The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-12-28
CURIOSITIEs IN THE NAIL.

From the New York lines.
There are many curiosities of tho
mail bags. Not long ago we received
q dozen horned toads from Arizona,
addressed to a count in Germany.
They were Immediately sent to the
dead letter Office, being unavailable.
Small alligators are very common. and
we have had human skull and an
Easter bonnet from Paris without any
wrapper. We forward no live animals
or insects through the mail, except
bees in wire-screen boxes. Even the
bees are not desira Bile mail matter; we
have had the boxes come in broken,
greatly to the discomfort of the clerks
who opened the bags.
about 80 day is our average OF
letters mailed without stamps. They
are held for two weeks, and the ad
dressed is notified to send .stsmps.
This costs the government more, Of
course, than if the letters were for
warded at once, bnt such is the law.
We receive large numbers Of photo
graphs without wrappers. Delicate
articles reach their destination safely,
while apparently unbreakable articles
are broken to pieces. That is our ex-
perience. For instance, q lamp CHM
ney arrived from the west not long ago
without a wrapper, but with the adj
dress pasted on. 1t reached here I'M
broken, though almost in the same
mail some articles that would stand
running over by cable car were
broken to pieces. ~,
A few weeks ago we received . pack
age of eight-inch knife blades from
Paris, with no wrapper, but an address
tied to tho handles. You can see how
dangerous such parcel must be to the
clerk who thrusts his hand into the
bag to empty it, Explosives come in
occasionally, and, as they are contra
band, they are taken out carefully
when discovered and dropped gently
into the North river.
Foreign publications give us a large
share Of our work in this department.
The newspapers and books we receive
from France and Germany are almost
invariably Enclosed in wrappers that
are hardly stronger than tissue paper,
snd the motion of the vessel tears
many of them loose. In every for
eign mail we find at least a
bushel Of loose books and news
papers. They are held as long
as we can find room for them, and
then they are sent to the dead letter
Office. If the sender would write the
address on the margin Of newspapers
or the fy-leaf of books, the loss Of the
wrappers would make little difference.
Some of these articles are of considers
bic value in this country on account Of
the translatious that are made from
them.
Many articles reach us that are ut
tefly unavailable. We receive UNI orel-
Jas and long maps that would not go
into any mail bag. A few DAYS q long
fishing rod came IN. The amount of
mail we receive and sent out daily is
an old story. but think can pat 1t
before you in a new light. Mail mat
ter is comparatively light, and ton Of
it would easily fill coal car. A. we
receive over $50 tons day. train OF
$50 coal cars would not quite
bring in ell the letters and newspa pers
we receive every day. The mere
handling Of the money taken in is an
important matter-about s., SOC, coo .
year. Some government officers han
die much more. bat theirs come in
larger sums: the bulk Of ours comes in
Ic and PC az . time
In inquiries for lost articles. we
average between 100 and 200 DAY. OF
the IS. $40 inquiries made last year, 49,
lo2 were successful and the lost letters
or parcels were delivered Nine hun
dred and thirty-ene packages were
withdrawn from the mails las. year on
account of theiy destructihie or dag
gerous character. We sent TO the dead
letter Office sS2o.6e in loose money
found ia E.ail bags or letter boxes. and
Stiles worth Of loose postage stamps
Thirteen Thousand Ave hundred and
forty-two packages posted FOR foreign
countries were unavailable and were
withdrawn. some Of them containing
tewelry or coin
Torn wrappers. This viii give ron
IN idea how many newspapers are lost
IN the mails through using poor paper
for wrapping. Last year we sent 20
the dead letter dice IS, s5l wrappers
without any Enclosures and g. 900
newspapers without wrappers or ad-
dresses: LIS books withou: wrappers