The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1881-10-23

situation and bordering over the
OddEess OF the thing, ! merely re-
msrked: "What q strange thing II
dol" He innoceutly asked why Il
Was strange. asked. Ibid the man
st the Post Office know there were
matches id the letters7" He an.
swered, "Ns." It was then the
serious nature Of the case began q
dawn on me, because am only o SLOW
thinker, il you will allow me to coin
term 20 salt myself. Then / said
'Do you know that matches are
explosives, intended to light by iric
ton, and that az such they are not
allowed in the mails, and, if they are
detected, you will be amenAbls to
avn It seems to me >" esid /, "that
no man can stamp those letters with.
out detecting them; and if they are
detected. they will be detained, and
you will be sent for" Then, becen,
ing alarmed. he exclaimed.
"Good heavens! You make it ap
pear as bad as manslsughter."
/ said: my boy. I do not wish to
slarm you, nor should l like to see
yon take any harm on account OF the
mistake you made. because | know
that you did it innocently." But il
was dswning on me slowly. but
surely, so said, ut appears TO me
much worse than msnslaughter. You
must remember that your dangerous
letters must pass through the mail
bags along with hundreds OF others,
many of them of intrinsic value, per-
haps containg large bills, deeds, wills,
etc" He now began to realize his
position. l said. You cannot help
it now. 1t is not your fault, but
because l perceived that
be was trying to stif1e his fears. J.
went on to say:
The case seems bad enough to
you, no doubt, bat it appears to me
ten times worse" Darkening his
eyebrows as if he would not tolerate
my remarks any longer, he angrily
asked why. I did not consider him a
very thin-skinned person, so said:
"You do not seem to be aware that
those matches will have to cross the
Atlantic in costly steamships with a
whole cargo of mail matter and hun
1reds OF lives at stake" As the
color left his face he bent down his
bead and said, 81 hope nothing will
happen"
My landlady, kind hearted creature
ss che is. shook her head at me to
'sy no more on thel subject, observ-
ng at the same time, cit may not be
IS bad as all that. Let US hope all
will come out right"
True" said, SIT may not be 80
bad as | have depicted and l heartily
lope that it will not; but, on the
'ther hand, it might, and one might,
lave as good chance as another. We
III know that various disasters, the
auses of which have never been
-nown. have often been brought about
q some such way. People sailing by
be arizona, the boat that carried
hose matches, will little know what
slender thread their lives hang on"
lie said. ''do you think there is go
much danger In thst?" I answered,
Now, to be a Yankee once in my
Re. let me answer by asking you q
uestlon. II you bad to go to Europe
'ould you prefer to sail on that boat
18th those matches?" He made no
sply, but another person answered
,r him. He said:
If my passage was paid on that
oat | would lose my money before I
ould sail in it On that voyage, know
lg what l do now"
Getting more alarmed, he said,
Perhaps my letters are not sent away
et. Gould [ not recall them2" I
nsWered. Eyes," He asked me to
with him to the Post Office. We
emit, but it was too late-they were
one. He remarked, if they land all
ght my father will give me repri-
and. l said, ''No doubt" But we
ere bot a disappointed in this respect.
ls father acknowledged the receipt
the letters containing the matches,
1t not 8 word of reprimand. He
lily asked what they were for. NV
END afterwards spoke to q friend in
y presence, telling him what foolish
It he bad been guilty OF. The other
10 casually observed, That is moth
g; l have done that many time"
caring this remark, | began to
ink that the postal regulations were
plated to a great extent, and life and
operty exposed to much more
niger than the public are aware of.
he thing about these letters ia that
ey we're not detected either in
nerlca or EDgland.-NeU York
erald.