Strange Incident of the Mails

1895

A lady in Boston wrote some letters and sealed them, as is her custom, with a Moorish coin having a tiny hook in its back. Her correspondents all know this peculiar seal and how highly it is prized from its antiquity and the stylish form it takes in the wax. Called suddenly from the room, these letters were soon after posted by a servant in the nearest box, and not till then did the owner of the rare coin miss it from the table. The room was searched, and finally the maid dispatched to await the letter collector on his next round. But he declared nothing had been seen of any such seal, and then the search began indoors again, but with no better luck. A few days after this lady received a letter from Canada scaled with the familiar Moorish hieroglyphics! The mystery was soon explained, for on opening the envelope it was learned that this heavy seal had stuck to the letter sent from Boston, and though passing through so many hands had arrived intact, to the great astonishment of the recipient. — Boston Herald.

Lord Tennyson's Mail

1895

Here is a curious freak of Lord Tennyson's imagination, based on fact: "Look at this pile, which, on my return from abroad, I find heaped on my table. I ought to have thanked you before for your generous lines, but look at the pile — some three feet high — and let that apologize for my silence — and believe me, tho' penny post maddened, yours ever, A. Tennyson." These words followed the drawing by Alfred Tennyson of a kind of pyramid in sections specifying the nature of the letters on his table: "Anonymous insolent letters," "letters from America, Australia, from monomaniacs, etc.," "letters asking explanation of particular passages," "begging letters of all kinds," "subscriptions asked for church building, schools, Baptist chapels, Wesleyans, etc.," "newspapers — gracious or malignant," "printed circulars of poems asked for subscription," "presentation copies of poems," "printed proof sheets of poems," "MS. poems," "letters for autographs," form the two sides of this curious and unique sketch.

People who pester a man of letters do not think of the vast aggregate made up of many single applications of various sorts. Each post used to bring to the house 50 or 60 letters. Mrs. Tennyson and Hallam Tennyson were far too much occupied with the task of wading through these piles of unsolicited correspondence. — Strand Magazine.

Sweden and England Exchange Sharp Notes

1916

London, Sept. 10. — There has been a further, and rather sharp exchange of notes between Great Britain and Sweden regarding the difficulties brought about by the allied blockade and Sweden's retaliatory seizure of mails in transit between England and Russia. No solution of the problem is in sight. The British foreign secretary, Viscount Grey, insists that as a condition to submitting the matter to arbitration Sweden must promise not to interfere again with English parcels post matter in transit across Sweden. The Swedish government apparently is determined not to make such an engagement.

—The Fryeburg Post, Fryeburg, Maine, Sept. 12, 1916, p. 7.

Is Blacklist Worth While?

1916

London, Sept. 7. — Commenting on the amendment to the revenue bill passed by the United States Senate Tuesday night, empowering the President to retaliate against interference with American commerce, the Manchester Guardian says that although those who see in it no more than a flourish having a special virtue on the eve of election may be right, "nevertheless we should do well to note two things:

"First — These reprisals are directed against the Allies, and primarily against ourselves.

"Second — They are popular in America."

The Guardian says it is not generally realized here how strong a sentiment has been aroused throughout the United States by the blacklist policy and interference with mails, and asks: "If the Foreign Office is convinced these practices of ours are so useful as to counterbalance the weakening of American sympathy they involve, or that they cannot be modified so as to meet American objections without impairing any utilities they may have for ourselves."

—The Fryeburg Post, Fryeburg, Maine, Sept. 12, 1916, p. 6.

Sees Commercial Use of Flying Craft Soon

1916

Aviator Says Aeroplanes Will Be Used for Express and Mail Service Within Few Years.

"I expect to see aeroplanes in daily commercial use within two or three years. They will be used for high-class express and mail service and there will be no trouble of these machines crossing the ocean."

This was the statement made by Art Smith, 22 years old, champion "loop-the-loop" aviator, who is in a Chicago hospital for treatment of a leg which he injured in an accident in Japan.

Smith said he would not fly again himself, but that he planned to become interested in a $5,000,000 plant for the manufacture of aeroplanes in Japan.

"I think some of the aeroplanes in military use in Europe now can fly across the Atlantic," said Smith. One of the latest Curtiss machines in the British army has three motors and measures ninety feet from tip to tip of its wings. It is equipped with boats and can travel on water."

