Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-03-09
THE POSTAL EXHIBIT
THAT FOR THE PAN-AMERICAN Ex-
POSITION PROGRESSING.
Some of the Interesting Features 1t
Will COntain-A Full COlIec-
tion of Stamps.

The preparation of the postal exhibit for
| the Pan-American exposition is progress
| ing rapidly at the museum of the Post
! Office Department and it Is thought there
| the exhibit will be ready for shipment TO
| Buffalo on March 20 Col. ]. B. Brownlow
has been chosen as the representative OF
! the department at the exposition, and the
| work of making ready the exhibit is being
| supervised by S. L. Slack, curator of the
| museum, and who served as the American
| postal representative at the Paris eXposi-
| ton.
One of the features of the exhibit will
| be collection of stamps, which is said
| by authorities to be the most complete in
| the world. The stamps are handsomely
| mounted and shown in column cases; that
| is, in winged frames, which swing from
| columns. Until recently the Post Office
| Department had not complete set OF
| American postage stamps, but now all
| breaks in the series and issues have been
| filled by means of purchases made from
| dealers and collectors. The market value
| of the collection of American stamps is
! placed at 5000. The collection of foreign
| postage stamps is also complete.
Postal Equipment.
Figures and models illustrating the post
| al equipment of all countries having a
postal system will be shown, there being
| lay figures of English, German, French
and Swedish carriers clad in regulation
uniform and carrying their usual equip
ment. There are models of all types of
| vehicles used by foreign governments for
! the transportation of mail and models IL
| Illustrating methods of mail transportation
| in India, showing the carriers of Bombay
and Calcutta and types of the native
runners.
In the illustration of postal methods of
the government of the United States there
will be models of all postal vehicles from
the collection cart, screen wagon and rural
delivery wagon to the railway post office.
There will be the model of q distributing
rack and samples of all kinds of pouches
and bee boxes. Canoeing machines in op-
GRAFTON will be part of the exhibit.
Illustrative of early methods of mail
transportation in the United States, there
will be exhibited the old Concord coach
which used to carry the mails between
Helena and BOZeman, Mont. This coach
has several times been held up by road
agents and attacked by Indians and was
once used by General Sherman. while in
command of the army, in making a tour
of inspection of the military posts in the
northwest.
A dog team and siedge driven by an
Indian will also be shown. The group, it
is said was made from life, the Indian
having held the contract for several years
for carrying the mail in the Lake Superior
region. mounted carrier, his horse rep
resented as being at run, has been ar
ranged to illustrate the pony express.
railroads carried the mails between st.
Joseph. Mo, and San Francisco. There is
q lay figure of a Porto RiCan carrier
mounted on a donkey with a huge mail box
swung on each side, showing mail meth
DDS in Porto Rico prior to the American
occupation. Mr.. Slack has prepared the
figure of Cuban carrier taking mail from
a box. The box in this exhibit stood for
many years in one of the streets of Ha-
vana. 1t is big and heavy and bears the
Spanish cOat-Of-arms painted in brilliant
cOlOrS.
Ocean Mail Carriage.
One of the interesting models is that Of
the sidewheel steamer The Southern, the
first steamboat to carry the mails across
the Atlantic. She piled between Savannah
and Liverpool. The company owning this
ship endeavored for some time to get the
contract, the opposition of the Post Office
Department being that steam vessels are
uncertain Other models of the old
Mississippi river steamboat St. Louis the
stern-wheeler Oklawaha and the modern
ships Paris, Oceanic, Kaiser Wilhelm Ger
Crosse and La Touraine.
Several of the paintings from the Post
Office Museum will be sent to Buffalo One
of these Is a portrait of Benjamin Frank
lin the first Postmaster General and an
other portrait of Charles Emory Smith
the present Postmaster General There is
a painting of a mail coach of the type
common in 1900 and one of fast mail
train of 1900.
The stuffed figure of the old postal dog
OWney will also be sent to Buffalo TIE
| hsure is armOred in tags that Were at
tached to Owney in his wanderings over the
various mail routes of the world. This doc;
made the trip to Europe several times and
Travelled on large number of routes in
England and Scotland. He went to Japan
and was patted by the mikado He met
death at Toledo, 1t being said that post al
clerks there overfed him, and, being sick,
he wandered off. In fit of temper he bit
a man and was killed before his identity
was known
Dead Letter Exhibit
In the dead letter exhibit which will he
sent TO the Pan-American exposition is a
| lock of Giteau's hair While in the Dist rIct
| jan Glteau addressed Il letter to a woman
| VINO had left the United States and who
! could not be located by the postal authori-
ties The letter, after long travels came
10 the dead letter office and was opened
several months after the writer of it had
been executed. 1t contained q request for
money to aid in the conduct of Ciiteau's
case and bit of hair wrapped in paDcr
on which was written, This is a lock of
my hair" There are also a fan and pair of
gloves recovered from the hull of the
wrecked steamship Oregon. They had been
under water ia days when brought I'D
There are human skulls and weapons OF
many kinds. In Jars of alcohol are a rat
tlesnake and some tarantulas which were
sent alive through the mails. In the COL
lection is the explosive bomb which was
put into the mails and addressed to Capt
Eulate and the Viscaya when that ship
called at New York before the breaking ont
of the war with Spain.