New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-06-16

TT ENABLES THE BLIND READERS" 10
SEND Alright MANY MISDI-
RECTED LETTERS.

7, a nerson addresses a letter In such illegIblo
or deficient fashion that 1t is not Immediately oe-
liverable he cannot reasonably expect that IL snan
reach Its destination. But the United States postal
officials ara more than just, they are mercHu'
and have elaborate machinery for supplying omis-
sions and other mistakes In addresses. In the New
York Office an average OF two thousand or thres
thousand letters, newspapers and parcels Is TO-
ceved daily which cannot be delivered AFTER an
ordinary reading OF the superscrip'loh. oucn
mail matter the Directory Reading
Department. where II is distributed among
force OF men who set about decipherins what
is not clear and filling In what is lack
ing. In the parlance Of the ONCE tnese men
are called blind readers" and their mead Is Will
lam W. Stone, who has now been engaged on this
work for nearly forty years. The mistakes arc
OF all possible and various Impossible khos oo'
most OF them grouped into classes
common form of is the failure to put In
the city and State after the addresses HAMS
street and number A good part OF these con Y.
sent straight after study Of an invaluable WORK OK
reference published by the Dead Letter once anu
entitled Street Directory Of the Principal Cites OK
the United States" This was originally kept "
Mr.. Stone in manuscript. but Its value was recoe-
nzed by his superors so they had IL prh'eu' -
new edition Is brought out about every three YEAR,
and one was Issued In March last. 1t Is OK AiS
pages and contains 1874 cities which were not IN the
previous volume All the streets In all the iree-os'
livery cities Of the country are given IN this Inv
streets are arranged alphabetically except the NUM-
bered ones, and under each is printed the cities
having a thoroughfare If that name. Opposite eacn
city are printed the limits of the numbering OF the
houses In the s,reettha Is, In the highest ana low"
est number which house in the street may nave
Tn some ases the solution of a deficient ADDRESS
Is extremely simple with the aid OF THIS uirec'''s'
Thus a letter for Samuel Stratton, No. 46 Colyton-
ST is at once forwarded to Los Angeles Cai, ioE
that CITY alone has n Coyton-st. letter FOR Mrs
HOustOn-St.,
Tex finds its way to San Antonio for while there
are naturally several cities in that o1c'e VIM"
have streets named after General Houston' o'S
San Antonio also has Soledad-st. some sea'c"'
ing was necessary to hnd the deSe"a"o" "
letter for Albert Harrve, Woodward-ave, pet"een
Grand River-aye and State, but II was discovered
that Detroit alone had streets bearing those three
names. ...
The numbers given with each street are oite"
significant Thus piece OF mail matter ior 'a''-
rnond & Co. No. 2,022 Jefferson Place, no city oe-
ing given goes Baltimore at once. Ihere ar'
eleven cities with thoroughfares OF the same NAME
bur in none OF the others does the numbering r""
I'm N 2Oe2 In a great many streets the numbers
do no, begin with one the lowest sometimes De-
ing 1000 or even higher. Thus a letter direc'eu "
J. NJ LAWYER No McFarland-st. GREENSBORO N.Y.
was quickly forwarded TO Huntington, NO. ior
while four cities have McFarland-st only .ha'
in Huntington Ind. has numbers running below
OF course il is more common to have a letter
s.nt 70 the wrong city than to have 1t mailed Win
the name OF the city omitted. but the directory -
equally convenient in either class OF mistakes.
The "blnd readers" besides have a large collecs
ton OF ordinary city directories. perhaps one num-
dred altogether II the general street directory
shows that a given letter might be for any one OK
half dozen cities the directory Of each Is searched
in turn and like as the adGressee Is identined.
The library also contains NUMBER OF oeher oi-
rectories Two OF them OF places having no
nostottlce and they tell whittier mai ior 'he'"
should be sent Then there are various roreisn
directories and domestic ones containing Ns's OK
hanks and cashiers of banks. clergymen OF var'-
ous aenomina tons etc Mr.. Stone and his assistants
have half a dozen manuscript directories also. ono
OF these Is of institutions. asylums COLLEGES Dig
factories etc second is of mills especially sno a
mines Ignorant persons IN Europe Will write 20
relatives here. giving as their ad e'noyeS Names
are added TO these books Of reference from time %
time until nov they are remarKap,y ,n,snt ,sc
as many farmers misdirect letters to these mere
chants. ,o., deal ~ trouble tn
volume is large and much OF it is directed IN nope
essiy legble fashion, Colonies Of Italians are az
Enterprises and is frequently hard 20 rac or '1 1
individuals However, as the m pass n5sa to keep on
record the addresses OF many such cooni les aa
Sr.sses and are thus aided in decphering msspeiled
names OF towns. The errors are emery Dased on
i;in,Iv Suggestive OF Port Chester, but the DINO
raadesr who speaks "Pruieste" out. and knows thas
fssre Is an Italian colony at Port Chester would
promptly send the letter there mssve rom ena
t,aiv hearing that superscription was actuaiy re.
ceavsa at the New-york Postoffee recently ana was
dispatched 10 its destnation . ,o,,rart,v
This italian directory solves some apP par boy
minico spagadello No jog Front-st North Ame.Sa,
rac, Is shows that only in that city is no ios
sroni.st a house Inhabited by Italians. had me
% haze gone 70 Newport KY II No lS Front
wou ~ Tincinnati: II No POS Fron,st. TO winning
'o Naturally. the New-york City Directory Is IRE.
quentiy Consulted sir stone has II b neI ag sd
MI ~ every citizen who sends word TO the Post.
otscs Of his removal This directory is oouna ~
,hr.o Volumes This is for various reasons. ~
ounds undue bulkiness and enables three men 20
@ ,h YORK al the same time. AS there are apous
one hundred and fifty notices OF removal recs."eS
9 gI {. IA no triing task 10 enter tneni Each OF
,hase three men confines himself 20 MS parucu,ar
,,,r, and ne acquires wonderful skill IN tusilhs
y, re- TIGHT place Any else IN searching Ior 2
" 20. Nth, not come within a hundred pages OF
~. an Tho first trial. but these experts naNe sucn
nof, fingers that they at once turn extremely "eH
10 the right page.