Smith has had a romantic and brilliant career as an aviator. He built his own aeroplane in Fort Wayne, Ind., when 16 years old. It was in this machine that he flew with his sweetheart to Hillsdale and was married. It was the first aeroplane elopement.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 9.

Dispute on Mails Renewed

1916

Sharp Exchange of Notes by Sweden and Britain.

LONDON, England. — There has been a further and rather sharp exchange of notes between Great Britain and Sweden in regard to the difficulties brought about by the Entente allied blockade and Sweden's retaliatory seizure of mails in transit between England and Russia. No solution of the problem is in sight. The British foreign secretary, Viscount Grey, insists that as a condition to submitting the matter to arbitration Sweden must promise not to interfere again with English parcels post matter in transit across Sweden. The Swedish government apparently is determined not to make such an agreement.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 3.

"Lost" Gems Are Recovered

1916

Package of Valuables Turns Up in St. Paul Postoffice.

ST. PAUL, Minnesota — A few days ago a St. Paul woman gave a Chicago hotel clerk an envelope containing jewels valued at $1,500, $200 in currency and a $50 draft to be placed in the hotel safe over night. The contents of the envelope have now been returned to the woman by Otto Raths, St. Paul postmaster.

When the valuables were called for at the Chicago hotel they could not be found. The clerk to whom they had been given had started on a two-weeks vacation. The woman stormed at the hotel management but didn't get any trace of her valuables. When she asked for her bill she found on it an item for "postage 4 cents."

The clerk had affixed the stamps and the valuables had been sent to St. Paul. The envelope was badly torn on its arrival here and postal clerks puzzled over the strange manner of shipping valuables until the woman appeared, claimed the shipment and explained its cause. Why they were sent here has not been explained.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 11.

Fits Horse With Snowshoes

1919

Mail Carrier Fulfills Contract Despite Heavy Drifts.

VANCOUVER, B. C., Canada. — By fitting his horse with snowshoes, "Ole the Bear" (A. R. Westerberg) was last week able to live up to the terms of his contract and deliver the mail from Downie Creek to Revelstoke, a distance of forty-five miles, making the trip in three days. Ole built the snowshoes out of birch bark, making them circular and about a foot in diameter. To protect his horse's legs he covered the upper part with old blankets and gunny sacks.

Up the Big Bend district, where Ole takes King George's mail, the snow is several feet deep, and is covered with a breaking crust. A short time ago George Laforme, a packer, lost thirty horses and mules in trying to bring them out over the treacherous surface.

Girl's Letter Is Joke on Bachelors, but It Overwhelms Her With Mail

1920

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Miss Ethel Day, a pretty New York girl, has caused work for a few extra mail clerks and carriers in this city as the result of a little joke that she and two other girl friends played upon several thousand young bachelors scattered over the habitable globe a few months ago. Miss Day is now thoroly convinced of the potency of publicity, and so, incidentally, are the letter shooters and mail sorters in the Great Falls postoffice.

Last summer, while enjoying a vacation in the mountains with her two girl friends from New York, who helped her put over the joke, the trio decided to write the following epistle to a motion picture magazine:

"Editor: I am a girl 19 years old. With three other girls I herd cattle for a wealthy stockman. We get awfully lonely and would like to correspond with some Eastern men."

In one day's mail she received answering letters from Germany, France, Hawaii, the Philippines, Zanzibar, Africa; London, Texas. Maine, New Hampshire, Boston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Cleveland, Norfolk. Va.; Brunswick, Ont., Can.; New York, Montreal, Key West. Fla.; Jersey City, the U. S. steamship Savannah, India, and numerous other points about the world.

A young lad from New York who evidently has the impression that Montana is still in "the wild and woolly West" asked Miss Day to put a good word for him with her boss so that he could come West and learn to punch cattle. Others spoke of wolves howling around the door.

A little Virginia lass has asked the following questions: "Do you dance? What style of dancing do they have in the West? (Imagine answering that one!) How are the folks out there, hospitable, friendly, sociable? How are the girls, the fellows? What are the chief entertainments? How do you spend your time?"

Now Miss Day for a little while thought it just lovely to receive hundreds of nice letters, but it is rapidly ceasing to be a joke. Each day her list of unanswered letters increases and all she needs is a permit to start a postoffice all her own. The problem could be easily solved by either ignoring the letters or sending them back unclaimed were it not for the fact that all her correspondents were so anxious for a reply that they carefully enclosed stamped, addressed envelopes.

