The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-03-10

Not knowing the name Of the invalid for
I Whom she began the chain. and, of course
nor knowing Of any hospital, she used
I Edna Browns name. thinking that the
stamps would easily reach the one for
whom they were intended.
30 the chain was started. but no one
l OF those Immediately connected with the
] enterprise stopped 10 realize what the
outcome would be. About the 18th of June
81 the nrst results of the chain began to-
/ appear At the same time the Kaneville
/ postmaster received several letters in
/ curing about Kaneville hospital and a
/ cripple OF his town named Edna Brown
/ Wlthout stopping to investigate-what
/ need OF. investigation when he knew ev-
/ cry man, woman and child and every
ooo-tailed dog for ten miles around
answered positively that KaneviIle did
| not posses a hospital, that only one girl
| by the name of Edna Brown lived there
I ana that she was certainly not in need
/ or medical assistance. Then the papers
| began to cry fake
From mail of a hundred letters a week
| the Kaneville receipts swelled to fifteen
/ ana twenty thousand letters daily. Kane
/ Vile does not possess a railroad and the
mail was carried from Sugar Grove, the
nearest station, in a. stage coach, a very
/ satisfactory arrangement under ordinary
! circumstances, but hardly sufficient to
accomm odate a stamp chain. No longer
I NoA4u Lilb Top OF the crazy cOaCn bear the
| ever increasing burden, and the mail
/ pouches were packed and pressed and
crowded in side while the occasional pas
sengers found themselves compelled to
! walk or catch a ride" with some oblig-
ing farmer. The poor postmaster was
! paralyzed. No more time to gossip with
| the village preacher about the latest we'd
ding, the only thing that occurs to break
/ the Kaneville monotony, no more time
/ to pitch Quoits with the boys in the street.
/ no time for anything but to sort and
stamp lettrs and pile them up
for delivery TO Edna Brown
| The postmaster's wife was called
in and pressed into service Then there
was nobody to "tend store" and the
farmers wives were kept waiting with
| their butter and eggs which they were
/ anxious to exchange for factory cloth
! and molasses. That wasn't nice. After
this they would take their produce to a
market where they could get waited on;
| Elburn was not so far away and
Elburn had just as pretty calicoes as
Kaneville and paid just as good prices for
eggs, too.
Then the bawildered postmaster got
mad He sat down and wrote to Washing
ton that he did not propose to handle
twenty thousand letters a day on $3.50 a
year, that he wasn't in Kaneville for the
sake of the postmastership and that his
grocery trade was going to wreck and
ruin through that fool of a stamp chain,
that Mr.. Bissell must either put a stop
to it or send somebody to look after It,
Mr.. Bissell couldn't stop it so Kane
ville's postmaster had an assistant offered
| him and was advised to be patient for
the chain must end sometime. But the
chain is not ended and the Kaneville
postofice is stfh swamped with letters.
But the chain was started and neither
the Kaneville postmaster nor the loud
cries of the press could stop it.
Kanevilie. itself, has gone daft over the
unheard-of sensation. At the beginning
Mettie opened the letters that were
brought to her, carefully removed the
stamps from envelopes and tied them up
into neat packages. But soon the work
became too extensive for the crippled
fingers and other members of the family
and friends offered assistance. But with
them all to help only a small portion of
the daily mail could be opened. Then the
Garman cellar was brought into play and
drygOods boxes filled with unopened let
ters gradually accumulated until the small
apartment was packed to the ceiling The
Garman house does not possess a garret,
but every available closet and corner was
made to do service as a recepticle for
stamps. The house soon lost its resem-
blance to a home and everybody climbed
over stamps and waded through stamps
and got lost in stamps in his efforts to get
a meal of victuals or find a place to sleep.
The postofiice was packed, Edna Browne
house was packed, and several obliging
neighbOrs had turned their houses into
storerooms.
One SAY Mr. Garman loaded up a
wagon with letters and started for a
neighboring town, where friends had
offered to take charge of them Some
body suggested that he weigh the load
There was just a ton of stamps.
A few days ago Mettie wrote to
friend in the east: II was quite surprised
when I heard that the chain had reached
you. Still it isn't strange that it has done
so. 1t has gone to every state in the
union, as well as Canada and Mexico
Three or four weeks ago the letters came
so fast we could do nothing with them
but now we only get a few, not more than
three bushels a day. think"
Some few rare collections which peo-
pie have grown tired of treasuring have
been sent and many have not confined
themselves to the ten requested in the
chain letter. Offers of forty or fifty thou
sand, if desired, have been received. So
it is impossible to place any estimate on
the number mailed. Some interprising
mathematician has figured out that the
chain would produce 112, 194 414, OBS, $50, $685.
603, 6S3 letters without the multiplication
of stamps enclosed, but as the chain has
no doubt been broken many times, the
world will not have to be repopulated to
supply the demand.
Owing to the published statements that
the stamps are worthless, and the natural
INDIGNATION of the Kaneville postmaster
at the uselessness of his heavy labors, the
postnas S ter general has been Obliged to
make an investigation of the Kaneville
postoffie Some days ago an inspector ar
rived and discovered that not only was
the mail carelessly handled but that mail
clerks along the route had been defacing
some letters and destroying others. He
stated that he had obtained enough proof
to cost several clerks their positions and to
put one or two in the penitentiary. Several
of Miss Browns letters referred to en-
closures of five-dollar bills but the money
was lost.
AS to the cash value of this avalanche
Of stamps, everything remains to be seen.
one or two New York dealers have Of
fered $50 million for the unsorted stamps
without inspection, and Mettie reports an
offer from a Chicago firm Of 500 per mill
lion. Whatever sum may be realized the
folly and waste of such a means of money
raising is obvious from simple caleula-
ton one hundred dollars is ten thou