Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1897-09-22

MOBILES REVENGE.
HE GOT EVEN WITH THE AUTHOR
OF THE SPECIAL DELIVERY STAMP.

The Actors Letter Of Congratulations to
Postmaster General Villas Withdrawn
For Sufficient Reasons. Which Appear
In This Story.
Milton Mobiles, the actor and author,
and Senator Villas were schoolmates in
Madison S5 years ago, and they went
from the schoolhouse to the war to-
gether. Mobiles thinks a good deal of
his old scboolmate 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-
ceiyed many complimentary letters,
among them one from Mobiles. The rest
CT the story is best told by the author
himself:
"When ! wrote this letter of congrat
ulation to the general, hadn't had oc-
casion to use or receive any Of the
stamps, but the idea seemed to me to
be good one. was spending week
at home in Brooklyn at the time. One
bitter morning about 8 o'clock l 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, | could see a
muf1ed figure OH the steps below jerk
ing the bell with savage fury. What is
it?' l asked. At that moment the bell
wire broke, and the figure fell back
ward down the steps. The SHOW was
! knee deep, and the wind was blowing
30 miles an hour. As the figure rolled
down the steps I could hear some choice
specimens of explosive English in a
familiar accent, mingled with some
thing about letter, special delivery.
After removing chains and bolts l
opened the outer door, and the messen'
ger blew into the vestibule in sheet Of
snow.
"'What is it? What have you gotP'
"'Letter.
"'What the Helen Blazes are you
bringing a letter here for at this time Of
night?'
Especial delivery, sir. please.
II backed into the hall and slid my
hand all over the wall, trying to find
tie matchsafe. The vestibule was full
of snow, and / had commenced sneez-
ing.
"'Come in and shut the doorp yell
ed. Bang went the door and out went
my match just as l hid got the gas
turned on. The messenger bumped up
against me In the dark, stepped on my
toes and shook shovelful of snow off
his shoulders about my feet, filling my
slippers aud dropping down my back.
finally succeeded in lighting the gas,
signing the book, pushing the messen-
ger out and bolting the door. Then
went up stairs with my prize. l exam
ined the long blue stamp carefully. 1t
was the first one that had received.
Then I devoted about five minutes to
wondering what the dickens it was all
about. After q 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. l9
"Mil Mobiles, ESQ.,:
| DEAR SlR-You Will doubtless be surprised
at receiving this letter from an entire stran
ger. But feel that was born to be an actor
~ am but 22, 8 feet 0, light curly hair, blue
eyes and have played several parts with the
Sheboygan Amateur society. inclose notices
My family object to my going on IT," stage, but
| raol xl,k; ;% 10 r,,fr nd NO /
join first class company my friends urged
me to write to you. Should like to play lovers
Earts saw you play in Milwaukee Inst fall.
| Can cone any time. ! have also written
play. Could you lend me s2O2 Yours to com
| mand, l. ARTHUR JONES.
"(Stage name-E. Forrest Melnotte.)
up. S.-The new special delivery stamp has
Just got here, and I put one on to see how 1t
| works. d. A. =.
"By tho time I had finished reading
this letter l had chill. Three hours
later had such a cold that could not
opcn my eyes. l remained in my room
for treatment for three days. On the
fourth d.. l became convalescent, and
the first labor performed was the writ
ing of tho following letter:
"BRooKLYN, Jan. 26.
Hon. ". F. Villas, Postmaster General. Wash
ington:
DEAR SIR-Quite recently, in q moment OF
unguardcd enthusiasm, wrote you letter
rongratulating you uIon the brilliant stroke
Of genius made manifest in the PRONUNCIATION
of the special delivery stamp.
Recent events have given ME wider
knowledge Of the subject and opened my eyes
to the pernicious consequences likely 10 follow
your gigantic blundcr.
II desire to withdraw my letter and enter
protest against your making any use OF the
same as an APPARENT Endorsement OF your new
departure or with a view to your securing
situation in the future. This need not neccs'
sarily interfere with our friendship, but be'
tween friendship and business the line must
be drawn somewhere, and choose, for reasons
conclusive to myself, to draw it mt tho g. m.
special delivery. Very truly yours,
"MILToN MOBILES
II cut the special delivery stamp from
the Sheboygan letter and pasted 1t on
the envelope and, inclosing both in an
other letter, l sent them to friend IN
Washington with few lines of expla-
nation and instruction. The next stormy
night my friend, following instructions,
hired special messenger, and at p.
N. he began ringing Postmaster Gener-
al Villas doorbell. First a servant
came, then the generals secretary, but
the messenger was firm; he must see
the general. Thinking probably that
war had been declared in Haiti and q
midnight session of the cabinet called,
the general slipped an ulster OIL over
his nightshirt and went down to the
door. The messenger showed the letter
into his hand and bolted OH double
quick.
1.-THE obnoxious stamp has not been