The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1889-03-29
THE LETTER MORGUE.
The Queer Things To Ee seen In the Dead
Letter Once AZ Washington.

The Queer Things To Ie seen In the Dead
Letter once at Washington.
There Is no silent horror. but only
lively interest. upon entering the
D;ad-Letter Office at Washington.
Twenty thousand letters received
here daily"
This was the information given by
the bright and courteous lady who pre-
sides over the curiosity room. "And
nearly one-half Of them can never be
sent on or back, because Of illegibility OF
the address or some other cause"
The Enclosures are kept two years,
then, II still unclaimed, are sold at
auction. The room Is lined with cases,
in which the curiositics are very arti5-
tlcally arranged.
Here was a Grcmans axe. I'm
proper weight and sharp instrument
not properly protected were the rea-
sons for its detention. ThAre were Il
number Of rcvolvcr5 arranged on the
back Of the case. II Is contrary 20 law
10 send firearms through the mail.
"Oh! here is human ear" one re-
marked, wondering at the singular
token
Yes, that came in "A newspaper,
We do not know by whom it was sent.
Here is AN asp, and that is a tarantula
both quite startling creatures 20 find
upon opening a box They both came
through alive" said the attendant,
"and that is against the law, you
know. We always have live curiosi-
ties chlorofOrmcd and preserved in
liquor We are quite careful in open
ing packages, for we never know what
sort Of pets we are going to find"
'Ilcre are some horned toads. |
have had trcc-toads for pets for months
at a time
"Snakos" exclaimed one Of our
party, pointing toward some large
glass cans. Did they come through
alivc?'
"Ycs, indeed"
En- passant, it is very amusing &c
hear Washingtouiaus say: "Ycs, in
decd with the emphasis on Eyes,
and the indeed sliding along as
though the expression were one Of the
pleasures Of life.
"Ycs, indeed" She answered.
"Thoro We're sixteen Of them, sent
from TcXas on route for Heidelberg,
for scientific purposes. They were
in perforated tin cans, were detected
and sent here. A boy brought
the cans in bag but one snake
got away. A lady at the chiefs
desk, three days after, felt something
about her feet. Looking down, there
was the snake. He had been in one Of
the drawers Of the chiefs desk for
those three days. Was she frightened?
Well, there are fow things that we
ladies dislike more than snakes, you
know
"llcrc is scalp'
"Ycs; it is the scalp Of Il young In
dian girl about eighteen or twenty
years old. We were told so by an ex-
pert in such things the hair, fine and
black and straight, you see, prepared
with care TO be fastened in the belt
"IIero are some balls of opium. You
notice they were disguised in cover
ing Of candy. And here is beautiful,
largo etching, cXquisitely done. 1t
seems pity that it should not have
reached its destination, but we could
not help it.'
She stepped to the desk and took
from one of the drawers book, open
ing it for our inspection. In it were
pasted the addressed sides OF en-
vclopcs. Some OF these addresses in
dicatcd u close acquaintance with
photographic spelling,as Iii ri, Ga. ~
was spelled Tight |, Ga and
"Springcrvillc, Arizona was spelled
"Spcngel Bill Arizona. '-Detroit Free
Press.