Takes Nails and Is Nailed

1919

Thief Leaves Fur Coat and Walks Away With Hardware.

BOSTON, Massachusetts — Samuel Donovan of an unknown address aroused the interest of Patrolman John Manning. Donovan, the officer alleges, stepped up to an unoccupied automobile and caressingly fondled an expensive fur coat, which he subsequently put down and walked away.

Later, the officer says, he returned to the machine, took out a heavy bundle and started briskly along the street. He had gone but a short distance when the officer stopped him and, after a few questions, escorted him to the City Hall avenue station. When the bundle was opened it was found to contain about seventy-five pounds of ordinary nails. The Christmaslike wrappings on the bundle were evidently deceptive.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 7.

Gas Masks Are Urged for Mail Train Men

1920

Skunk Pelts in Parcel Post Cause of Woeful Wail

LOCKHART, Texas, Feb. 26. — Bring out the gas masks, for they are sorely needed.

Mail clerks running on trains in the lower part of the State are said to have asked Superintendent Gaines of Ft. Worth to give them protection.

They declare they have been so badly "gassed" by the fumes of skunk hides that they are now incapacitated for further duties unless the proper protection is given them. They have suggested to the district superintendent that U. S. Army gas masks be secured for them to wear during the distribution of the mails.

Skunk hides, say the mail clerks, do not lose their flavor in packing for shipment. Hence, the closed mail cars, as they went their way to the markets of the North, fairly reek with the odor of polecats.

One of the clerks making this station declares the sickening odor of polecat hides, bunches of them, he had to handle on a recent trip, made him so weak that he was compelled to quit the run before he had half completed it.