The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1876-09-12
DEAD LETTERS.
A Pathetic and Ridiculous Array Of Mail
Matter-Love Misslves, Alligators,
Locks Of Hair and Snakes.

Matter-Loye Misslves, Alligators,
Locks Of Hair and Snakes.
Washington Correspondence of the Cleve-
land Leader.l
The paradise of fools, ''too few un-
known, p" is the mental comment as one
sees the many evidences of people's
carelessness, foolishness and stupidity
which are displayed at the Dead Letter
Office Museum. Arranged i2 glass
cases on the four sides of the room are
all these waits of travel, displayed with
view to their respective attractions,
and suggestive of the treachery of post
age stampe and tho sdvarea e..*o -..i.;.i.
sometimes overtakes even mail-bags.
There is everything known to the use
full and ornamental; everything not
smaller than thimble or larger than a
stove-pipe hat.
such pathetic array of might-have-
beens, so eloquent of disappointments
and blighted hopes! Locks Of hair
there are whole switches of them-and
as for photographs, we are told that
there are forty bushels of them in the
basement of the building. But fancy
yourself the recipient of nice parcel
from the hands of the postman some
morning, which upon being opened dis
closes live snake! Whether one would
go into raptures or Mysteries at such
treasure would be matter of taste,
suppose. But, then, people do send
snakes through the mail, and sometimes
they come back to the Dead Letter
Office for want of claimant, and we
see them leading a serenely spiritual
existence in glass jar among other
stray postal curiosities. 1t is fact that
Postmaster once found live alligator
disporting among the letters and papers
of mail bag.
There was also bouquet of fresh
flowers, which had slipped out of its
box; and a couple of empty boxes very
similar in size and shape, and both ad-
dressed to ladies, left the poor man in
doubt as to which the alligator belonged
and to which the flowers. Imagine the
fair recipient Of the flowers finding a
monster in her box, instead of the deli
cate offering which she had expected!
But the Postmaster made no blunder;
he put the flowers into one box, the al
igator into the other; notified the ladies
OF the slight confusion OF property
which had taken place, and
directed each to exchange with
lue OlutE IL SIG SuOulu TecelVe Lu6
wrong article. But he was grati6ed to
learn.shortly afterwards that there had
been no mistake made. Jewelry is one
of the articles most commonly intrusted
to letters and postal packages.
One can hardly realize that there is a
daily average of 1000 or 5000 dead
letters or about 400, 600 month. AL
lowing one person to-a letter, there are
400, 900 persons every month who UNDER
take to send letters either without
stamps, without addresses, or with can
celed stamp, insufficient postage, or il
legible or incorrect addresses. Many
of them are without either stamps or
address, and often with no signature
which gives the slightest clew to per-
sons sending them. There are 1000 a
month received that either lack postage
or address, or else have insufficient or
Cancelled stamps; and, strange as it may
seem, these are sometimes the most
valuable letters, often containing cur
rency or drafts for large amounts of
money. 1t is estimated that there is
about SO, 900, 900 in drafts and s75, 900
in cash received yearly through dead
letters. This is all returned, if possible
to the persons sending it; but if any
portion Of it fails to find claimant, it
is turned over to the Post Office fund.