Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-10-11
A COLLISION.
An Interesting Little Trouble About
Some Mail Boxes.
Assistant City Attorney Jackson Defends the
City Ordinances Against Uncle sam or
Anybody Else-Both Sides Speak.

Yesterday mornings GAZETTE contained th'
following paragraph among other equally inter
esting loealettes:
The postoffice department, recognizing tn,
| growing need for street mailing facilities il
| Fort Worth, has placed in the business part o.
the city large boxes, painted gay and gaudy
| red. for the mailing Of papers and large pack
| ages. The innovation is appreciated by those
| who have been in the habit OF mailing large
| amounts OF advertising matter and such.
This paragraph was correct only In part. The
postothce department undertook TO place such
| boxes on the sheets, but was estopped and Or
| dered to desist.
When the reporter who penned the lines on
Thursday night went upon the streets yester-
day morning he observed that the boxes were
not to be seen. He inquired about the circum-
stance and was referred to Assistant City Attor-
noy Jackson for information. Ar. Jackson
said in explanation.
~ was standing Main street yesterday
afternoon when I observed the men putting U p
the boxes. They were placing the things on the
pavement inside the telegraph poles, and it at
once occurred to me that this was direct
violation of the city ordinance regarding the
placing of distractions the sidewalk.
deemed it my duty officer of the city to see
that the ordinances were observed, and to that
asked him to desist, stating the
reason of My interference. I told him that ne
could place the box at the side Of the telegraph
pole at the edge of the pavement, where it
would not be in anybodys way, but when he
placed it on the inside OF the pole he was vio-
lating the ordinance relating to Instructions on
the sidewalks.
well he said, If place them on the side
of the poles and at the edge of the pavement,
team teams driving along will crash into them and
Then, said, you have redress at law for
that,
right to put his mali boxes where he pleased. 1
said maybe Uncle Sam had that right, but as
long as was an officer of the city should see
that Uncle Sam as well every body else
obeyed the city ordinance.
He went on with his work, and I sent an
officer over to tell him that unless he desisted he
would be put under arrest. With that he
packed up his tools, removed the box he was at
work upon as well as others already in place.
and have not seen him since.''
The reporter pursued his investigations
further, TO the extent of interviewing Fort
Worth's enterprising postmistress.
when L was up North short time ago.
that in all the larger 0'S eities
large mailing boxes for papers and packages
were placed on the streets by the postoffice de-
partment. l thought that Fort Worth a city of
40 200 population, should nave all the latest i'm
provements to be found in other metropoli; and
presented to the, postoffice department our
claim for some of these new boxes. Well, they
were dubious-didn' think there existed any
necessity for the expense. But urged our
claim persistently, and at last they offered to
four-eight or nothing. Finally they consented,
and couple of days ago the boxes arrived,
tlsHI Oi them. i sent out mayer, our ChIef
mail carrier, to superintend the placing of
the boxes. Mr.. Jackson has stated to
you correctly the occurrence on the street.
AS to whether Uncle sam has the right to place
the boxes on the street or not have nv opin-
ion. but do not propose to bring that into
question.
''Uncle Sam does not care whether Fort Worth
gets these boxes or not. 1t was only after much
urging that induced the postoffice authorities
to go TO the expense of sending them
down here. They are not benefit to this
office, rather an extra burden us. 1t is
probably an ordinance of the city, as Mr..
Jackson stated, and that gent leman probably
was alive to his duties in preventing the placing
of the boxes. And l DO not intend to force
anything en- the city that is not wanted. If
Fort Worth thinks she can get along without
these boxes, very good. So can u Icle sam.
But those boxes must be placed inside the
poles on the pavement. They are placed in
the big Northern and Eastern cities where
the crowds on the streets are much
larger than in Fort Worth. II we
place them at the edge of the
true that we have redress for that at law, but |
we have no appropriation to pay a Waterman at
each box to watch who does the damage.
And the boxes must be placed where the let |
ter boxes are. Otherwise people will throw let |
tiers and papers both into the large boxes, delay
ing their important mail AMI putting this office |
to extra trouble and expense.
but would be much mortified If had 10 return |
these boxes TO the department with the explana- |
ton that the people here do not want them"
So Mrs. Burchill spoke.
The sentiment generally in the city is that |
these boxes are desirable, very much SO, and no |
unimportant objection should be interposed to
their early establishment on the street.