The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1868-11-17 00:00:00

Here another lucid direction for the postman :

Mr. --, Travelling Mead, on* ot tba Four playing In
tn lb• street,
Pasha (Persia ^re),
Worcester Maim

Pm to And him if possible...-. ---
following •61.1 res may hwy. been written so..
.Antarieenljoke ; OS noun* It failed to be delivered
.11 the Britisher moet ashamed of his Oountry,
House a C.,111.101•11,
Weatmineter.
Many lettere, failing tlm name of tbe persona ad.
drooled, give deemiptions Ot their ownpatione or
p.rannal appearanr.Aa We gin S 000plo of 111/WIMPS IS
point :
- • -

for bet elm maks" &sues for lolls', tltra " awl
ot team Ode 4 rode to
James Brocklip.
Meosovor,
ebootereold.
ibis 1. Irr the young girl that wean egetaseitte, Whe tofu&
•• two N.M..,"
Sheriff itreet,
Off Prim* Edwin Street,
Ltrerpvl.

Throughout the country the " Posteofflos" le the
•adilresses of all kinia of persons carrying on Mid
•ooi respondence. Hume a rich harvest of odd commit-
•estions, containg villainous pinto, intrigues, and wicked
•proposel of all kinds that arrive at thia address, some-
times fail to be esiraci for from prudentisl reasons.
These communicaliem afbr a time Sod (hair way to
Bt. If artin's•le-Grand. and ars by this office opened,
that they any be returned to the writer, but we need
namely say this is not often possible. the writer oon•
we-silently forgettinx to give his address. Swindler.
find the addr.ss " poste restanta" very convenient for
thtir purpose*. After ieruatuing in • town • ullisient
(line to fleece the mime s in it sithout bringing the
police down upon them, they decamp, and of ccurse all
the corrimpondence for them sods Ito way to the return
I,t,•r department.
The world little knows what is going on under its
aOl4 ; it does not suspect the winning fraud* that are
perpetrated uni, what the writ-rs conceive to be the
Inviolable secrecy of theseaL It believea that extreme
credulity on arraign...of this uneducated. fat us glance
at a specimen or two of swindling advertitementa.
which pro*. that there is no limit t, the modality of
mankind irterrective r.f am and education. We may
•ebseive Uat theta is no broaeh of c• nfidenee In pub-
lishing thee returned letters, inasmuch as, with respect
to the would be vict.m., their mime. are suppressed,
while the address, in the intereat of •ocietv,
we should only be too glad to hurt over to th• polio..
We may at Matting state that the following advertise-
ment apreared in sevoraloountrynewspapers—singularly
Glenn bat hell out and daly gorged, no we shall
'how . .

"An elderly bachelor of fortune, wishing to amuse
trarnself by tesiing the credulity of the public, and to
tenebt and *abet others, will sand • suitable present of
genuine worth. a-cor ling to the circumstance* of the
appri...t., to all who lull send him reventeen stamps,
demend.cl merely as • token of oorlilence. Stamp.
will he Tit •roril with ths present,carriege paid. Address
(varied 1,00t01,0f to ri eau mrt •rree)
Whet were the nuorter of stamps thot flowed intq,
the exchr quer in answer to tuts cunningly worded
.ad•ertisement we do not know ;but we •re informal that
betvecen three and four hundred letters. all containing
*h. wev.ntesn stampi, were returned total, department,
failing to Arid him at adutesses which were no doubt
be• hot to 6.44 him. We select from • few of these the
following amiable replies:-
1. "The Hoy. enclrses seventeen stamps. He
Is • clergyman of limited ne•ns, and the most useful
present to him would b. Ryer:bind.. If his application
be not agreeable be requests that the stamps may be
returned."
2. " I have enclosed t‘i,e seventeen itimpe, and shell
be pleased to receive any preset you may send an., as
I am nos very well 'if; grist I should like very
mush would he a nice black sik drear as • reward for
laY credulity."
3.rillaciog peo4 your advirtisement tasting the
'credulity of the public,' I feel deposal& on my part, to
lest the upright and honourable Intentions of •
stranger, contrary to the opinito of some, who tell
me it is only • hoax. or, wore., • mere tsbe.in. I
therefore, with the honesty of an Irishman, expecting
to And the UM* in an Feel/bream, beg to say I
atergyinam'e wife, mother of sins children, the sit
*Vert line, enrerprosing son'; Pre three yoringest.
isogonic', intelligent girls. We I iTs generally have
largar hearts than purest I thereto. lay these fact,
before yea, an Englishmen, knowitig that • Briton'.
generality sod eisPabllities are posverbislly equal.
Hoping I may be able to prove I have formed &correct
opintou of advertist r's trathfullnets,