However, Miss Day cheerfully says she will see the thing thru and answer every letter if she has to hire a couple of stenographers and a dictaphone and take a vacation for three months.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 5.

To Test New Mail Device for Trains

1910

WASHINGTON. — After a series of tests continuing since February the Postoffice Department has arranged for a formal six months' tryout of an invention for delivering and picking up mails by fast trains. As a demonstration of the practicability of the system a live pig, weighing 85 pounds, was recently delivered without injury at Carrollton, Ky., the home of the inventor, without the slightest injury from a train running 25 miles an hour.

For years the Postoffice Department has sought an improved method of picking up and delivering mails over the old catcher-hook system, and the new device was the result of four years' advertising by the postal authorities, urging inventors to produce something that would meet the requirements.

It is 40 years since the catcher hook came into use, and in spite of the progress in railroading and the tremendous improvement in the mail service along other directions no forward step is recorded in the matter of exchanging mail sacks by moving trains. Under this system only one small sack could be picked up at any one station, and it is a matter of official history that not infrequently, instead of catching the suspended sack of mail, the hook, operated by a mail clerk standing in the open door of the car, would snatch up a chicken coop or something else not to be found in any classification of mail matter.

The delivery of mail from moving trains is still more primitive, consisting merely of having the clerk hurl or push the sacks out of the car as the train rushes past the platform. Great numbers of persons have been injured and some killed by being struck by the whirling and rebounding sacks, thrown with the force of a catapult.

In a number of instances the bags of mail have rolled under the wheels of the train and have caused wrecks or have been ground to pieces and the mail destroyed. And these defects do not take into consideration the tremendous wear and tear on the mail bags and pouches, one of the largest items of expense to the railway mail service.

The new device has passed through a successful test of six months at Burnside station, and this decided the government to give the more extended trial.

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Note: In 1910, back in that general time, "post office" was one word.

Mail Carrier Puts Snowshoes on Horse

Feb. 1920

Man and Beast Finish 45-Mile Trip in Three Days

SEATTLE, Wash. -- "Old the Bear" (A. R. Westerberg), mail carrier between Revelstoke, B.C., and Downie Creek, forty-five miles up the Big Bend, succeeded in accomplishing a feat that established a new record in this district.

The great depth of snow up the Big Bend, together with the heavy crust caused by raining and freezing, made it practically impossible for a horse to travel the roads, but "Ole" conceived the idea of making snow shoes for his horse, which he did out of birch, constructing them circular in shape and more than a foot across.

For protection he covered the horse's legs with blankets.



Rope, Poison Fail -- Shoots Self

ELGIN, Ill. -- After two attempts at suicide -- one by taking poison and one by hanging -- had failed, Swain Wilkinson, an Elburn farmer, shot himself through the heart.

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.

Bones of a Dog Found in "Bomb"

1920

Senders Now Plead They Are Only Two Boy Jokers

OAKLAND, Cal., Feb. 26. — A supposed bomb sent as a joke by two small boys to L. J. Lamb caused the recipient considerable uneasiness until the package was opened and found to contain the bones of a dog.

When Lamb received the package he noted a suspicious piece of rope hanging out. He summoned Police Inspectors Wallman and Flynn, who gingerly opened the parcel and found the bones of a dog with the following note:

"Dear Sir: We hate to inform you that the bones of your ancestors have to be taken from the grave where they have been buried for the last 400 years. The dues that are to be paid every hundred years are forty years overdue. Seeing that there has been no payment on the space for forty years, we are sending them to you, knowing that we could not get in connection with any other member of your family. You may expect them soon. — Manager Brooke, Lender Glen cemetery, London, England."

The inspectors traced the package to two 13-year-old boys, Lester Burpes and Neal Daniel, who declared they sent the parcel as a joke.

Florida Man Has Team of Alligators Pulling His Boat

1901

LEE DRIVES A QUEER TEAM

Florida Man Who Employs Alligators to Tow His Boat

Jefferson Lee, who lives on the St. John's river, in Putnam county, Fla., has the most extraordinary team in the country. It is a team of alligators that Mr. Lee uses to tow his boat up and down the river when he goes to market.

