Daily Honolulu press. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1886, 1885-09-25
EXPRESS SERVICE.
THE METHOD BY WHICH MILLIONS
ARE HANDLED DAILY WITH SAFETY
The Ends Of tho Earth Enconipassed- -
shipping Bible to South Africa
why the Express Service fs
So Eficent.
Tpittsburx pispatch.l

A man entered the Office OF the express
company, and, placing small package on
the counter. slil al want TO send this TO
Auckland, Nav q ,iland When Gun it goir
Without he itation the clerk answered
him and gave q rcreipt for tbs package
which contained money aging: III will
forward 1t on tho Plila lolpnil mail TO-
night" Curious to know how an express
company could thus control delivery at such
n distant point the reporter souyht Jut the
superintendent Of the company bu mess In
Pittsburg, and learned the following facts
in regard TO the express business:
"Ye, sir, that is a common occurrence
here. We have package come In here from
all parts of the worl |, AMI we give rocsipt
for them, no matter where their destina-
ton may be, and we forward them by the
most direct route. and have never yet
failed to make delivery. In one case
which happened when was In the eastern
part of the country, a man came to me and
said he wished TO ship a Bible TO missionary
friend in South Africa We took the pack
ago and forwarded it Some week after
he called to know IL it had boon delivered,
and we sent out "tracer' We began by
calling up the various offices through which
it passed after it left US and finally traced
IL to our agent, at Cape Town, in South
Africa. After two months he wrots the
home office that he sent the package out
only to find that the consignee had been
murdered by the savages. and his multilated
body was oil they found. Did they deliver
the booki Why, Of course. they did; and
when the remains of the mi sionary were
brought homo aud the case opened the first
thing that met the sight of the bereaved
relatives in tho case was package bearing
the name Of the express company
ave will forward that package you Just
saw delivered to San Francisco, CAL, and
there our agent will way bill it to tho agent
at Auckland, New Zealand, and in due tims
it will arrive there by p. NJ. S. s. company's
steamer, just as surely as it would go to
East Liberty. Lost ON the roadl No. II
our employees attend to their in 'tructions It
can not DO lost only through shipwreck
and then, IL insured, we make good the
loss.
~ entered the service OF this company
over thirty years ago. when stage coaches
were In common use and frequently robbed.
l had bag Of gold dust TO take from
northern town into Elmira, and l put the
dust into bottle and placed 1t In my out
side coat pocket in plain sight. filed the
bag with iron filings at the mill, ami my
friend and myself laughed at an imaginary
robber finding bag full OF iron filings. We
were not on the road an hour when three
men road up from behind and cleaned us
out, particularly taking my bottle and
overlooking the bag. The company made
good the lost gold DUST AMI l never tried
since to fool robber. think my quondam
friend helped to work the game
ave carry millions of money for the gov
eminent, and have never lost penny
except In case Of wreck and fire, AMI then
it was known what money was burned. and
1t was easily replaced. The other day we
took So. 900, 900 from Washington in ono lot
and transported it to San Francisco, CAL,
and of course had no more trouble than IL 1t
was 81 1000.
ave operate some 5000 miles of roai in
this country aud Canada, and ten times
that amount throughout the world, and the
percentage of loss on goods in transit, or
total loss, has been for many years almost
nothing There ara fnly 10, 900 men in our
employ, including ALL from platform mon
to superintendent, and we have the strictsst
kind OF civil service rules, every man being
promoted In the order OF his seniority with
out regard to influence ani obtaining pro-
motion in no other way This Is one reason
why the express service is so efficient, for
no man can enter it ON any other
iuunS RECOMMENDATION dul OVer3top an
other who has already served and is capaci-
tated. We run 10000 hor.es and 5000
wagons Of all styles, and make speciality
Of raising horses particularly fitted for our
service. There is probably no private cor
poration in existence in which the detail is
80 thoroughly arranged as ours and in which
a loss or delay can be SO readily traced. A
feature in our history which proves this Is
the total freedom from embezzlement and
defalcation among our employees, which is
accounted for by the simple fact that they
can not go far without detection, and all
trusted employees are under an approved
bond, which is always responsible.
"At any one moment of the day or night
our company has millions OF dollars worth
Of merchandise and valuables In transit and
each morning, with the regularity OF clock
work. we are assured of safe delivery and
the ceasing Of responsibility by the COM
pany."
"The great utility of express service was
shown while the reporter was In the Office
by young man entering. rolling an enor-
nous bicycle before him, which was booked
and taken to the same train that carried
him into the country, and delivered at his
hotel in good order for price that seemed
ridiculous when compared with the service
rendered.
ave carry cats, dogs, mules, and fire.
quenty valuable racing stock. We have
taken lunatics and convicts and any num-
ber OF babies; In fact, our messenger are
broken in on a milk BOTTLE aud can iancs
baby just like real women. Singular as IL
may seem We carry whole cities, too, having
sent three train loads Of ready houses
TO point in Texas, and followed them
with the worldly goods OF those who wero
to occupy them when built The only time
/ ever knew the companys mon to be
knocked out was When some fellow shipped
a Menhitis Americana on one OF our cars IN
New Hampshire This animal had been
caught aud chloroforinsi, aud as the train
ratified on it came to, AMI shortly after the
car was vacated and all hands found lying
on the roof gasping for air. The station
people were about to attack US for having
brought ickness among them. and we had
a great time before we could make them I'M
der tand the case. The car and contents
were side-tracked and burned, and we never
knew who pl aged us tho trick
Homeopathic Pies.
Boston Traveller
A year or more ago an auctioneer in this
IL hal Ia LOT -