The morning news., 1889-02-18

structions from this office to open such a
grave in designated cemetery, have the
remains of a certain person placed in new
casket, and shipped to New York
He ordered the work performed and
sent the body on with the vouchers of ex-
peuditures 1t is a part of our business.
1T is nothing unusual to find letters m
our mail from ladies in different parts OF
the country iucloSing sample of silk which
they want matched, If the letter states
where the silk was originally purchased 1T
saves US much trouble, otherwise one of our
men has to go from store TO store until he
gets the order filed. and we send it to the
lady aud charge her expressage on the
package only. Tnisis comparatively new
branca Of the business, as is also the mar
keting feature. We get hundreds Of orders
from various points along the Hudson for
leg Of mutton. a roast of beef, a Dushel of
potatoes or Il peck OF onions.
"Wnat is tie strangest thing | have seen
forwardHIs Well, that is hard to answer.
| have seen nearly everything shipped from
needle 10 an elephant. One OF the strang-
est shipments probably was dead woman
and her two little babies The little things
were twins and very small A nurse had to
accompany them. You may remember the
story of an elephant that stopped the train
10y pulling the bell cord. That is perfectly
true. Monkeys are also great nuisance
and create no end of bother to the messeu-
gers. There are only three things that can
not be sent by express to day, and they are
dynamite, gunpowder and live people. The
easiest articles to handle are goods from a
business house, and the meanest is honey.
1t leaks out and gets over things.
Next to honey are packages done up by
ladies'. They generally have to be done
over again. When you handle from 10000
to Il, 900 packages day in the New York
office alone it becomes nuisance"
The Chinese have a custom" said one
of the heads of department, who came
up at this stage Of the conversation, "of
exhuming the remains of their dead and
shipping them back to China: Did it ever
strike you how they do it! They forward
them as merchandise and get freight rates.
Oh, yes, it's against the rules of all compa-
nies; but if railway agent receives a
box said to contain cotton, for instance, he
has no right to examine lis contents. Chi
namen frequently come here and get our
rates to San Francisco, but they
never send corpse. have made INQUIRIES
at the other offices, and find they have
never forwarded one. The rates are the
same and are too high to suit them; so they
box them up and let them go by freight at
less than half the expense. L do no. see
how the practice can be stopped, for the
very box that may be suspected Is liable to
be all right"
THE good use to which an express COM
pany may be put" said Mr.. Rogers, was
demonstrated i'll q case in New Jersey a
short time ago Back in 1864 two brothers
enlisted, one at Poughkeepsie and the other
somewhere else. Both sent their bounty
money to their mother, who lived at Dur
ham, n. j., to go toward the purchase of a
farm. A soldiers life seemed to demorallze
the one that enlisted at Poughkeepsle, and
at the close of the war he became virtually
[ l., ,oI lota
and found his mother had died and his
brother was in possession Of the farm. The
brother in possession of the farm refused to
recognize the other, and, as a consequence,
a suit was brought; but the poor fello y had
no evidence to show that he ever sent his
mother one dollar during her lifetime. AS
a last resort he appealed to us. ana two
hours later we showed him his mothers re-
ceipt for the money he had sent her years
before. We would not allow the receipts to
go out of the state, but furnished him with
atfidavits to the effect that they were in our
possession, aud he won his suit. All our re-
ceipts for money paid are kept. They com
prise millions of signatures In a great va
riety of handwritings.
Another strange affair in which our as
sistance was asked occurred a short time
ago 1t seems that Harlem man eloped
with woman and took his little daughter
with him They located in Dakota Terri
tory, and quite recently he wrote to his
wife to the effect that if she forwarded tho
amount Of the child's fare he would send
her back. She did not want to send the
money to him, for fear he would Keep it,
and came to see US. Our rules now prohibit
US from transporting children by express, so
we sent the money to our agent at the town N
Dakota He got the child and purchased a
through ticket to New York for her, and
tied a letter addressed to all conductors
around her neck. The first conductor took
the ticket and gave 1t to the next one, and
in this way she was brought through. The
last conductor telegraphed to the childs
mother, and she was at the train, waiting
for her"
The average driver OF the express wagons
so frequently seen dashing alo e the street
is far more important parsonage in the
express business than the public has any
idea Of He has his own route, and controls
to a large extent the trade over it.
"A good driver is very valuable TO an ex-
press company" said Edward Taylor, man
aeer of the New York office of the New
York and Boston Dispatch. He is called a
driver, though he has virtually nothing to
do With the horses. Each one has his own
route, and has a certain number of hours to
20 over it, He is a perambulating CYCLIC
pedia OF rates. weights and places. Almost
any one of them can cake package in his
1dn0 ana Dame It's WelRHt 70 WlGulu an
ounce Years of practice give him very
good idea, and he is seldom wrong in his
estimate In addition TO this accomplish
ment be is necessarily we'll versed in the
run of the country and rates There are
many stores where these drivers call twice
q day, and at the same time are en- the
lookout for the company's signs that are ex-
hibted when the wagon is wanted. Some
times it is necessary for them to make from
twenty five to forty calls within an hour.
They have not time to stop and refer TO
their book at every place to decide whether
they can transport package to some cross
road in town Indiana, and what the rate OF
it will be. These facts they must know In
advance, or they will report TO the Office
late and get into trouble. How do they
learnl Well, they begin as helpers on tbs
wagon. and work their way up. The more
popular a driver is the more valuable he
proves to the company that employs him,
for there are thousands of packages trans
ported daily by companies that could just
as well be sent by other routes; but the
clerks give them to the drivers that they
know and like | would rather have a doz-
en- good drivers who have held their routes
for years than all the advertising the pres