The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-05-12

some desultory efforts to locate the heir.
but without success and the attempt was
abandoned.
Last summer the son appears to have
heard Of the decease of his parent and
he Immediately wrote to the American
vice consul, Gustav Richter, desiring to
be Informed as to the state of his faith
er's affairs. He gave his address: ]. w.
Becker, car tracer, Great Northern rail-
way, Windsor, Canada.
Then q missive went hopefully forth
from the office of the vice consul. and
in due course of time reached Windsor.
on Jan. 70 OF the present year. Mr.
BAKERS avocatfon as a car tracer seems
TO have taken him elsewhere, and the
letter was forwarded to the dead letter
office at Ottawa, whence it started back
Tor Demerara, with the luminous sugges-
ton that the Offices of the Great North
ern at either New York or Chicago might
be tried. st. Paul does not appear TO
have occurred to the Canadian postal Of
ilc1als. Back went the plentifully be-
stamped envelope, over 3,7C0 miles of land
and water, and soon 1t was again in the
hands of Mr.. Richter. Accepting the
suggestions OF the Canucks, the latter
conhded the letter once more to the ten
der mercies Of the postal authorities and
on this trip 1t left In the hold of the
steamer Gltora, the Themis not having
PiONCo a SIdlnylHB success as a mascot
on the previous trip
NOT AT GREAT NORTHERN.
After season the letter arrived at
Gotham, and was delivered at the Offices
of the Great Northern Here the officials
looked at 1t curiously and decided they
could do nothing. Chicago was men
toned as an alternative address on the
envelope and accordingly 1t was given
10 an offlce boy to RENAL. This youth
with difficulty curbed a desire to appro-
private to his own use some OF the fam
ing foreign stamps with which the epistIe
was by this time well decorated and d g.
patched 1t on its journey to the Windy
City A hurried ride on the fast mail
or thousand miles, and another halt
was made. In Chicago, of course. MOTH
ing was known of the much sought Mr..
Becker, and after thinking the matter
over 1T was decided to forward II to the
general Offices in this city, where II
should have been sent in the first place
1t was scrutinized by the chief clerk In
the passenger department and by him
an inquiry was sent to the official whose
duty 1t is to keep a record of every per
son, high or low, big or little. who has
ever experienced the pleasure OF drawing
salary from the corporation This
time the worries of the widely veled
letter appeared to be over but It was
doomed to still another disappointment.
After walt of several days word came
to the passenger department to the eff
feet that no person of the name of j. w
Becker had ever worked for the company
as car tracer, or in any other capacity
Nothing remained to be done but to re-
address the wanderer and send back
to South America where 1t will arrive
in the course of a week or So
An analysis Of the travels of the con-
sul's letter after the elusive Mr. Becker
shows that distance considerably great
er than half the circumference Of the
globe was covered. The first Journey to
Windsor meant a trip of about 3.4G0
miles Then to the dead letter office
was another 400 miles. Thence 1t was
started back to British Guiana, and that
meant another 3,700 miles at the
very least.
With a breathing spell here, 1t came
right back to New York, a distance Of
1900 miles and then went on to Chicago
another thousand miles With halt
to catch breath the race was continued
to st. Paul and 500 miles more had been
covered. A halt stop OF at least a week
was permitted here, and then the thor
oughly rested missive entered the lists
for continuous squirt OF 1900 miles to
the postoffice whence 1t was originally
started on its long jaunt The total
distance covered is approximately 1890
miles, and before the missing Mr.. Becker
Is finally located this may be Increased
almost indefinitely.
1t is hardly possible that Mr. Becker
is an employee of the Great Northern
Railway Company OF Canada, a road
about 500 miles long, running between
Ottawa and Parry sound. on Georgian
bay Mr.. Richter, however, can scarce
ly suspect even the existence of this
road and he is not likely to pursue this
clue to a finish.