"I am, sir, yours faithfully, CD."
Ent we might no on giving columns d examples
of the en aaaaa in which swindlers use the PrettofSee es
• msehine for takintpin the public. la many cases
these letters, rot finding any recipient, arethe Dream
of discovering the flight offraduleot debtors and mazy
• pretty plot has been spoilt by reason of their falling
Into the hands of the authorities. Every otter, after
remain's, in the one a certain time to pee persors
an opportunity of claiming it, it is opeted, and, il
possible, sent back to the writer.
The official reasons given for non-delithry to the
persona addressed as. as follows t—One pee sent, aye
as died. 3 per tent. are not called for at tie pod.
• 5 per cent. are refused, 5 per oent. es illegibly
addressed, 21 per cent. are ashlrested to tasons who
is.* Rosa away, and 45 per cent. are not known as
addressed. About threthfourths of these undelivered
letters are returned to the enders.

Poor persona we ors infermcd, have • ,y eases.
ordinary ides of this deportment of th• Post-office.
Letters are continually losing remind begging the
Secretary not to return eny more third lettee, as thry
bring death alto the Loam. One person, 'Bei' compl•in-
ing that twenty-four persons had died in her immediate
neighbourhood sines • dead letter had been :atoned ti
her from the Post-office, begs the Secretary that, if soy
more of those deed lettere for bar should come bask, he
should "burn them and never send them back to hear.
to me after that. Our letters get carried, and offered,
and done I cannot tell what with, sad murders is the
earl of It. I think this sh.ll even be my lest Your
oh, client —." The idea Hems to be that the bead of
this department is in act.' communication with the
Luc cif Terrors, and forsrsrds letter. for and front hint,
end they rear lest by clung, they may contain as an
eaclosure 000 of his fiery darn.
All retuned letter. ooniaining articles of value,
Ispeo.l Post-offiee muneyerders, and books, are kept
for two yams, and, if still unclaimed, are sold at
Delnebans sod BSet6i, and the P roared e ' at carried to
she credit of the Life lase ceOffitie in oonnestion
with the Post.offite, the sum being added to the extent
of 5 Per sent en Premium of those 'hinted. Nein-
papers that fail to be deliverad. in toasty 06 of the
wrappers coming off. or returned from the feet of not
being stamps'. or imufileintly st•mped,ka. God their
way to this office in large quantities'. it. just ible
that the department wes, until v,e7
with the otaisarriag• of many of them, inannueb as the
stamp. were so thinly covered with pm that
112,:y 1.11 of; 1.203.000 got left' in the Poot-ofh. is
1865. In the heat yen this Cal remedied by • th
Our
(mating of the adhesive material, tied the number or
loose stamps fell to 750,000. Possibly if people wemB
not lick stamps, but wet them, there would he still
Sewer failures of both letters and newspep re from this
cause. Th• detaired newspapers amount to Gee maks
a week. They ale ell torn up, and ere sold for waste
Pages' Blind Letter Office is the receptacle for all
illegible, misspelt, misdirected, or insufficiently
addreseed lettere or packets. Here the clerk. or clerk.,
'elected from amoopt the moat experieaced officer.,
goes at what oteliesry intelligenee would
.resliy
denominate insoluble riddles Large numbers of letter.
are posted drily with superseriptioos which the great
majority of people would not be able to nos& Others,
again, ars reeriveJ with perh spa °sly the nacos of sum.
ani.ll rill Ine, the writers thinking it &work of ...pent°.
piing, to add 0.030 neighbouriag town, or even a iwai
Numberless, for 'astute', an letters bailing mush
addressee as "John Smith, gardener, Flowerdsle " or,
" Thoopeoesee Woreesteishire." Cirenhan, be
the tb..mnd, are ported in London and other large
teem .rit'eut bmilaner. one will the greatest cooS.
deem In the " low persiveresee" 6640" P" of 01 the ness•
office p.oPle, with midterm Dot more =Plied thas the
foregoing. 11.. y meetly gentlemen would °le° to
*bomb the idea that the names of titer 01,1, 660011 should
be thaws equal: tar sod sear from their memorial ease

