Democratic messenger., 1896-03-14
DEAD LETTERS.

mere J. no department IN W a>hng-
ton, unless it he the treasury, where the
new money Is made aud the old des-
troycd, that is Of more general interest
than the dead letter Office It occu-
pies large room. well lighted by a
glass roof and many large windows, in
the + street portion Of the post office
building. 1t Is surrounded by wide
gallery, connected with the lower part
by an iron stair case The lady clerks
occupy this gallery, while the men
work on the floor below Bags upon
bags Of dead letters and other matter
from all over the world come 10 this
room every day The chief clerk and
his assistants first look through their
daily mail oi l5,00o dead letters to see
ii any have come that cannot properly
he termed dead PostmaSters and
postal clerk, are human and liable to
err and about 3.o00 letter, which
have gone astrav through their care
Ies>ue>s reach the dead letter office
every year The clerk may send 10
Il place in Illinois, a letter plainly adj
dressed 10 a place il Maine, aud the
postmaster will keep it the usual time
and then forward it To the dead letter
office. After the chief clerk and his
assistants have examined the letters,
they are sent to men who. sitting at
long tanlc,, quickly cut open the en-
velopcs with sharp knives ami examine
the contents to see ii there j. anything
OF value These men who open the
letters are elderly and present Il ven
erable appearance Quite number
oi them are broken down clergvmcn,
who are given the preference III ap-
polnlment~ in this department. ior the
department think, that those who
have reached old age and seen that
"ho, e,ty i the best policy Viii be
les liable 10 yield 10 the temptation
which an outsider would t.dnk mast
be ever present at tie openers table
1t would be- 50 easy 10 slip a bank
/ note or some valuable article into
ones pocket, while opening letter,
and detection would he we'll nigh
impossible tut IL one Of the clerks
remarked. We soon forget that the
money We find ia the letters is money
II does not seem ANYTHING more than
printed paper Each opener makes
a record Of what money and articles
he finds and puts the letter containing
these articles one side tor future diSpo-
sition. Letters containing nothing uf
value are sem by messenger 10 the
lady employees who look them through
10 find, il possible, an addrc>, To which
they can be returned. Ii none can be
found the letters are reduced To paper
pulp and sold. This old paper hu>i-
ne>> oil the dead letter department
brings the government several thou,.
and dollars a year
The lady clerks sometimes find let
tiers written hy friends Of their, with
ont ether signature Than initials or the
first name which they return to the
sender. fhi, occasionally gives rise
to the thought that the dead letter
office must be blessed with second
sight, Tor ii not, how could the clerks
return letter with no name or town
upon il, or no further clue than SIM
ply that Bob has the measles" or
Ellen Is to he married mex; week.
~ usual thing, however, the clerk,
have little time To read the interesting
letters that were never intended
for more than one persons ewes, aud
that person not a clerk in the deal
letter office. They have their little
Joke, Il, well as any one, and some
times cannot resist the temptation To
add wor, or two tn the letters they
send back, la one love letter receiv
ed at this office some years ago the
sender wrote, Il d. hope, my dear,
that none 81 tie imp, in the dead let
Ter office viii get hold OF TIN, letter"
and the clclk in returning il added,
u aa very sorry. but the inps did get
il It must have made The Young
man blush when the letter was return
ed to him
Immense quanltie, of money are
found in dead letters, the bank notes,
checks. drafts, money orders. etc.
found yearly amounting to several
million, Of dollars. Ii no address is
gwen wberr hi, money can be return
ed il i i, ,posile,l in The treasury sub
Jet Ia application Of the owner \
careful record j. made OF all letters
containing valuable articles. and
most minute history i kept Of thcir
travels amongst the dead letter clerks. /
We have seen than the opener makes
Il record whenever he find, a letter
containing money, and each morning
thesn records of the previous dav are
recorded bN the head If the opening
table, ani then the letlei, ate taken
from the satr through assistants, rc
counted and the record verified. From
the head "i the opening fable they %
To tht uou,a branch aud arc divided
among different clrlk~t, be iurNarlcd
Tried Friends Best.
l%orthirtyNcars lutt $ Pills have