Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1876-12-14

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do the public service; but the wan old woman
came Just the same as ever, and the yellow
wrapped letter was always waiting her there
The war was over; the clerks who went out
to 6ghtcame back limping and armless, to in
quire after their mysterious friend. She was
still coming. but soon after, in March, 1866,
she was seen the last time The letter came
as usual, one Of the first days of April, but nc
one called for it. The clerk, who was lady
then put it aside as if it was too good for its
company, and kept it near the window, SO
that it would be ready when Maria Russell
came. Another month went by, and another
came, which was put away with its mate. Two
more months and two more letters, and four
of them were lying there in pile, waiting for
the queer old wonan--;"the mysterious woman
Of the delivery window they called her now
to come for them. How often those letters
were examined. How closely the address and
the seal we're scanned, how they were held up
to the light 80 that maybe a word of their
contents might be discovered. What temp
tation they were. -,,,.rf. ,,zc.r...,-,
The chief of the delivery office ordered them
advertised.
:, "No," said the clerks. 'she will come for
them. She knows they are here. She must
be sick, or something. She has come for them
for thirty years. and they never have been ad.
vertised yet. Let them wait another month. y
So they waited another month, two more,
and still the queer old woman didn't come
And they had to be advertised. On q long
list in the newspapers, near the bottom, under
the head Of Ladies Letters" were these
words Russell, Maria H., g." ,.. -.
4 People glanced at them-almost everybody
looks over the list of advertised letters to see
if by some chance one belonging to them had
strayed among the vagabonds, and people re-
marked:
II wonder who Maria 81. Russell is she
has six letters advertised" !.'' 80.
To the clerks in the post-ofice it seemed q
shame that old Mrs. or Miss, (perhaps she was
an old maid) Russell's letters should be ad.
vertised and stuck of into dirty corner, with
a lot of soiled envelopes, and there was quite
an indignation meeting held over the matter.
But still the queer old woman did not come.
"Perhaps she is dead" they said, "poor
thing. Perhaps she is dead"
But if there were whispers of displeasure
when the letters we're advertised, there was a
storm Of wrath with them when the clerk an
nounced that they must be sent to the Dead.
Letter Office. The postmaster was appealed
to. He was q man of business and didn't care
much for romance so he said the letters must
20, and the rules oft the department be carried
out, and that the seventh letter, which had
come in since the six were advertised, must
90 with them. ..
But through all the sorrow there was gleam-
ing the sunshine of relief. At the Dead-Let-
ter Office it would be found out what these
mysterious envelopes contained. And the
lady who made up the packages for the Dead.
Letter Office pinned this note to Maria Rus
sells seven letters: .,.,...- ....-.s. .-.. ..
y These are very peculiar letters. They belong
to woman who has been coming to the post-of-
flee regularly every month for thirty years; but
she has ceased to come, and we think she is dead.
Whoever opens these letters will confer great
favor by informing the clerks Of the New York
post-ofce oftheir contents, as we have great Gu
riosity to know who Maria Russell is, or was, and
something about the person who has been send
ing her these letters regularly for so long.
= his note was submitted 10, a convention of
olorho, r.r,d declared unanimously TO oe tho
proper thing. A reply was awaited anxieusly.
Before it came two more letters had followed
their fellows in, and were awaiting for Maria
Russell but she never came to get them, and
they were sent off like the rest to have their
secrets revealed in the great mail morgue at
Washington. ,. .. ..
Finally there came an envelope addressed
to "The clerks of the New York post.ofice," /"
and it was opened by the FIRST person included
in that category into whose hands it came.
That person read the inclosure hurriedly
through, and called convention to which he
read the following:
Although it is directly against the rules of the
Office, take the responsibility of gratifying your
curiosity. Nine letters addressed to Maria II.
Russell have come to my hands. Each one con-
tanned brief note, calling attention to an incos-
ure, without date or signature. Each inclosure
was five-dollar bill. We have great deal OF
curiosity ourselves here to learn something about
this strange matter. Won't some of you write us
what you think? And if any further disclosures
are made we will inform you.
Here was a romance indeed. Nine unsigned
notes, each with similar enclosure of money.
Was it possible, they thought, that for thirty
years these same sort of letters, with the same
enclosures, had been coming to Maria Russell.
And why didn't they stop, ifshe was dead, as
she certainly must be. The whole post-offce
was excited and perplexed in its efforts to find
a solution of this mystery. But there was no
clue to Mrs. or Miss Russell no clue to her
mysterious correspondent. cannot repeat
the many theories that were advanced, or the
many specuIations that we're put out to ex.
plain the matter; but each was different one,
and each had as good ground for believing
his the true one as any other, because none of
them had any ground at ALL To add to the
mystery, some one brought in daily paper
which contained the following advertisement
DERSONAL.-Any person having any knowl-
i edge ofthe whereabout of Maria II. Russell,
who has been resident of this city for thirty
years will relieve terrible anxiety by commu-
nicating with G. B. r., Post office. ....
What sensation that personal made in the
post.ofice department. Here at last was a
clue to the unknown correspondent who was
wondering why he bad received no acknowl
edgement to his letters for nine months and
to add to the excitement another letter, in the
same pale-yellow style of envelope, addressed
in the same familiar chirography, was tossed
with hundreds of others to the distributor
table, where it came to light. Fifty letters
were addressed to &C. B. r." each of which
stated that they had important information
concerning Maria H. Russell ); but before
many of them were mailed it leaked out that
the personal was put in the papers by one OF
the clerks, who hoped to reach in advance Of
his fellows clue to the mystery. But moth.
ing satisfactory resulted from the personal
Several Maria Russclls turned up to answer