errand. When the passenger didn’t return after 20 to 30 minutes, MacCausland said, he left. It was only later he said, that he found the backpack in the back seat.

“I zipped down a little bit on the bag, and I saw three bundles of money, right away I zipped it up,” MacCausland said. “I just thought it was clothes.”

MacCausland said he took the bag to the police station, and turned it over to the police hackney unit.

“I didn’t know if I should go look for him. It might have been stolen money, it might have been bank robbery money, I had no idea,” MacCausland said. “I only saw three packs, three bundles, but I knew the whole bag was full of money.”

By law, taxi drivers must return forgotten property to BPD’s hackney unit. Once at BPD headquarters officers unpacked the bag, laid the cash on a table, and began counting. In the end, police said, there was roughly $187,000.

“It had to be about 30 bundles, maybe 40 bundles, one bundle had ten thousand dollars, another bundle had $20s and $50s,” MacCausland said. “It really is something to see.”

BPD spokeswoman Rachel McGuire said the passenger was tracked down and reunited with the money, which turned out to be a recent inheritance. She said police detectives were able to confirm the money was rightfully his.

“He had proof that it was his, he had the trust agreement, he provided the proof the money was his,” McGuire said. “Thank goodness for the honest cab driver.”

Reached by phone after the money was returned, the passenger declined to comment.

For MacCausland, the episode brought back memories of 30 years ago.

“Thirty-something years ago, I took a man to the airport and he left $10,000 in a briefcase on the front seat,” MacCausland said. The briefcase was returned but wasn’t exactly met with gratitude, he said.

This time, when he reunited with the passenger at police headquarters, MacCausland said, he was rewarded with $100.

In a statement, BPD commissioner William B. Evans praised the driver.

“This hackney driver exhibited exemplary behavior and his honest deed should be recognized. His actions represent the high standards that our department has for our drivers,” Evans said.

Still, MacCausland didn’t even get back to his cab before getting back to work — the same passenger asked for a ride back to his hotel.