The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-06-13


reason that the letter that he longed for
never came"
Misdirected and only partially addressed
letters are turned over to a woman, who,
from long experience, has acquired great
Skin IN studying out addresses, and who
knows every city, town. village and ham
let In the country. she also knows the
names OF the streets in the different cities,
and Is, in fact, veritable United States
gazetteer. From her almost infinite knowl'
edge of names and places, the faculty of de-
ciphering all kinds of illsgible chirography,
and her familiarity with English, French
German, italian. Spanish and Russian, she
IS enabled TO send TO the rightful claimants,
unopened, about so per cent. of the misdi-
rected and partially addressed letters re-
ceived.
As a rule, English, German and French
are the prevailing languages used in address
ing letters. although those inscribed IN
Italian, Hebrew, Spanish Arabic, Persian,
russian, and, In fact, every other tongue,
reach New York from a sea voyage, and
many OF them are sent to the dead-letter
ONCE to be deciphered and readdressed in
English, so that the postmasters whose
linguistic accomplishments are limited may
denver them IN the good old Anglo-Saxon
All letters which cannot be deciphered by
the expert are turned over to a force of
clerks, who open them and remove all val
uaoles. Ihey are then put up in packages
, OF 100 each and sent to the sixty readers.
Money checks, drafts and all valuables
taken from the letters are returned to the
sender, unless the party for whom they
are intended can be found. Last year near
ly $4,000, 600 was taken from letters. all of
which vas returned except about So, 900.
the owners of which could not be found
Connected with the department of the
dead-letter Office is a museum where the
many curious articles that come in the
mails and cannot be restored are placed on
exhibition. All about the room are upright
cabinets in which the articles are displayed
Here can be seen toys, jewelry and pictures
OF every description. One of the rarest
curlosltles ever received and now on exhibit
ton, Is sheet of parchment on which is
penned the Lords prayer in fifty-four
different languages. 1t came to New York
in 1912 in the mail from England, and as
no trace of the owner could be discovered
it was sent to the dead-letter office. It is
said to be duplicate of parchment which
hangs In st. Peters at Rome
A beautiful crucifx of solid gold rests
In case in one cabinet. 1t reached the
| office marked unclaimed" from a southern
postoffice, and no trace of its owner could
| ever be discovered. A lady's fan made of
stork feathers, the plumes being richer and
| rarer than the finest ostrich plumes, Is
puCSOlOu Ju6 udnuSOIneSU bll0P IN
the whole collection. 1t is magnificent
fan and no doubt graced at some time the
costume OF court beauty of the Old World,
| for it was received in the foreign mails. In
| one OF the cabinets is a lock of dark brown
| hair, partly concealed by an envelope, on
which Is the inscription: This is lock of
| my hair. Charles Guiteau." 1t was put in
the mail by the assassin of President Gar
field and In due time reached the dead letter
| office.
A human skull grns at the visitor from
one cabinet. where it has lain for several
| years. 1t Is brown with age and came
| through the mail several years ago. The
| only thing to tell its story was the name.
| Jimmy McDuff," engraved on the frontal
| bone. Whether this is the skull Of Jimmy
| McDuff, a murderer who was executed in
the west, can only be conjectured. A novel
| letter III the shape Of pink sea she'll on
| which is inscribed a tender message of love
| IS exhibited, 1t reached its owner in a
| city In Massachusetts, who refused to nav
| Il cents, due in postage, and was sent to
the dead-letter office, where the public may
read the atfectionate inscription and adj
mire the pretty and novel missive.
| In one case are several hundred dollars
| worth of gold and silver quartz that has
been received from time to time. Stand
| ing in one corner of the case is a negro doll
| that was addressed to a New York society
belle. She, in some way, discovered what
it was, and refused to pay the postage due
upon it. Coins of every land aud age are
in the collection. In one case is a set of
false teeth. and near them reposes a set of
| blonde frizzes that were addressed to a
Boston lady, but which were refused. An
ak. such as are used by fremen, was re-
ceived and is on exhibition. A few years
ago can was received at the office, and
upon being opened, sixteen rattesnakes
made their escape. The men and women
took elevated positions on the tables and
gave the reptiles full possession of the floor.
| Finally quiet was restored, aud the
snakes dispatched. In one case is a boot
blacks outfit, saw. hammer, pair of longs
tin cup and hat-box, all received by mail.
Articles OF wearing apparel for both sexes
are received daily. The clerks in the Office
work hard. but find many amusing things
to break the monotony of routine duties.