Mr. Lee has to go six miles down the river to his post office, and it is a hard pull against the current, coming back. He noticed how swiftly alligators swam, and it occurred to him that it might be a good idea to turn the alligators that abound in the St. John's river to some account. He captured a pair of young 'gators and raised them in his yard. He taught them to swim and drag a weight behind them, and he also taught them to turn either to the right or left by pulling ropes fastened to their teeth on either side.

When the alligators were big enough he put a harness that he had constructed on them and harnessed them to his boat. They swam well and pulled the boat through the water at a good speed. By pulling the reins that passed through the mouths of the 'gators, Mr. Lee was able to turn his strange water team in the direction he pleased.

Mr. Lee made a point of never feeding his alligators until after they returned from a trip, when he would immediately reward each one with a fine meal.

The alligators seem to be willing to perform their task of pulling his boat, and when he turns them out of the pen in which they are stabled and starts them for the water, they shuffle down to the boat in the liveliest style, and after they are hitched they plunge into the water with grunts of delight.

Mr. Lee says his strange team has never run away nor kicked out the dashboard of his river craft, but that they have one fault, for which, however, he does not blame them. They sometimes sweep their powerful tails in a curve through the water, and once smashed one of his boats into little bits and threw Mr. Lee and a party that he was taking boat riding into the river. They would all have been drowned had not the alligators swam back to them and permitted the party to climb on their backs, after which the alligators swam swiftly to the shore and all the party were saved. Mr. Lee now hitches his team 20 feet in front of the boat, so that the sweep of their tails will not endanger the craft.

Mr. Lee's success has created great interest among all of his neighbors, and now many alligators are being trained for duty as sea horses. — Chicago Tribune.

Mail Carrier Gets Annual One Cent Check from Government

1903

Gets Checks for One Cent

Maurice Proctor of Mineral Point is said to receive the smallest checks drawn by the national government. The slip of paper with the seal of Uncle Sam on it calls for one cent, and it is paid annually.

It is in remuneration in full for carrying the mails from Mineral Point to Dodgeville. A twelve month ago, when the bids were made for the contract there was a deal of rivalry between a dozen or more of those who wished to serve the government in this capacity, and Proctor, who is wealthy and does not need the money, offered in due form, faithfully and promptly to perform the task for a penny a year.

Government officials investigated, found he was financially responsible should it become necessary to sue for the penalty and awarded him the contract. Proctor received the first check a short time ago and sold it for $36, and he now has an offer of $25 for the next one when it comes to hand.

Employees of Proctor carry the mails twice a day between the two points rain or shine, and the government is getting fine service for what would appear to the ordinary workman to be very poor compensation. — Tribune-Telegraph.

Five Tons of Gold Ore Sent By Mail

Anaconda, Montana, 1914--

FIVE TONS OF ORE ARE SENT BY MAIL

BIG CONSIGNMENT COMES FROM IDAHO TO SMELTER

IN FIFTY-POUND PACKAGES

"This isn't an ore bin, it's a post office," shouts Harper as high-grade stuff is brought in -- Believe it first instance on record

What is believed to be the first instance on record of the shipment of ore by parcels post, came to light in Anaconda yesterday when part of a five-ton consignment from W. L. Wright of Elk City, Idaho, to the Washoe smelter, was received at the local post office.

Some time ago Mr. Wright wrote to Ore Buyer Warren Jenney, telling him that he had some ore he wanted sampled. Mr. Jenney replied telling him to send it by parcels post. And Wright did.

Elk City is about 20 miles from the nearest railroad. When Mr. Wright told the postmaster at that place that he was going to send the high-grade gold ore by mail, the government official was a little dubious. He wrote to Washington for advice, and was authorized to hire teams and wagons to haul the ore to the railroad.

The postage on each 50-pound package was 54 cents. Packages up to 50 pounds may be sent any place within a radius of about 150 miles, or in the second zone. Elk City, Idaho, is just inside the second zone from Anaconda. But to get the ore to this city it was necessary to send it to Lewiston, Idaho, and then to Spokane, which is in the third zone.

There are 209 of the 50-pound sacks of gold ore altogether, making a total of 10,450 pounds -- a little more than five tons. Of this, 39 sacks, or almost a ton, have already been received in Anaconda and delivered to the smelter.

--The Anaconda Standard, Anaconda, Montana, March 22, 1914, page 4.