St. Landry democrat., 1889-07-06
Letters Gone Astray.
CURIOUS OBJECTS TO BE SEEN IN THE
DEAD LETTER OFFICE.

the greatest museum in the world, for
here are daily received the queerest things
imaginable. Everything that goes astray
in Uncle Sans charge comes to this office,
and in the course of year almost every
thing that one can think of is received,
from paper of carpet tacks or bar of
soap to an axe handle or can of sardines.
Once every year the department has clear
ance sale of all the miscellaneous property
that is received during the twelve months,
and on an average fully IL, 900 articles are
disposed of at each sale.
1t is estimated that every day in the year
about IS, 600 letters, parcels, and packages
20 astray in the mails, nearly all OF which
find their way to the Dead Letter Office.
As fast as received, this great mass of mail
matter is assorted, opened, and classified.
The Dead-Letter Office is not very large
place, ut it is very busy one. The op-
orators employed are nearly all women, as
they are far more accurate and skilful In
opening, asserting, correcting, and return
ing the stray mail matter than are men.
All about the room are long tables piled
high with letters, parcels, and packages.
About twenty five men and women are en-
gagged in asserting and opening the letters.
In the gallery above are seated about sixty
young women whose sole duty is to read
the letters secured, in order to determine
if they are of sufficient Importance to be
returned to the writer's.
Misdirected and only partially addressed
letters are turned over to a lady operator,
who from long experience has acquired
great skill in studying out addresses, and
who kowns every town, city, village, and
hamlet in the country. She also knows
the streets in the different cities, and is,
in fact, vertiable United States gazetteer.
From her almost infinite knowledge of
names and places, the faculty of decipher-
ing all kinds of illegible chirography, and
familiarity with English, German, French,
Italian, and Russian, she is enabled to
send unopened to the proper parties about
30 per cent, of the misdirected or partially
| addressed letters.
All letters that cannot be deciphered by
the expert are turned over to another force
of clerks, who open them and remove all
valuables. They are then put up in pack
ages of 100 each and sent to the sixty
readers. Money, valuables, checks, or
drafts taken from the letters are returned
to the sender unless the party for whom
they are intended can be found. Last
year nearly $1O,000,0 900 was taken from
y
about SO 900, the owners of which could
not be found
Connected with the Dead. Letter Office
is a museum where the many curious ar
ticles 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.
| One of the rarest of the curiosities is q
sheet of parchment on which is penned the
Lords prayer in fifty -four languages. It
came to this country from England in
1912. 1t is said to be duplicate of q
parchment which bangs in St. Peters at
Rome. A beautiful crucifx of solid gold
rests in a case in one cabinet. 1t reached
the Office marked unclaimed" from q
Southern postoffice. A lady's fan, made
of stork feathers, the plumes being rarer
and richer than the finest ostrich plumes,
| is without question tie orettiest thing in
the whole collection. 1t is magnificent
fan, and no doubt graced the costume of
some court beauty of the. Old World. In
one of the cabinets, partly concealed by
| the envelope, is lock of dark brown hair.
On the envelope is the inscription "This
is lock of my hair. Charles Guiteau. !"
1t was put into the mail by the assassin of
President James A. Garfield, and in due
time reached the Dead Letter Office.
A human skull grins at the visitor from
one cabinent, where it has lain for several
years. 1t is brown with age. 1t came
through the mail several years ago, and
the only thing to tell it's history is the in
scription, "Jimmy McDuff," engraved on
the frontal bone. Whether this is the
skull of Jimmy McDuff, murderer who
was executed in the west several years ago,
or not can only be conjectured. A novel
letter is in the form of pretty white shell
on which is inscribed tender message OF
| love. 1t reached its owner in b Massa-
chusetts town who refused to pay twenty
| one cents extra postage.
In one case are several hundred dollars
worth of gold and silver quartz, that have
been received from time to time. Standing
| in one corner of case is negro doll, ad-
dressed to New York society belle. She
by some means discovered what it was and
refused to pay the postage due upon it.
| Coins of every land are to be seen in the
collection. In one case is a fet of false
| teeth, and near it can be seen set of
| blonde frizzes that were addressed to q
Boston lady, but which were refused. An
axe, such as are used by fremen, came to
the Office, and is on exhibition. A few
| years ago a can was received at the office,
and upon being opened, sixteen rattle
/ snakes made their escape. The men and
women took positions on the tables and
gave the reptiles full possession. After
the scare the reptiles were despatched.
i In one of the cases is bootblack's outfit,
also saw, hammer. pair of tongs, tin
| cup, washboard and hat-box. Articles OF
wearing apparel for both sexes are
| received almost daily, but are never placed
on exhibition. The clerks in the Dead
Letter Office work hard, but they find
many amusing things to break the monot
ony of their routine duties Washington
Correspondence Of the Chicago Times.