The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-04-19
HISTORY OF THE NAIL.
From Stage Coach to Lightning Ex-
press-The Department at WASH
inEton Has some Queer Relies.
Washington Post.

Washington Post
If the Hon. William L. Wilson. new POST
master-general of these United states had
peen appointed 100 years ago he would have
found the duties Of his office considerably
hshter than those awaiting him in the big
ouhuing on Seventh street In this year or
1885, Even with our American accustomed
ness to rapid growth and Improvement OF
national institutions, the fact reads strange
~ that in 1880 there were but seventy-fye
postoffiees throughout the United States
and less than 1000 miles of post routes
Still more strangely sound the statements
that the good people of Philadelphia waited
forty-four days for mail from Nashville
Tenn; that they paid postage at rates
which often reached as high as % cents q
letter, and that clumsy coaches and Slow
going stages were the safest and speediest
carriers. Truly the present postoffice, with
its well-nigh perfect equipment for public
service, has evolved in the course of a CEN
fury out of very simple protoplasm
Nearly all the successive stages of this
evolution can be traced to-day among the
quantities OF queer and quaint things which
the Postoffice Department has recently coll
iected into museum. The general public
has not yet found out this museum Even
sA~ oAsi>oAot iAiQ1Niuudi WHO KNOWS every
thing about everything in Washington has
hardly more than peeped within its DOORS
Yet 1t well repays careful visit, and Wis.,
itor, after an hours inspection of it's con-
tents, begins to feel that a wonderful his
tory lies back of the smooth routine of mall
carrying. The idea of the museum was
Postmaster-general Wanamaker's. The
chief executors of the idea were his enthu-
siastic third assistant and the chief clerk
of the department. General A. d. Hazen
and Judge Frank II. Thomas. They
searched through the dusty archives and
wrote to former postmasters for rerninis-
cences and relics; they gathered together
interesting things pertaining to past and
present postoffices. What they did was
done well. The result is this museum.
which every Washington sightseer should
FRANKLIN WAS THE FIRST.
It's valuable mementoes date back to the
time of the earliest Postmaster-genera
Many persons have forgotten and more
have never known that this earliest Of all
our postmasters was the celebrated Ben
jamin Franklin. A glass case in the mu-
scum. holds a commission made out and
signed by him appointing Samuel Freema2
to be postmaster at New York In an
other corner is a quaint old ledger. wherein
all accounts OF all American postoffices are
set down in pounds. and shillings. and
pence, and duly and daily balanced. This
ledger is said to be in Franklin's own
handwriting, Theigreater probability. how.
and successor in office, the Hon. Richard
Bache. The museum shows also in vivid
carrying. At one side of the room stands a
perfect model of the present railway postal
trivances for Fastening the transit Of our
letters, while outside in the courtyard Is
one of the veritable old stages which for
On one of its trips it was captured by the
Indians General Howard recaptured 1t out
post afif curiosity shop in the Civilized cap
ital of the Nation. If its tongue" could
talk 1t might tell strange, romances. Not
far away from this overland mail coach are
models of primitive and perfected methods
for bearing mail upon the. mighty waters,
stands first; behind her the new ocean liner
Paris. No more, entertaining reading 10
found nowadays than old accounts of the
museum Every kind of stamp of every
kingdom and nation is displayed Great
Britain and little Switzerland. France Ger
many, and the Netherlands, the swedes.
the Danes, the Austrians, all show the
stamps they send upon their letters. There
are Japanese stamps and Chinese stamps,
and stamps from the island OF Hawaii:
work and stamps that look like cheap chro-
mos. There are crosses, and crescents and md
COIOTS
heads, and ensign emblems, and shields. and
bars and blaZons. The American stamp
shows well amid the motley array colo OF fpe-
ouently through its eight or nine cnanSes
of series, but its character behind its color
american Am Bank Note Company, which until
the last year had the contract LOT ineh rs
all our stamps has taSn niomeolooSine bank
note. II is on view in the museum ana ex-
hibits to advantage the varieties OF po sa ~
which have been deslsneu ior '"e ~
this government
ODDITIES IN THE MAILS.
! Slammed envelopes also abound within
~ clos. cases of the museum; their gem
eraI look has altered but little since the
first series of 1853. Postal cards, Dig ana
little. are in evidence, and one is SHOWN
which has been all around the world. ~
accomplished the journey in lzo Gays IL
bears upon it's face the marks of travel
ana 10 covered all over with Inscriptions.
close by this travelled postal card is reg
istered letter, which left Casselton. N. d.,
Jnlv IA. 1890, to bear something OF inn
nortance to the Rev Mr.. Lijoke. at Lands
berg Germany. Presumably Mr.. Ljoke
could not be found, for the letter came
back to Casselton, Sept. IL, 1880. having IN
the meantime been nearly everywhere. m
Guiding the. dead-letter office. II has q
place in the museum to show the aimoss
impossibility of the loss OF a. reglster s
letter stnt tfiotth eAc tffte>~
Office. ..,,,x.
shown is a silver dollar, pasted over OH
both sides with ordinary white paper, anu
Entrusted with no other protection 10 the
mails 1t is addressed to the director OF
the United States geological survey, =
lire or two of writing tells tnat ~ 1919 at
to buy a certain scientific pampniet ,hs sn
issued by the survey. This uoiihr Iea plas.
IFS destination, and a dime OF resIsteInns
was doubtless saved to the eccentrlc gen,
tleman who mailed IL in this fasnlon ail
the way from Savannah. Ga ~ looms
concerning like a pill box-largeiy wiuened
o,,t and Greatly fatfened down.
Startlinelv lifelke figures OF letter
carriers stand about the museum room
ths special delivery youth, the famiiar ev-
eryrdayd5oeWlVe Western mail rider, and tho
nict,,resnue INDIAN OF the far Northwest.
Rpitb his snowshoes his sled and the sturdy
Tags that draw the load of letters. Photo
grsnhs hang on the wall of posttDan grown
SSrar in the service; uniforms and mail bags
81 our own postoffice and of foreign ones
lie folded in the cases: metal dies for post
n,arl<inr and for canceling are exhibited
and exnlained to the curious. and auto
granh letters from former postmastcr-gen-
erals NAV be read by everybody. One OF
those letters. from the Hon. Horatio King.
incioses the proof print OF an ancient En-
riish enveIope-the earliest stamped envel-
ope ever designed for the use of any gov
eminent.
pictures of the first Baltimore postohice
and Of the first one in St. Louis, Mo-. show
them to have been only two little rude Jog