The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1876-11-17

rNNAAANN a eAAAAtAN NAAA NAAA WIS ~ MISS
(perhaps she was an old maid) Rus
sells letters should DC advertised, and
stuck of into dirty corner With lot
of soiled envelopes, aud there was quite
al Indignation meeting held over the
matter. Butstil III queer old woman
did not come.
" Perhaps She Is dead, - they said,
"pOor thing. Perhaps she IS dead"
But IL there were whispers of dis
pleasure when the letters were adver-
Used, there Was 4 storm of wrath when
the clerk announced that they must be
sent 70 the Dead-le,ter Office The
Postmaster was appealed to. lie MAS
3 man Of business, and didn't care
much for romance, 80 he said the letters
must 20, and the rules Of the depart
ment carried out, and that the seventh
letter which had come in since the six
were advertised must 90 with them.
But through all the s0rrOw there was
cleaning the sunshine Of relief Atthe
I Dead-letter Office IL wOul be found out
what these mysterious envelopes con
tanned. And the lady who made up the
packages for the Dead-letter Office
pinned this note to Maria Russell's
seven letters:
These are very peculiar letters. They be-
long 10 = woman who has been coming 10
the POst-office regularly every month for
thirty years; but she has ceased % come,
and We think she i dead. Whoever opens
these letters viii confer a great favor by in
forming the clerks OF the New York Post
ONCE OF their contents, a. We have a great
curiosity 10 know who Maria Russell y. or
was. and something about the person who
has been sending her ihese letters regularly
'o- SO !olS.
This note was submitted 10 a conyen-
tiOnof clerks and declared unanimously
70 De the proper thing. \ reply was
awaited anNiOusly. Before II came two
more letters had followed their fellows
in, and We're waiting for Maria Russell;
but she never came 10 get them, and
they were sent of ike the rest TO have
their secrets revealed in the grea.
mOrgue al Washington.
Finally there came an envelope ad-
dressed 10 ''the clerks Of the New York
Post-ofhee," and il was opened By the
first person IN that category into whose
hands it came. That person read the
Enclosure hurriedly through, and called
a convention, 10 which be read the fol-
loving:
Although il i directly against the rules Of
me Office, take the responsibility % grafi-
fying your curiosity. Nine letters addressed
20 Maria II Russell have come q nv hands.
Zach one contained brief note, calling a.
tentiOn 20 an Enclosure. without date OF zig
nature. Each inciOsure was q rve-dOllar
bill. We have a great deal OF curiosity our
- here n Lam -.ur~aFNfrrar -. 81 q.
strange natter Won't some 81 you write
u what you know. And II any further d. /
closures are made we will inform you.
Here was q romance indeed. Nine
unsigned letters, each with similar in /
closure Of money. Was il possible. /
they thought, that for thirty wears these /
same sort Of letters, with the same in 4
closures, had been coming 20 Maria .
Russell. And why didn't they stop. If .
she was dead, As she certainly must be. I
The whole post Office was excited and \
perpleXed IN is efforts 70 find a sOlu- \
ton OF this mystery. Blu. there was no \
clew 70 Mrs or Hiss Russell; no clew 10
her mysterious correspondent. 1 can
not repea. he many theories that were
advanced, or the many speculations that
were put out % explain the matter; but
each was different one, and each had
Is good ground for believing his the :
true one as any other, because none Of
them had any ground az all. To add %
the mystery, some one brought in a
daily paper which contained the follow
ing advertisement.
DERSONAL,-ANY PERSON n AyING ANY
II knoNlesi.e nj tne uhf rrlt-Dut- q Maria N I
Russell. WOO has Teen resident 20 mis- city for
.llfiy years, vii relieve a terrible anxiety b.
romnl1ica4ins viii q. b r.. Po-t-ofice
What a sensation that personal made
in the Post office Department. Here
AZ last was q clew % the unknown cor
who was wondering why be
had received no acknowledgment 70
his letters for nine months; and % add
70 the excitement another letter. in the
same pale-yellOw style IF envelope, ad-
dressed in the same similar chirOCra-
ply, was tossed with hundreds OF Others
70 the distributors table, where IL came
% light. Fifty letters were addressed
% &C. b. r." each Of which stated
hat they had important information
Maria II. Russell; but be-
ore many OF them were mailed il leak
"a out that the personal was put in the
papers by one of the clerks, who hoped
% reach in advance Of MS fellows a clew
% the mystery. But nothing satisfac-
DRY resulted even from the personal.
Several Maria Russells turned up 10
answer il, and were very much disgust
ID 10 find they weren Z the person want
ID; but il brought no clew TO the curl
rus old lady and her curious cOrresDOnd-
mt.
Four five, SIX years went by, and
zach month brought as regularly as the