Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-08-01

DRESUMABLY THE INGENIOUS YOUTH
Il who was caught the other day in the act OF
robbing dead letters at the Post Office Depart
ment here was Of the opinion that such q
particularly hazardous employment as his
ought to have some extra perquistes attached
to 1t. Is it to be expected that an ordinary
clerk, without special remuneration, shall ex-
pose himself to the dangers incident to the
opening Of the multitudinous and mysterious
packages that are left as metaphorical found
lings upon the fgurative door steps Of Post
master General Wanamaker? Lest these perls
be deemed imaginary, IT may be appropriate
to refer to seventeen snakes that arrived
together on one occasion in corpse parcel
OF the sort described, although they were all
ymuch alive, especiallya rattler eight feet in
length and one Of the biggest ever captured,
that ratified its nine rattles and showed its
fangsto the unaffected dismay of the young
gentleman who undid the bundle.
so great was his embarrassment that
he failed at the moment to keep accurate count
OF the reptilian consignment and three weeks
| later the entire office was set in stir by the
| unexpected appearance from beneath his desk of
| three-foot adder speckled in yellow and black.
| Owing to the fact that adders of other than the
arlthmetical variety are discouraged in govern
| OhhSos. ILLS pdTtiCulur serpent Is now en-
Joylng perennial spree in bottle of alcohol
on shelf in the Post Office Department.
| DANGEROUS THINGS IN THE MAILS
| Snakes, however, are but few among the
many dangerous things that reach the depart
ment in dead letter" packages. Live cent?
pedes and tarantulas, horned toads and gila
| monsters contribute to this lost freight Small
alllgators from Florida not infreauently turn
| up Among other gruesome objects similarly
received not long ago was a human ear, in
closed in letter perchance by some ruffian
who had made it his trophy; also the scalp Of
an Indian woman with long black hair doubt
less reft from her head by hostile warrior
and a grinning skull, which Philadelphia
physician refused to receive because letter
rates were charged upon it.
mall bag slit with a knife bears an interest
ing history. At 2 y. m. on the afternoon of
July 23 1855, mail carrier named F. NJ. Peter
son was attacked by Apache Indians while on
his regular route to Lochiel, Ariz.. to Critten-
den, In the same territory. The savages, after
| shooting and cutting him in pieces slit open
the leather sacks he carried and tore all the
letters to bits in search Of money finally leav-
ing behind them the bag in question, which
even now shows the dark stains made by the
victims blood.
One Of the most curious packages that have
reached the dead letter Office is one addressed
to lady In Springfield, Ohio, who has never
been found. 1t was a small six-barreled revolt
yer, with every chamber loaded, and set at the
full cock. The wonder is that it did not go off
when the parcel was opened. An old relic of
interest is a letter signed by Charles Guiteau,
the murderer Of Garfield, and inclosing lock
OF his own precious hair. 1t is addressed to a
lady who never received it, asking her to con-
tribute 81 900 for his defense. Another curl
oslty lost in the mail is a crucfix in glass box
that was postmarked .'Vicksburg" and bore on
the outside of its brown paper wrapper simply
the words, ''Vicksburg is taken
No brief list could summarize the innumer-
able strange things that have fallen into the
hands of the dead letter Office at Washington.
There are opium pipes and packages of refined
opium, bottled specimens of different kinds of
mineral formations thrown up by the Charleston,
earthquake boxes Of cartridges, percussion caps
quantities of firecrackers and torpedoes. false
teeth, corn-husking gloves, every imaginable
sort OF kitchen utensils, carpenters TOOLS
horns, tambourines banjos Harmonious
gold-headed canes. and even spirit photo
graphs" in which the persons pictured appear
with all sorts OF spooks rendered in dim tones
by the same negatives at SO much a ghost.
NUGGETS OF VIRGIN GOLD.
Many Of the objects accumulated come under
the ''unmailable'' head, being of glass or
pointed instruments" which might damage
the mails. Bottles or surgical tools are not
carried by Uncle Sam unless inclosed in wood
or tin. One hundred dollars worth of mug
gets OF virgin gold in box came in awhile ago
and are awaiting claimant. Likewise a dam
aged plug hat which had no address and gro
tesque doll about the size of baby, which
seems to have been forwarded with derisiye'
motives to young lady of New York. resident
on 9th avenue, who was about to be married to
a rival Of the sender She declined to receive
1t. There are some gloves from the steamship
Oregon which were ia days under water,
though they seem to be fairly respec table now
and might be worn at a stretch. Some wedding
cake is exhibited in the museum that is fifty
years old.
book is kept at the department of photo
graphs which were sent by mail from camps
during the war. The soldier boys commonly
had their pictures taken for sending home, to
show the folks how they looked in the field.
Many of the ikenesses thus dispatched mis-
carried, and even now the Post Office Depart
ment keeps thousands of them in albums,
ready to be claimed by relatives. When one Of
the portraits is properly identified it is re-
moved from the album page and the signature
of the recipient is inscribed on the paper space
that it occupied. 1t is the same way with corps
medals that were sent home by soldiers during
the war. Dozens of them at present re-
tanned under Gen. Wanamaker's charge, wait
ing for their owners. There are star fish, too,
petrified frogs, stuffed gophers, Toltec idols,
silkworm cocoons and all sorts Of other absur-
ditiss. 1t seems very curious that Benjamin
Franklin, the first Postmaster General Of the
United States, made record during eleven
years service of only 365 valuable packages
sent through the mails. One little book of his
own manufacture, shown in the museum,
served for all such accounts during that period.
MAILS CARRIED BY DOGS.
It Is rather interesting to note the photo
graphic illustrations of the primitive manner
in which mails are carried even nowadays in
northern Michigan, where the function of the
United States post is undertaken by dogs. The
latter in teams OF six draw sledges, carrying
the letter sacks over the wintry SHOWS.
considerable fraction OF the dead letter
mail comes under the head of unfit" which
means immoral. Naughty photographs, sug-
gestive medical advertisements and trash of
that sort is thus designated. All of it is care
fully culled out and laid aside by the young
men in the opening room before the letters or
packages are sent upstairs to the young ladies,
who make it their business to transmit this lost
correspondence to the senders or the intended
recipients.
Some Of these young ladies are wonderfully
clever at such tasks. For example, one of them
handled a communication of an evidently
private nature the other day that came from
Germany. She could not make it out at first
and took 1t home to puzzle over. 1t said
simply: "Whnheldonyo urite?' After a while
she found out what 1t meant by reading it
Theoretically.
A letter addressed to "Santa Claus, Paris,
France, from Cleveland, Ohio, read: ''Please,
Santa Claus, bring me q sled, q village o dolls
play house and Q shade for my lamp" 1t was
returned to the dead letter Office here marked
Address incomplete"
Another from Charleston. 9. O., was ad-