Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1888-04-07
Chicago Packs q Carlow Hard the
Clerks work-"onto the Scheme"
Rapid Transfers-Taking Mail on the
Fly-An American Achievement.
Especial Correspondence.l
CHICAGO, April 8.

tne Iast Tram mas sIarteC on llS Journey 30
the city Of Omaha One recent morning
was passenger by that train, at the invita-
tion of Railway Mail Superintendent White.
was the only passenger, and though there
were no seats and no comforts, never en-
joyed more interesting railway ride As l
climbed into one Of the two white cars
which made up the train could find no
place to sit, and but very poor place to
stand The blizzard belated mail from the
east was coming in, and the car was literally
filed from floor to roof with huge sacks of
it Squatting upon pile Of letter sacks
from Boston, with my head humping against
the ceiling, wr.rhed the five men in the
car at their work. And how they did work.
Though already half buried amid the bags,
more bags were waiting outside to be stored
away, the chief clerk only knew where Still
they kept piling them in and at last made
up my mind that was going to be pushed up
through the roof. Not good morning for
visitor" remarked the chief clerk, giving
q bag a toss which came near dethroning
me. Ii was now near O'Clock, and there
was a good deal Of commotion outside.
Huge red mail vans were laundering up, and
out OF them the men were throwing tons of
mail Other men were tossing it into the car.
Over them stood a superintendent, who was
in as big hurry as ever saw a man. This
mail had arrived in the city from New York
two hours before IL came By the fast mail,
30 called, on the New York Central and Lake
Shore roads. Leaving New York Friday
evening at Q, il had reached Chicago at 1890
Sunday morning. A dozen men and three
wagons had been busy for two hours trans
ferring it from one station to another and
greatly to my relief, these were the last
loads. But outside there is more rumhing
and the patter of hoofs, and the swearing and
cries of drivers whose voices are strange
Up clatter half dozen more wagons, and be-
hind them still half q dozen others. The
Chicago morning papers, damp from the
presses, are arriving. There are tons of
them Chicago papers on Sunday morning
are not noted for their inodesty in size or
anything else. They range from twenty
four to thirty four pages each, and there are
5000 Of them. They come in the door Of
the mail car like an avalanche, and / save
my life by crawling out on the roof, whence
/ am finally rescued by kind hearted man
and ladder. As the great sacks Of paper
60 piling in l stand by expecting 10 see the
mail clerks buried alive, but they manage
somehow to keep on top Of the drift
It is now o'clock. The big engine ahead
is groaning as if in agony at the work cut
out for it. And do not blame the engine.
Fifty thousand Chicago Sunday papers is Q
big enough load TO make even q locomotive
perspire. The conductor sings out, "all
eboardr There is nobody but mo to get
aboard, but the conductor sings out ali the
same, through force Of habit But here
comes another wagon, the horses on a dead
run and the driver swearing like pirate.
He is German driver, and the papers in the
belated wagon are German papers. The
English papers make their boast that they
never miss train, though they have to get
out extra editions for the fast mail, going to
press with them nearly three hours before
their regular editions. As the train starts
big man seizes me and tosses me into the
car, and bag of German papers follows so
quickly that in new aud novel way / am
made to feel the power Of the press. Ths
wagon is driven along with the train for
twenty rods, the bags fying into the dor
as fast as the excited Germans can throw
them, and the train is several miles on its
journey before am exhumed by the laugh
ing mail clerks. Never before did editorials
seem SO heavy, and German editorials, tool