Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1884-10-10
LETTERS THAT GO WRONG.
woRKIHas OF THE DEAD LETTER
OFFICE AT WASHINGTON.
A Bienn NJ SAFE OF Unclaimed Matter
two Ladies Who do Nothing
bat Decipher Had AddreSsGs.

A Bienn NJ SAFE of Unclaimed Matter
two Ladies Who do Nothing
bat Decipher Had Addressss.
The officials of the dead letter Office in
the postoffice department, says Wash
ington letter of the New York Evening
Post, are preparing for the biennial sale
Of unclaimed merchandise, which will
take place in December of this year.
These postoflicc sales are interesting, and
attract crowds of eager buyers desirous
of bargains or curiosites. The catalogue
of the sale makes book of about hun
dred closely printed pages, and is a
monument of the careless habits which
characterize the ordinary patron of the
mail pouch. The average number of
letters which fail to reach their destina-
tion because of defect in the address is
about A, 900, 900 annually The use Of
the especial request" envelope and the
extension of the free delivery service, |
have reduced the number to. a consider
able extent, and the annual increase in
dead letters now is not to be compared |
with the increased number mailed. Of
the number received at the dead-letter
office, a large proportion con-
tain money, drafts, bonds, checks,
and other evidences of value, and
| it is IL remarkable fact that of the 10, 600
or so forwarded here for want of any
superscription, two-thirds at least are
| from business men. This is accounted
| for in the fact that the person who sends
money by mail generally tax extra care
to see that it is properly addressed when
| he does send it. while the business man,
using the mails as daily means for
the sending of money, becomes careless.
From fifty to sixty per cent. of all let
ters forwarded to the dead-letters office
find their way to the person for whom
they are intended, or are sent back to
the sender. The others, if of no value,
are destroyed. That so many letters,
which to the ordinary observer would
seem totally unintelligible, find their
way to the addresses is due to the
care which is taken to exhaust every
means before giving up the chase. There
are received an average of about l 200
letters daily, which have been forwarded
from postmastcrs who are unable to
read the writing on the envelope, or
because some part of the address was
missing. Sometimes writer will for
get to put the name of the town on
the letter he sends; again he fails
to designate the State. Then the
system of phonetic spelling adopted by
letter writers is extraordinary. Vir-
ginia was spelled by one anxious swain
''Furgeniar," while an English writer
having friend in Oswego, Oswego
county, N. Y, addressed the letter
''Horse Wigger Springs, Horse Wigger
County," Two ladies employed in this
department are adopts at the art of deci-
phering cryptography. Mrs. P. l.. Col
iins sorts all the f'illegible" or 'incom-
plete address" letters that originate in
American postoffices, and Miss Richter
handles the foreign mail of similar char
character. These two ladies have been
in the dead-letter Office for years, and
have grown so expert that thousands of
letters which would otherwise be de-
streyed are saved to their owners by the
quick eyes and clear brains of these two
ladies. Occasionally of course q letter
, reaches the dead letter Office owing to
the incapacity or the stupidity of the
, postmaster. These are readily forwarded
= to the proper address, and the careless
official is reprimanded. DR.. Gregory, OF
, the civil service commission, who is con-
stantly upon the lookout for information
. that would be useful to him in hi:
duties, recently visited the office
and was shown its workings. One
of these errors on the part of 6
country postmaster was pointed out to
him. "That man," said DR.. Gregory
. ''should have been compelled to pass {
| Ill ha
. not have made such mistake" ''Tha
. postmaster, p" replied the official conduct
" ing the commissioner, "has an average
salary of So per quarter, and woult
probably make some very forceful, if in
I elegant, remarks if notified that he woult
! be removed if not more careful" DR.
IS Gregory thought it would be difficult t
! find a successor among the applicati on
: on file with the commission.
Whenever a letter is forwarded b a
n address "on venture" that is to say
y when the phonetic plan of discovering
Lr the intent of the writer is adopted, an
n something has to be left 10 the judgmen
', of the assorter the following notice
d attached to the letter:
Il POSTMASTER: Upon the delivery of this le
:. to the Dead Letter Office. If the letter cannC
y be delivered you will at the expiration {
L, seven days stamp the letter with your pos
r, marking stamp, and return it and this clrcl
re lar to the Dead Letter Office, with your ne2
q return of unmallabls letters duly nun
" o. bered and entered on the list, Form No. 152
10 A. D. HAzEN. Third Asst P. M. Gen.
h These envelopes are saved for refe
!, ence, and albums containing sever
thousand of them are among the a
fractions for visitors in the department
Letters having contents of any cha
acter whatever are carefully recorded
s- and can be referred to at any tim
in Money found in these letters, whic
he cannot be delivered to the proper pc
re sons, is turned into the treasury, whe
en- it can be obtained by the owner witt
US in four years, after which rime it
ut covered into the treasury, and can on
ed be secured by act of Congress.