The sun., 1904-08-30
LINOLEUMVILLE'S LOST MAIL.
HUNDREDS or LETTERS HIDDEN
IN BACK ROOM OF OFFICE.
postmistress Removed After Complaints.
and extraordinary Discoveries Fol.
,ow-Many Letters Found Contained
Cash and We're Intact-Was II Prank?

the DllOleuIuNle, ptdVeI iriduu, pobt
Office Yesterday afternoon and returned to
the city. Further than to say that the
case was one Of the qieerest he had ever
had to look into in professional way, he
vas noncommittal.
He will make his report to the chief in
spcctor to-day, and whether or no the
United States District Attorney will be
called upon to begin proceedings OF any
sort against Miss Grace Decker. who. until
removed from Office few days ago. was the
linolcumville postmistress. remains to be
seen.
At present tho only charge against Miss
Decker Is gross careessness in the conduct
of her Office. but the revelations Of the
past few days have shown that carelessness
q have been of so extraordinary a character
that IT is difficult to understand the impell-
ing cause that was behind 1t all.
The trouble in the Linoleumv lille post
Office began several months ago with COM
plants as TO the n non-receipt Of letters.
many of them rcgist cred or containing
money, money orders or drafts. addressed
to people In the village. Inspector Fuller
was sent down there and on the siren 9Th
of his preliminary report Miss Decker
was removed from Office and Miss Helen
Mlnlo W dS dppoIlltth I'i sutNe5ssoi.
It has now developed that veritable
chaos reigned in the village post office for
the last eight or ten months of Miss Deck
or. administration. Nearly everybody in
the village who had any correspondence
TO speak of had been complaining Of missing
letters Letters with money orders in
them were traced as far as the Port Rich
mond office. the nearest to Linoleumville,
and then they vanished.
The same was true of registered letters.
a record Of which is kept in every Office
through which they pass. There are rumors
in the village. that some of the persons who
lost money in this way were quietly paid in
full and let the matter drop. But there
we're great numbers OF other missing let
rers some containing drafts and orders
and even cash. which were never accounted
for until Miss Minto took possession OF the
Office short time ago
The post Offices in a little box Of build
ing on the one long village street. Back
ot the office proper is a little room, used
a. a sort Of store room and lumber room
and general dumping place for all sorts Of
odds and ends. Among the other things
tucked away there were some rolls of ragged
and dirty old carpet which had pass ed
Il cir usefulness. but were stored away
ON some vague general theory that they
might come in handy" some time.
As soon as Miss Mimic took possession
of the post office she set about a general
house cleaning. and among the first places
she tackled was this rear storeroom. She
WAS surprised to find every now and then
a letter that apparently had strayed out
Of it's proper place in the post Office, got
among the rubbish and been overlooked
Some of these letters were addressed to
I.noeumville. Some OF them had been
posted In the Linoleumville post ONCE
and never sent out.
At first Miss Mimic contented herself with
iorw arding the letters to their destinations.
People in the village were surprised to re-
ceve letters in this present month OF
that they had Been mailed away back last
spring, or even in the winter.
hish in the back room the more Of these
letters she found. The old rolls OF carpet
proved to be quite a mine OF them When
abe began unearthing them by the dozen,
and apparently with no end in sight. she
official advice.
So she communicated with the Post Office
Department. and the result was that In
spector Fuller was again sent to Linoleum-
vile to make another investigation. He
has been there now for three or four days.
and the result has been what he describes
"a one of the most extraordinary condi
tions he ever found In a post Office.
Among, other things he made personal
nook and corner Of that lumber room in
the rear Of the office. Over two hundred
letters were dug out of the most improbable
places of concealment. A number were
chimney hole in the room. Still more we're
found tucked In sits In the upholstery
ot an old sofa that had been slowed away
in the room.
Part Of the letters were, torn in two.
Some Of them were merely torn open.
Others had been opened and sealed up again
in a very crude and bungling way. Still
more we're found quite intact, and several
Of these had cash and money orders in
them.
Linoleumville IL even now only beginning
TO wade and founder out OF the confusion
resulting from this state OF things. An
drew Jackson Miller, for instance, is finding
out that many members Of the lodge OF
foresters of which he is secretary had had
black marks unjustly placed by him against
their names for non-payment OF dues. The
money for the dues was found in letters
that had been stored away in Miss Deckers
lumber chamber.
James Sidgraves, the village druggist,
has found out that a draft which he ex
pected from Manchester. England the nom
appearance of which caused him muc h
'TOuDle ana uHeHSlneSS, was sent on Vim y
after all. II was delivered to him a few
days ago, having been received at the New
York post Office in April last and forwarded
in due course from there to Linoleumvile,
where it disappeared among the treasures
in the back room OF Miss Decker's post
offce
0f the 200 people in the village Of Limo
leumville about 700 work in the linoleum
mills. Many OF them are Poles. They
were in the habit OF renting money to
tho old country. How much OF this money
has gone aetray and how much Of that
which may be missing has been dug out
of the rubbish in the lumber room--all
these and many more snarls are yet to be
nnravelled
Ever since the treasure trove In the way
of letters began to be distributed in Linole-
'imville the Poles have been in alternate
moods Of mourning and rejoicing. The
doings In the way Of births and deaths
among their friends covering an interval
of nearly years time have been suddenly
dumped upon them, and great has been the
excitement in consequence.
Inspector Fuller yesterday declined TO
hazard an opinion az TO what action the
government would take In the matter
lie declined TO say whether there were
tut.Nl a.