Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1895-08-04
They Handle Poorly Dr.
rected Letters.
CALLED "BLiNO READERS"
Misdlrected Letters Sent to
Their Right Destinatl on by
Well-lnformed Officials.


not reasonably expect that II suaH
reach It's destination. But the United
States postal officials are more IMAM
lust, they are merciful, ana have
elaborate machinery for supplying
omissions and other mistakes IN ad-
dresses. In the New YORK once an
average of two thousand or three th9u-
sand letters, newspapers and paroles
~ received daily which cannot be de-
liycred after an ordinary reading OF
tho subscriptlOn Such mail matter
Il sent to the directory reading dc
partmcnt, where It u distributed
among a force Of men VINO set about
declphprlng what rs not clear and NIL
ing In what IN lacking. In the par
lance Of the office, these men are called
'biind readers" and their hIhd u
william W Stone, who has been en-
gagged on this work for nearly inrty
years. The mistakes are OF all pos
Flble and various impossible KINDS, nut
most OF them are grouped into classes.
A common form Of error II the fall-
ure to put IN the city and state after
the uddrpsace's name, street ana mum
brr. a good part OF these can be sent
straight after study Of an Invaluable
work Of reference published by the
dead letter office ana entitled street
Directory OF the Principal cities Of
the United states" This was origin
ally kept by MIR, Stone in manuscript
but It's value was recognized by his
new edition ~ brought out about cv-
trv three years. and ON" was Issued
In March last, n IL ~ ll2A pages, ana
contain 13i cities which were not IN me
previous volume. All the streets In
hll the free delivery cities uf the Cuun-
try are given In this The streets are
arranged Alphabetically, except he
numbered ones, ana under each lH
printed the ritirs having thorough
fare Of that name. opposite each city
are printed the limits Of the number
Ing OF the houses In the struet-thnt
H. In tho highest and lowest number
which a house In the street may have.
In some cases the solution Of de-
hcent address IS extremely simple
with the aid OF this directory, Thus
letter for samuel Stuttun, No. AOt
CulytOn street. is at one" forwarded
TO Los Angeles, Cal, Tor that city
alone has a Culyton street, \ letter
for Mrs Mary l., wilson West llousa
ton. Suedad, Tex, finds IT. way TO
San Antonio, for white there are ma
uurally several cities In that state
which have streets named after Gem
eral Houston. only sun Antonio also
has a Solednd street Some searching
was necessary To Ind the destination
nf letter for Albert liarrye, Wood
ward avenue. between Grand River
cred that Detroit alone had streets
bearing those three names
The numbers given with each street
are often Significant, Thus, a piece
of mail matter for Hammond a. Co..
No 202g Jefferson Place, NO city being
given, goes TO baltimore at once There
are eleven cities with thoroughfares
NJ the sumo name, but in none OF the
others does the numbering run up to
ao22. In great muny streets the
numbers do not begin wl.h one, tho
lowest sometimes being suo0, cot even
higher Thus a letter directed to J.
NJ, Lawlrr, No Mcfarland street
pwpushurl, Ky, was quickly forward
I'd To HUNTINGTON, IND, FOR while four
ntlcs have a Mcfarland street, only
lhat In Huntington, Ind, has NUM-
brrA running below s. OF course, II
Va more common to have "a letter sent
10 the wrong city than to have II
mailed with tho name Of the city omit
ted hut the directory Ia equally con-
vcnleut IN either class Of mistakes.
The blind readers" besides have a
large collection Of ordinary city drcc-
tories, perhaps one hundred altogether.
" the general street directory shows
that . given letter might be for any
one nf halt dozen cities, the direc-
tory OF each " searched In turn, and
like as not the addreEsee ~ Identified
Tho library also contains number OF
nther directories, Two az them are OF
places having no pustotllce, and they
tell whittier mail for them should be
directories also, one of these liz of
tnlning lists of banks and cashiers Of
banks, clergymcn OF various dcnnm-
nations, etc. Mr., Stone and his as
sistanta have half q dozen mlnuacrlui
directories also one of these IL OF
institutions, psylums colleges big fac.
tories, ctc A second rs nj mills cs.
pecially those In which foreigners arc
employed and another Of mines. TX.
norhnt persons IN Europe will write
To rclatievs here, giving az their nd.
dress merely the mine or mill In which
they are employed, Names are addcd
10 these hooks NJ reference from, tim,
10 time, until now they are remark,
ably complete, a directory Of scods.
men Is also found OF frequent use. al
many farmers misdirect letters I,
these merchants.
NAH from Italy gives great deal ri
trouble, lts volume is large, and mucl
Of u IL directed in hopelcssly lleglhl,
fashion, Colonies Of Italians are Al
work on now railroads. in minca ant
on similar enterprises and Il u IRE
luontly hard TO trace the Individuals
However, as the men usually work IL
gangs and live together, II ia posslbl,
10 Keep on record the addresses %
many such colonies The director,
scarchers become familiar with thesl
addresses, and nre thus aided In de
clpherlng misspellcd names OF towns
The errors are chiefly based on pho
nelic spelling Thus "Pruleate" IA no
even dimly suggestive Of Port Chester
but the "hlind reader" who speak
,'Pruicste' out, and knows that ther,
Us an Italian colony at Port Chester
would promptly send the letter there
mlHslve from Italy hcarlng tina
huperHcrlption was actually received
at the New York postonice recently
and WAS despatched to Its destination
This Italian directory solves SOM
apparently hopeless puzzles IL let
Toy la received FOR Dominica spanga
dollp No. 1909 Front street. Nortl
America II II sen az once TO Whining
ton Del, - the directory shows thu
only IN that city Is M 100 From
street, house Inhabited by italians
Had the address been simply 40. Ia
Front street the letter would hnvl
gone To newport. KY; ifiNu 10 From
street, 20 Cincinnati; II No 20a From
street TO Wilmington. ~ Y, ana ii
Naturally the New. York city dlrec
tory II frequently consulted. MI
stone has II interviewed With whit,
PAPER on which ia written the new
addresses Of every citizen who send
word TO the postoulce Of his removal
This directory Ia bound In three VII
uines, This is Tor various reasons
avoids undue bulklness and enable,
three men to use the work al m,
same time As there are about on,