The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-03-11
MORE TUBE-SOAKED MAIL
FOREIGN LETTERS THIS TIME, TORN,
ED AND soUSED.

Employees or the Tubular DISPATCH Company
Thint There's an Z" Excess or WATER in the
Tnbe-second Accident This Week and Fourth
Within sixteen Days 60 First-Clhss Mall.
There was another accident In the pneumatic
mail tubes yesterday, and moro first-olnss United
States mall was torn and ripped and blaokened
with oil and dirt and soaked with water. This
10 the fourth accident that has happened in the
tubes In sixteen days, an average OF one every
four days. and in every accident lrst-class mail
matter has been either damaged or ground up
Into blackonod pulp and utterly destroyed. The
frequency OF the accidents in the tubes and tho
destruction OF mail moved a man yesterday to
dub them the pneumatic destroy
ers."
The tubes don't belong to tho Government.
They are the property OF the Tubular Dispatch
Company. and are operated by the company.
They are leased to tho Government. Nobody
knows what happened In tho tubes yesterday.
and so far as the public has learned nobody ever
knows anything definite except the result. In
the first two accidents some GOO letters, some of
them containing checks and money and others
articles of great value, were chewed up and de-
stroyod. Tho company said 1t was the fault Of
the Post Office clerks. Tho Post Office Depart
mcnt directed that thereafter no moro
Post ONCE clerks DO employed handling the
carriers Of the company and forced the CON-
pany to employ Its own men at that work. The
third accident was on Tuesday OF this week.
and tho unofficial excuse Of tho company was
that the man who had placed the carrier in the
tube was inexperienced and was being broken
In" In that accident three packag es Of letters
were soaked with water. the carrier coming
through half full of water.
The fourth accident. the one which happened
yesterday. occurred shortly before / o'clock in
NhA ftarnann Ata ntartnr hafnra I nfr1npH N
carrier was started from Station II. which is in
the Grand Central Palace. 1t contained four
packages OF letters. 1t was tho most important
mail Of the day sent from Station II. for 1t was
made up almost entirely OF letters addressed to
foreign countries. The letters were in packages
about five inches deep, tied with manila
Irvine. The packages were dropped into tho
carrier one on top of the other, and then the
cover was shut and locked. As there has been
talk about an improperly locked cover every
time an accident has happened. the men who
handle the carriers have been continually
warned to see that no carrier leaves their hands
until 1t Is securely locked. This carrier. tho EN-
ployse Of the Tubular Dispatch CSSm ny p any, who h
t PUB ~ INTO 'n' 'n"'n'n' 'na' '0'''' ~ 'A'0 '"'
Seven or eight minutes later the carrier ar
rived at the General Post Office, and that was
the first that the officials knew of the accident.
mail in It was a sight. Some Of the letters in
the outside package were torn and ripped. up.
f Tbe f fstte essf IN ~ t6e o1bsr psdt ana wet @e aed h SJl%ds e:
s.royed, but the water had soake them, and the
oil and dirt looked as If it had been ground into
The Post Oflce clerks who receive the mail
from the employees of tho Tubular Dispatch
Maze. in whose hands is the management OF the
mail that travels through the tubes; He hustled
FIrs tn Hss .G s Pos tine %ss' MORGAN Hna 1nG That R0 there
had been another accident. Mr.. Morgan directed
that the tube service DO suspended, pending an
examination. and he sent for the damaged let,
tiers. They were taken to his room. They looked
to be in q great deal worse condition than thoy
really were. Not q letter in the whole lot that
was not dirty on the edges, and at a glance it
looked as II they were all destroyed. The
ment where damaged mail is cared for and a
force of clerks employed there began work sort.
ing them out and trying. to clean up those that
were the least damaged and to dry out those
that were soaked with the oil and water. The
Assistant Postmaster questioned Superintend-
accident. which was simply that it had hap.
pened and that the mail had been damaged. The
A. As9istsnt p0st ma eam sent to the offoe OF an the me
time the eompany's exclamation Of the last pre-.
vious accident had just been received. 1t was
that the accident had been "exagGerated' and
The Dispatch Company sent an engineer to
the Post Office in response to the summons, and
and he with the employees Of the company
ti tin Q T%o, sr ominfo to w find ,S Sat T sbs1o was Was t ae mst.
cess Of water" in the tubes. They thought 1t
might be due to the sudden change In the
weather. This change, they thought. caused
Increased condensation OF the moisture in the
air in the tubes, which. percolated through be-
tween the cover rim and the carrier and through
the interstices In the hinges OF the carrier cap.
Moisture, they said. was continually condensing
on the inner surface Of the tube, which is sew
eral degrees colde than the air passing through,
and from this came the wafer.
The tube was kept idle until nearly 3 o'clock,
and then the Post Office officials permitted its
use again. The company will be asked to give
a full explanation of the accident and assurance
that no more accidents will happen.