Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-09-28

rage, she seemed to have fallen. But
her efforts were futile. Three months
after that unfortunate day in the dead
letter museum the disappointed wife was
found dead in her bed at q fashionable
watering place whittier she had accom-
panied her husband, and the coroner's
jury found that death had resulted from
an overdose of morphine taken to over-
come insomnia from which she had
suffered greatly for three months. Only
one person knew that that faded, tel
tale photograph in the dead letter album
was responsible for the poor lady's
snicide.
On another occasion lady tainted at
sight of one of these war pictures and on
recovering consciousness stated that it
was the portrait of her ailianced lover,
who had been reported missing after
the battle of Pittshurg Landing and had
never been heard of from that time. Her
name and the date, written upon the
back of the photograph, showed that 1t
had been intended for her, and that the
loving message it bore had been psnned
on the very eve of tina. great battle, in
which her lover had disappeared forever
from the life of the devoted girl, who
had been true to his memory through ali
these long years.
When one OF these photographs is rec
ognized by relatives or friends It Is al
ways given them if they desire it. 1t
was through one of these photographs
thus given few months ago 10 man Of
fifty wears, that one OF the most inter
esting life dramas ever enacted in con-
nection with the dead-letter office was
brought TO its denoument. 1t was the
portrait of a singulurly beautiful girl
not more than nineteen years of age
and 1t had been sent to soldier of
Pennsylvania regiment whom II had
never reached. 1t bore the writer's
name and address, but when an effort
was made 10 return il TO her she had
moved away and thus it finally came to
be deposited III the dead letter album of
war pictures. The man to whom il was
given claimed it rs the picture of his
wire and told most romantic story. He
said he was farmer in one of Pennsyl-
vania eastern counties, and that just
after the beginning of the war he had
married the girl whose picture he
claimed. He knew at that time that he
did not possess her undivided affection,
as she had previously had another suitor
whom her father had forced her to dis
card for financial reasons, but he relied
upon winning her heart after he had
false hope, for the honeymoon had not
expired when she
ELoPED TO PART 5 UNKNOWN
with her former lover. Though the de-
serted husband had made every effort to
find the fugitiyes, he hud never been
able to obtain the slightest clue to their
subsequent history until he found his
wife's photograph in the dead letter
museum. Her portrait bore the name of
the man with whom she had elopsd, and
it was thus evident that he had enlisted
in the army. Though so many years had
passed the husband expressed his de-
termination to repair Immediately TO his
wife 3 old address as written upon her
photograph and try By every possible
means to trace her. 1t was subsequently,
learned that his quest was successful land
that the final result was the reunion OF
the long separated husband and wife, the
cause of all their trouble having been
killed during the war.
But it must not be supposed that
all the relics and associations
of the dead letter museum are pathetic
ones. On the contrary many are OF
very humorous character, and it is
matter for surprise that they have never
yet been utilized by the newspaper cor
respondent or the farce comedy writer.
The number of funny letter addresses
contained here and the number daily
added to the collection are incredible.
There seem to be great number of waRs
who delight to display their waggishness
in directing their letters. They drop in
to poetry more frequently than Mr.. Siias
Wegg in Dickens novel of ''Our Mutual
Friend - and much of it is by no means
inferior to his. On the envelope of one
non-deliverable letter preserved here l
read the following address:
Jack Smith, the big-foot scrub
To whom this letter wants to go,
Is cutting cord wood for his grub
In Boise City, Idaho
Another poetical direction runs as
follows:
''Hello. Uncle Sam. let me go in your mail.
As I've taken notion to ride on the rail
To Illinois state, and there let me stop
And in McClane county there let me drop
In Leroy postoffice there let me lay
Till Reason r. Cross shall take me away
The poetess genius unfortunately ne
elected to put a two cent stamp on his
envelope, and the postmaster, before
forwarding it to the dead letter office,
added to it the following lines:
PLAYED out, my dear boy. there's no use in
talking,
II you can't pay your way you'll have to try
walking
A love-lorn youth in rural Massachu-
sets thus directed to his sweetheart q
letter that she never received, as Its en-
velope is preserved in the dead letter
museum.
''Fly letter, fly,
In the twinkling OF an eve,
To the girl that love best.
Without delay
Start off o-day
Bound for the golden West
In Columbus, o.,
At number two,
On the street they call North High