The sun., 1903-06-07
AUTOGRAPHS IN A COAL BIN.
A FIND or INTERESTING OLD
LETTERS IN UiSIIINGTON.
Ii Them Greeley. COnkling ana 0thrrs
Ask TO Have Appointments Made
in the Post Dfiicc-The First woman
in the Service 4 Snutherner's Letter.

I'm the Service "A Snuthprner's Letter.
WAsHrNGToH, June @ Mot the least IN
teresting incident in connection with the
present invest igation into Post Once De-
nartnent scandals was the recent discovery
In an old, out of the way fife case o1 NUM-
ber Of Autograph letters of recommends
ton written by mon famous IN American
history
Postmast er General Payne recently re-
ouested the appointment clerk oi me De-
psrtment to find a misplaced document
which was desired for reference in matter
lowing out Of the general inquiry now IN
progress The clerk in the course oi his
search came across the battered piece o'
furniture that contained the documents
referred to
The file case had apparently been con-
sidered of no value, for II had been slowed
away in one Of the Department ; coal bins
and eventually would have been broken up
and its contents burned. APPOINTMENT
Clerk Nicholson realized the historic value
of the documents and handed them to
Postmaster General Payne. who now has
them in his private safe.
The papers include lcttors of recommen-
dation from Roscoe Conkling, written in
1896 when he was a Representative from
New York; Horace Greeley, Charles Sumner,
and Others
Among tho papers was the record Of the
first woman appointed in the postal service
and one of the first employed in the Gov
ernment departments i'll Washington in
any capacity, Another document bore
the written sentiments of a rahid Seces-
sionist who was appointed to office on the
strength of his penmanship and compost
ton" against which his anti-union ex-
pressons were not allowed to stand in the
way.
The documents are considered Of more
than ordinary interest, inasmuch as auto
graph letters of recommendation from
prominent men are practically things OF
the past The general Use Of the type
writer, and the fact that every public man
Of prominence has n private secretary.
are responsible for this modern condition
Autograph letters of recommendation
are not looked upon with favor in Govern
ment department nowadays and n missive
from Horace Greeley. such as the one on
file, would probably he thrown in the waste
basket az indecipherable. The appear
ance of this letter iustfles all the things
that we're ever said about the great editors
chirography.
The letter from Roscoe ConklinG is on
ordinary fooscap paper in his big, strag-
Cling handwriting and looks as If il had
been written with paint brush. II reads
as follows;
Sept. 10. 1850.
Honournbic Mo"tgor'rp H. blair, Post Master
My DENr Srr: Henry \ Daniels Itica.
New York is the of whom ] spoke tp
you last eve. ilr j. Il lawyer by profession.
O. beautiful p"nin"n. and man of much
nesty ask his appointment as thihg con-
cerning my own personal convenience, as
we'll as fit and urgent Otherwise Very truly,
'P, ST have spoken to MIR ka,son. deliv-
ering to him the ne-,ag" y"u suggested
The records show that Mr.. Conkiing's
brief appeal was successful and that Mr.
Daniels secured a first class cierkship in
the Post Office Department
The letter from Horace Greeley l. on
Neu lrh Tribune let'erhead. and IT TOOK
the appointment clerk just two hours and
q half to decipher. The text follows:
wAsu1yoroS, D. c. March !, 1891.
DEAR SIR: | have known Hon. j. b. Grin
nell for several years as most nprlsh,.
of Iowa, and / ara sure he has ever ho:nie
high character, wherever known; | do
mot t" "ca @s nj sranr cd n%-
AZ! 81! va i,iSu,", W ",'' Dhirh he may N, A..
ninned vii ,iiI I've hllcd bv MIN with eminent
fidelity and integrity Respectfully.
HORACE GEEELEY.
To the Post Master General after March
ith. 1851
Mr.. Greeley's plea was also successful,
for Mr. Grinnell secured soft snap that
ne held FOR NUMBER o. years. o,,.,,,o.
is brief and 10 the point. He wanted job
for a Massachusetts, constituent and he
asked for il without preiminarieS and
n,;,ha,t ,r, ron,arks ne "a the candidate e'S
i;G ".., o.. 60 10 ,i,ca The records
qualicd'ipils io' Wv. ,,. ,1a,.
SHOW that he gov IL WiLhouo ooiu!
Another autograph ietter oi recoiltieh
dation from James A. Garncld received no
attention After a time Mr.. Garfield wrote
another which was not quite 30 polite,
81 II -, T., ,,,. or,cr--a GOOD office
anu ne gov " ''i' liC ". .I.a> ,in,.,
Tor 1Tlend-lh eNacilS '4Ite 'aH :.
One of the most Interesting papers III
the collection il a letter written by one
Perry Moses. who lived in that hotbed OF
.a,osc;op oh, rlevton 8 g. The Circunl-
e.Sesaioh aN 5;nn N.a ,ha vr;,ino of the
SldHceS Su,ip ";.,,,Is,,,t 20 u,
letter ana MT. MoSeS . "PPoiiii w "
r. 600 Office in the postal service are Solhe
what peculiar.
Mr. Moses aDplied for place Just at the
,osa ~ Ruchauan,s administ ration. He
~ VI t.'..,, - aLi,n for ,he imnortant
hao Pioh'ii'iiV 'a NJ S1o,;a Ein,r y-no
place ne desired a!iH iola'ior ni.S, " w., ~
was then flrrt ASslnlahl Ios.iIiaS.''
lN n