Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1892-04-07

reached Pleasant Hill. At this station
large quantities Of mail for Southwest
Missouri were put off. This stop occu-
pied but three minutes, and then the
train rushed, not stopping again until
Kansas City was reached AT each
station after leaving Jefferson City
mail was taken on by means of the
catcher. The bag to be taken on is sus-
pended on a crane at the side of the
track. AS the train approaches the sta
ton the engineer whistles and the clerk
springs to the door of the car. With one
hand he grabs the device for catching
the pouch from the crane, while in the
other hand he holds the pouch to be
dropped at the station. Before you
know what has happened the exchange
Of mail has been made. Long practice
is required before the catcher can be
properly worked. Pouches are fire.
quently missed when the clerk is not to
blame. If the car should sway the least
bit in passing the crane, the catcher
fails to do it's work and the pouch is
missed.
And now the train is reaching Kansas
City. Seven stops have been made.
Three were for water, three were on ac-
count of functions, and one at Sedalia
to change engines and connect with the
Missouri, Kansas and Texas. AS the
train nears Kansas City the clerks work
all the harder. The pigeonholes are
emptied. and each package Of letters
tied up and thrown to it's proper sack.
In the paper car the clerks have been
working with might and main. Their
run had been very heavy, and it had
pushed them to get through. They had
handled several tons OF papers, periodi-
,1Cs nd cir ltnI,e MI 1nSSrn
gagged in tieing up the 200 sacks that the
pudding" had been sorted into. And
now the boys are cleaning up. They
have been on duty about fourteen hours,
and have been working as hard as they
could for about nine hours. At 1890
Kansas City was reached, and the men
hastily left the car The old clothes
had been discarded and the dust Of
travel obliterated. Dinner was eaten,
and at l o'clock each man went to bed in
order to rest up little for the return
trip. At O'Clock the men were obliged
to get up go to their cars and commence
getting ready for the trip back to
st. Louis. The bulk Of the mail was
not SO heavy as on the night before,
but it was Of sufficient proportion to
make things decidedly interesting until
after Sedalia had been passed. Then
part of the crew spread out their blank
cts and obtained what rest they could
on their rude beds Of mail. The return
trip occupied three more hours than the
trip to Kansas City. The mail cars re-
turn to st. Louis with the fast passen-
ger train, leaving Kansas City at 1926
D. M, and arriving at ST. Louis at 6:55
q. N. On the return trips the clerks
were not so busy, and the reporter had
more opportunity to talk with them in
regard to their work The chief clerk
showed the reporter a bundle of mixes"
or letters improperly addressed. Most
of these letters were from various parts
of Europe, and much valuable time had
been lost by the clerks in trying to
make out the addresses. Other mixes
were the results of carelessness on the
part of the writer's.
When St. Louis was reached, at $50,
the clerks were about worn out, and each
one took the quickest route for his home,
where he could eat breakfast and go to
bed, to sleep until o'clock in the even
ing, before going to the depot to do the
same thing over again.
The Railway Mail Service is peculiarly
an institution of the United States. The
first idea of the distribution Of mail on
board trains while they were in transit
originated with postoffice clerk at st.
Joseph in 1852, which was then a dis
tributing postof1ice for the West. Mail
was made up there for different towns
and sent out in boxes. In 1864 the sug-
gestion of the st. Joseph Iuan had been
worked out to such an extent that rail
way postal service was established be-
tween Chicago, Ill.,, and Clinton, Iowa.
improvements were made, a system es-
tablished. a germ in 1864, it has be-
come a giant. 1t challenges the admira-
ton of business men, the model postal
service Of the world.
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