Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-06-21
UNCLE SAM'S LETTER MAIL
The Trouble He Has in Delivering 1t for
Careless People.

The Trouble He Has in Delivering 1t for
Careless People.
THE GOVERNMENT HAS NO PATIENCE WITH MArRr.
| MoNIAL AaENcIEs-oUEER WAYS PEOPLE HAVE
OF SENDING MONEY By PosT-How DEAD LET
TIERS ARE DISPOSED oF-PosrAGE STAMPS.
| n ORE than two hundred letters from
| ANN all parts of the United States, and
AlW Rnot few Of them from Europe, lay
II on the desk of an official in the Gov.
"1kS eminent Post Office building yesterday
when STAR reporter called. All of them were
addressed to the Pacific Matrimonial Bureau,
San Francisco, Cal" They were broken open
! and each one contained an inclosure OF 10
| cents in postage stamps or in silver. Without
exception they we're answers to q circular
| issued while ago by the said bureau in behalf
| OF lady Of wealth embarrassed by an infant
not properly accounted for on the paternaI
side, who desired to share a considerable
fortune with any good and honorable man who
was willing to give her his name. As q token
Of good faith it was requested that any one
| responding should accompany his reply with 10
cents.
1t is astonishing how many good and honor
| able men have been found willing to give their
names to this unfortunate lady in exchange for
| q moiety of her wealth. The 200 letters in the
batch referred to were only a few Of the thou
sands that have reached the San Francisco
post Office in response to the circular, each in
closing the requisite dime. Unfortunately
recent developments have shown up the matri-
| monial bureau in an unfavorable light and
great quantities of missives addressed to it
| through the mails hvve been confiscated by the
authorities. Big bundles of correspondence
on topics hymeneal have reached the depart
| ment from this source every few days, and in
every case the letters are returned to the
writer's with any money they may contain.
ILLEGITIMATE MAIL.
When the post Office officials have reason to
suspect anybody of using the mails for illegiti-
mate purposes, it is customary to permit the
suspicious letters to accumulate for a while
and then to notify the ADDRESSED that a guam
tity of matter is awaiting delivery. but that the
person to whom it is delivered must first call
and identify himself. If there is really any
thing wrong no such application will ever be
made, and the letters are sent on to Uncle Sam
at Washington. That is what is done with
communications regarding green goods
lottery mail, and whatever immoral is found
travelling by post.
MONEY SENT BY POST.
The carelessness of people who inclose money
in letters is most surprising Probably the
most fragrant case of it was that of a Chicago
man who mailed an envelope with "a, 900 in it
and forgot to put any writing on the inside or
any address on the outside. He got the sum
back by application to headquarters at Wash
lngton after having much trouble in proving
his claim. Money is sent by post in all sorts of
queer ways, the notion being usually to dis
guise it as much ,as possible. At Christmas
time particularly such tricks are practiced as
poking bills in the fingers of gloves or of nit
tens knit by afectionate old relatives for little
ones far away. Small sums of cash are con-
cealeI N hpy n
secreted with merchandise in every conceiva-
BILE fashion. Coin is very apt to be dispatched
between two pieces of pasteboard, perhaps
glued on. 1t is always mailed in that manner
abroad, for the reason that it is against the law
In Europe to send anything made of gold or
silver by post. Other means are provided for
transporting such precious things and it is not
thought desirable to put temptation in the way
of the postal clerks. Probably the
safest safes. way to inclose a greenback in a
tween the hands like small lamp-Ighter and
lay it in the fold of the paper. Very few peo-
pie try that method; if more did so less money
would be lost in the mails A note so treated
is not readily detected by holding the envelope
containing 1t up to the light, and the expert
postal thief who is able to tell letter that has
money In 1t by the peculiar feel is stumped by
the lamp-llghter. Coin lost in the mail mostly
meets its fate by slipping out of the envelopes.
When that happens 1t is found In the letter
with an accompanying description Of any let
tiers or packages in the same sack which look
as II such money might possibly have escaped
from them. The number of the mail and the
place 1t came from, together with the number
Of the sack, are also recorded II the owner
communicates his loss to the authorities he can
get the money back by giving data properly
corresponding with all these details Of memo
randa. Bank notes are not infrequently in
closed III newspapers for mailing. An Ohio
N<Nattn aats IN, IL L
put up this way in paper without address the
other day. From $500 to 81 500 is turned in
as found in dead letters and uncalled for to the
Treasury every month, though many times as
much Is successfully conveyed to owners each
thirty days by the industrious experts, who
spare no effort to accomplish this end.
PULLING OVER DEFECTIVE ADDRESSES
The skill and intelligence utilized in making
up for letter writer's carelessness are marvel
ous Three young women Of long experience
in such work are exclusively employed six days
in every week in practicing the science of
guessing. 1t is their duty to find out the mean
ing Of defective addresses. For instance what
Is to be done with an address like this, which
was on letter that came in the other day? 1t
read: .'Sarahyille. Ohio. DR.. the owner Of a
large bay horse with stripe and white ankles
behind" The postmaster at Sarahville had
not taken the trouble to find out who the doctor
! was in that town that had horse of such a de-
pSiiphou LIE WEIlcr sdlu III his letter
that he would buy it. But the department
wrote to him to make inquiries, and the mis-
sive was forwarded yesterday to the right per-
son.
Queerest Of all addresses ever investigated
by the Dead Letter Office is one that now
hangs in a frame with other strange speci-
mems in the superintendent room. 1t is
written on a big envelope, and consists Of a
few bars of music with words beneath the
notes as follows:
There is young man in Brooklyn,
Far away to tn. Sea.
b. q. Il. Bob call him.
q, Letter-carrier, find him for me-"
The letter carrier did not find him. but the
Dead Letter Office did. The envelope also
bore the words st Marks avenue" One OF
the three clever young women here looked up
st. Marks avenue IN Brooklyn elite directory
and sent a circular to every person named Rob-
ert mentioned as living there. The result was
that the right one applied for the letter and
got 1t. 1t was written by the author Of Good
bye, Sweetheart"
IN THE DEAD LETTER OFFICE.
During the last year no less than 6O0O 900
letters and packages reached the Dead Letter
Office. OF this number 100000 were never
called for at the post Offices to which they were
addressed; 400, 900 more were enormously or
illegibly addressed; 10000 were forwarded by
hotel keepers because the persons addressed
had gone away; 1901 900 had not sufficient post
age, and 900 had no address whatever Eigh-
teen thousand contained money-S35, 900 in
all-and %, 900 inclosed checks and drafts
amounting to 100000
Dead letters sent in bundles from the
post offices all over the country to the depart