The Monitor-register., 1897-05-14
MOBILES REVENGE.
HE GOT EVEN WITH THE AUTHOR
OF THE SPECIAL DELIVERY STAMP.

OF iHC " OCIlNGhI . AMI
The Actors Letter of Congratulations to
For Sufficient Reasons, Which Appear
In This Story.
Milton Mobiles, the actor and author,
and Senator Villas were schoolmates in
Madison 80 years ago, and they went
from the schoolhouse to the war to-
gether. Mobiles thinks a good deal of
his old schoolmate and is proud of the
distinction he has won among the great
men of his party.
When the special delivery stamp
made its appearance, Senator Villas,
who was then postmaster general, re-
ceived many complimentary letters,
among them n from Mobiles. The rest
of the story is best told by the author
himself:
"When l wrote this letter of congrat-
ulation to the general, I hadn't had &C.
casion to use or receive any of the
stamps, but the idea seemed to me to
be a good one. l was spending a week
at home in Brooklyn at the time. One
bitter morning about 8 O'Clock 1 was
awakened by what seemed TO me to be
the ringing of all the fire bells in
Brooklyn. Showing my head out of the
second story window, 1 could see a
muffied figure Oh the steps below jerk
ing the bell with savage fury. What is
1T? l asked. At that moment the bell
wire broke, and the figure fell back
ward down the steps. The snow was
knee deep, and the wind was blowing
so miles an hour. AS the figure rolled
down the steps l could hear some choice
specimens of explosive English in a
familiar accent, mingled with
thing about letter, special delivery
After removing chains and bolts /
opened the outer door, and the messen.
ger blew into the vestibule in a sheet OF
snow.
"'What is it? What have you got?'
"'Letter.'
"'What the Helen Blazes are you
bringing a letter here for at this time of
night?'
Especial delivery, sir, please
81 backed into the hall and slid my
hand all over the wall, trying to find
the matchsafe. The vestibule was full
of snow, and 1 had commenced sneez-
ing.
"'Come in and shut the door!' l yell
ed. Bang went the door and out went
my match just as I had got the gas
turned on. The messenger bumped up
against me in the dark, stepped on my
toes and shook a shovelful of snow off
his shoulders about my feet, filling my
slippers and dropping down my back.
l finally succeeded in lighting the gas,
signing the book, pushing the messen-
ger out and boiling the door. Then
went up stairs with my prize. l exam
ined the long blue stamp carefully. 1t
was the first one that l had received.
Then l devoted about five minutes to
wondering what the dickens it was all
about. After a time it occurred to me
to open it and see. The handwriting
was unknown, but the refrain was ia
miliar. Here it is:
"SHEBoYGAN, Wis, Jan. 10.
"Milton Mobiles, Esq:
"DEAR SIR-You will doubtless be surprised
at receiving this letter from an entire stran-
ger. But L feel that L was born to be an actor.
81 am but 22, 5 feet 0, light curly hair, blue
eyes and have played several parts with the
Sheboygan Amateur society. 1 inclose notices.
My family object to my going on the stage, bu;
1 feel that it is my duty, and as 1 would only
join a first class company my friends urged
me to write to you. Should like to play lovers
parts. l saw you play in Milwaukee last fall.
Can COM any time. 1 have also written a
play. Could you lend me $50? Yours to com.
mand, l. ARTHU JONES.
"(Stage name-E. Forrest Melnotte.)
"P. S.-The new special delivery stamp has
just got here, and 1 put one on to see how it
works. J. A. j.
"By the time I had finished reading
this letter 1 had a chill. Three hours
later 1 had such a cold that I could not
open my eyes. l remained i'll my room
for treatment for three days. On the
fourth day L became convalescent, and
the first labor L performed was the writ
ing Of the following letter:
"BRooKLYN, JAN. 26.
"Hon. W. +. Villas, Postmaster General, Wash
ington:
"DEAR SIR-Quite recently, in a moment OF
unguarded enthusiasm, 1 wrote you a letter
congratulating you upon the brilliant stroke
of genius made manifest in the PRONUNCIATION
of the special delivery stamp.
"Recent events have given me a wider
knowledge of the subject and opened my eyes
to the pernicious consequences likely to follow
your gigantic blunder.
81 desire to withdraw my letter and enter {
protest against your making any use of the
same as an apparent Endorsement of your new
departure OF with a view to your securing {
situation in the future. This need not neces
sarily interfere with our friendship, but be
tween friendship and business the line mus
be drawn somewhere, and choose, for reasons
conclusive to myself, to draw it at the 8 d. m
special delivery. Very truly yours,
'EMILToN MOBILES.
81 cut the special delivery stamp from
the Sheboygan letter and pasted it on
the envelope, and, inclosing both in an
other letter, l sent them to a friend in
Washington with a few lines of expla-
nation and instruction. The next stormy
night my friend, following instructions,
hired a special messenger, and at 3 p.
m. he began ringing Postmaster Gener-
al Villas doorbell. First a servant
came, her the generals secretary, but
the messenger was firm; he must see
the general. Thinking probably that
wal had been declared in Haiti and a
midnight session of the cabinet called,
the general slipped an ulster Oh over
his nightshirt and went down to the
door. The messenger showed the letter
into his hand and bolted on a double
quick.
"The obnoxious stamp has not been
called in, but I had my revenge OH the
postmaster general. "-Milwaukee Sen
tinel.
oliver Optics Will.
There were 10 public requests in the
will Of William T. Adams (Oliver Op
tic). 1t was very brief and was written
i'll the authors own hand, under date of
April 81, 1885. GAS a simple token of