and somehow they seem to lanocolate their correspon•
dents with the same absurd notion. If, however, it be
Possible to reduce the hieroglyphics no sorsa atmogia
letter to ordinary every-day English, or God, from
diligent Mardi in his library of referees*, information
relative to imperfeetly.addremed Letters (information
which might hats been piVl§o mach more easily by tits
seeders), our reader. may sore that the ounnin
man of the Blind Office, jo.tly known for his patience
and sagacity, will do it unless, indeed, the letter he
"sten. blind." or hopelessly inoomplete. As a genuine
example of stona•blind letters, teke the following. the
Gra of a ba,ch which has been known to peas through
the blind-loom of the General Post-Aloe :
Bock. John
Hoppoalte the Month
. .

London. Hovland
It would certainly have been • wonderful triumph 03
II 0 have put this letter in • fair way for delivery ,•
for ones the blind officer would endeavour to And
" Uncle John's" relative, intimating to ths oid relative
that gloater explioitnees was needed if " Linde John"
Inuit be found.
Hut they manage better with the next letter to ths
batch.

Cooeyaeh loneutick
• Wiwi.
Is part of the address of • letter white the sorter no
doubt threw away from him with some impatience.
The blind officer, however, reads it instantly, elites
his pen, In rhapc throturh the eddreen, and writes on
the envelope. " Coloey Hatch Lanatio Asylum," and
pion it out for dellterr.

Obern yenen.
WO in an instant to be n...ns for" Holborn Union.'
"Dle of Wight" is, in Ike manner, written ou
latter improperly addreseed as follows :
Alin M—
(Nierprhita
Aninolilre.
The probability is that the Issticentioned letter will
corns bask to the Dead Letter Offics. on soconnt of no
town hem' given in the address ; st,IL the usual course
is to mend it oat to the local district dsaiinated, there
being the poesibitty that °satin individuals may be
" A slaby-de-la•Znuesh" is a town to spell which gives
infinity trouble to letter unties; but the Prod-
office official is sispeeially leniqat and patient in ciayY of
this kind. There live fifty different ways of spelling the
n•me, 11124 few leiter., exoept those of the better
classes gins it lightly spelt. " Hasbcdelleryuch" is the
ordinary spelling &loons the poor living at • distanoe.
Aids Badly. In nett

for John Hanel. 'Tinder
in thn ooLooty of Leatystwer
W 6 olpy of a ver46l6 6.ldre.s meant for the above
to .n.

The blied I•tter offloers of so earlier date succumbed
before the folloeice letter _ . . . . _

For Witter tt illy woe blinds de Daher
In Lang•Gaster oars legal to;
but the dead•lttar tifficers were enabled, from the
cookouts, to maks out that it was meant for the editor
of a Lanetater paper, 'oh.,. the gaol is." The tom-
dim enclosed wee an essay written by • foreigner
against public, schools!
' The blind olloers are supplied with all the principel
London and prow incial directories. court guides,
rota tteers. La.; and by the help of this, their libra y
of reference, eddied to their eaperiener and intellieenoe,
they are gezerally able ii pat egoist into circulation
without the necessity of crening them, See out of Air
of all the letters which are handed over to them. The
addresses Of 00,041 letatirs are at once seen to be the
Friuli of mistake on the part of menders. Letters
addressed "Lombard-Or e', klancheeter." "St. Paul's
Churchyard, Liverpool." both obvion•11 intendel for
London, ore sent out fir trial by the l-tter-turriers at
chat are believed to be their real destinations. Letters.
again, for persons of rata and emiDenos, dignitaries of
the church. Prominent t ffi.ers of the army or nary.
•hose correct addresser or, known, or can be ssee rtained,
are immediately sent out for delivery to their right
destination, however erroneously directed, without
queition or examination of °octants. Tbe following
strange letters, meant for the eye of royalty, would Dot
be impeded in their posy,'s in soy wey:—
Keen Vic Try at
Winer easel
and _