Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1895-01-25

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this county have ggfted scheme for t.
collection OF csScelled postage stamps f'l
charitable purpose it may be well tc
read the following article which give,
the result Of similar plan which wa:
put in operation'by kind hearted lady
in small western tSyn. Few persons
stop to consider TO what inormous pro-
pSrtions such plan must and will reach
if carried out as the originator requests
CHICAGO, January l9.-Mrs. Edna Cor
man resides in Kanesville, Ill. Kanes-
vile is not on the map, nor on a railroad,
but every postal clerk in the country has
recently heard of it. 1t has jumped into
universal notorety.
Mrs. German was Miss Edna Brown.
Her husbands sister iSa cripple. Mrs.
German conceived the IDEA of collecting
postage stamps for her sistsr-ln-law along
the line of geometrics progression.
The next day after the inception OF the
idea three inoffsnsive. looking letters left
the Kanesville postofice. addressed to
three different persons, and signed by
Mrs, Germans maiden name, Edna
Brown.
HER PLAN.
The letters went on to state that she
was cripple and desired to collect a
million cancelled postage stamps In order
TO secure treatment in medical institute.
Each of the three persons addressed
was asked to send Miss Brown ten OF
mere Cancelled postage stamps and to
write three letters containing similar re
quests, their correspondents to send
stamps and write other letters, and so on,
until the fftietk link IN the chain should
be forged. Those receiving letters num-
bered fifty were asked not to write other
letters, but to return the forty-ninth
letter to Edna Brown, thus ending the
chain.
To appreciate what happened it must
be remembered that Kanesvllle 10 a cross
roads town on the prairie, mime miles
northwest Of Aurora. The nearest rail
road station is Sugar Grove, five miles
south. Comprising the tewn there are
perhaps thirty houses, and twenty-five
letters day would be big mail. The
Kanesyille mail is sent to Sugar Grove by
train. and from there is taken to the post
oRce by stage twice day.
A few days after the dauntless three |
letters went forth the postmaster began
to receive good many letters for Edna
Grown. 1t surprised him. knowing |
every man, woman, child and dog ih town |
he was aware Of Miss Browns marriage |
His surprise soon deepened into astonisb
ment, his establishment into csnsterna-
tion and his CONSERVATION into deepaiJ |
The letters for Edna Brown kept increas-
ing. They soon filled bushel basket |
1t rainsd letters. Instead of the usual
small pouch, the Kahesyille mail requir-
ed several
THE PosToFFICE SwAMPRD.
Not only letters came, bat boxes and |
bundles of Cancelled stamps from we'll
intentoned people. The stage coach be-
came SO crowded by mail bags that there |
vas no room for passengers. The post
master was obliged to hire an assistant to
help handle the stuff.
'Ihe chain" is still not half completed,
aud an average of from 5000 to 10000 |
letters day are received at the post
office for Miss Edna Brown, to say moth
ing of boxes and bundles of stamps by
mail and express.
Wednesday the number received was
II 900. Monday it reached 1000. The
mail clerks on the trains are in a con-
ditlon of collapse. Seine of the letters
oven contain moneY-orders sent by
sympathetic persons. Often whole sheets
of stamps are sent just as they came from
the Postoffice, except with an ink line
drawn through. Of course one person
cannot look over all of this mail, so it is
parceled out among the farmers wives,
who, for the satisfaction of reading the
letters, open them and trim the stamps
for the little cripple.
She passed the 100000 mark long ago,
and there seems to be no way to stop the
avalanche.
No medical institute wanted million
Cancelled stamps, or even thought OF such
thing. The only one who seems to be
making anything out Of the scheme is
Uncle Sam, who is receiving FROM 5000
to $500 a day postage on the letters SEN
to Edna Brown of Kanesville, Ill.
If there be no break and her scheme il
carried cut, Ne so alone will bring her
7o,17l, 92S, 449 .563, 494. O43 ,272 letters. The
ladies Of this Valley who have assisted
her will realize the good they have been
dong. TIE purchase the postage stamps
to send the letters of No. so series alone,
to Miss Edna Brown, would require
millions of times the amount of currency
now issueo By the entire world itamsunt-
ing to sl,4O3,435 ,s6s. ssl ,269, $50, s65.4A
and Ia find neonle snounh IN ,ns,1 than
the popu latioh would have to be iDcrest-
cd much moro rapidly than heretofore.
Miss Edna Brown and the young ladies
who are now assisting her will appreciate
our kindness in making the above calcu-
latiOns for them.
d New Departure.
II you want to sell anything, or boy