The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1894-10-11
"BLIND" LETTERS.
now THE DIFFERENT NATIoNS
EXCHANGE THEM.
Our Postal Employees Better at De-
ciphering bad Addresses Than
Those Abroad 49, An Adept
at "Blind Reading.

I
662 letters from foreign lands
Z drifted into the Dead Letter
Office at Washington The individu-
ais addressed being not discovered,
nearly all of these missives had to be
sent back to the countries whence
they came. Yet the United States
Postoflice is vastly more clever in
finding people than are the authorities
abroad. Only few days ago letter
dispatched from New York with the
superscription, "Levi p. Morton,
Paris, France" was returned, marked
"lnconnu"--i. c., Unknown" New
ertheless, the ex-Vice- President was
in the French capital at the time Mt
one of the great hotels.
The foreign authorities seem to be
stupid about such things. Letters
from the United States addressed to
Walter Besant or to Algernon Swim
burne, England nre sent back,
marked Insufficient address" One
might suppose that English people
would know about their own famous
| literary men. IL used TO be the same
way with Charles Reade aud Robert
Browning. An American cbild's letter
to "Santa Claus, Hartz Mountains,
Germany was returned with "Un-
known" "Not found" and "Insufli.
cient address stamped nll over it by
seventeen postmasters.
At Christmas time every year chill
dren write letters to Santa Claus and
mail them, usually unstamped. IL a
foreign address is given the missive is
dispatched in the mails, the rules of
the international Postal Union not re-
quiring prepayment. Eventually il
finds its way back to the Foreign Di-
vision of the Postoilice Department
here. If it contains n petition from
some poor child for n small gift the
employees of the office will occasional
ly play Santa Claus, making up u
purse to buy the article requested.
Comparatively few of the foreign
letters which reach the Dead Letter
Office here can bo delivered to the
person addressed, because it IL not al
lowable to open them. II one of them
is opened when received it is sealed
with a special stamp, which looks
something like an ordinary postage
stamp, bearing the words: "Postoflice
Department; officially sealed" The
first stamp of this kind that was is
sued had the words ''post obitum" on
it, meaning latter death" A speci-
men is worth to-day $40. The.sealing
stamps are hard to get and are in de-
maud by collectors.
The lette't-srom abroad which have
/ failed OF aeirclf' Ia account OF badly
written addresses are handled by ex-
perts who exhibit wonderful skill in
deciphering them. Miss Clara Rich
ter, in charge of the foreign division,
is II famous hand at such work. The
spelling on some of the envelopes is
amazing. For example, "Susanmeri''
is intended for Sault Ste. Marie.
This is comparatively easy one.
"Schinescham, Toulocontus" is Chi
nese Camp, Tuolumus County.
"Grym Pantcwnia" is meant for
Green Point ave.
Memory is IN important element in
"blind reading as this work is
called Miss Richter got hold of a
letter the other day with peculiar
name and nothing else on it except
America" She remembered that
twenty years or more ago person OF
that name had been found ut Grand
Rapids, Mich. The letter was for
warded to that point and reached the
intended recipient. On ono occasion
the local postoffice of Washington did
not know how to deliver letter ad-
dressed to "Teserero General dc Ma
cion." 1t was advertised as for Gen
eral Teserero. Miss Richter per.
ceived at once that it was for the
Treasurer of the United States. 1t
was registered and contained a con.
siderable amount of money.
All unbelievable foreign letters are
done up in bags or rather parcels and
sent back once II week to the prin-
cipal European countries and to
Canada. These returns" as they
are called, comprise all mail matter
received at the Dead Letter Office here
during the previous week. But to
the other nations in the Postal Union
Z Nht hChu otuu only OnCe u
month. The United States Govern.
ment exchanges unclaimed matter
with eighty-seven countries and
colonies. Nearly 100000 foreign
pieces of mail come to our Dead Let
ter Office annually. A great many of
these are printed publications, most of
which are thrown away and not re-
turned.
All printed matter received at the
Dead Letter Office from Canada, Great
Britain, Germany, Switzerland, South
American countries and Australasia is
destroyed in accordance with special
agreement. Most of this stuff con-
sists of newspapers and trade circulars.
The countries mentioned do the same
with similar matter that reaches them
from the United States, but France,
Italy, Russia, Spain, Portugal, Nor
way, Sweden, Denmark and Belgium
want every bit of their printed mat.