The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-09-15
E ID f OSI a.
MORO UTE
work or The PULLS PRoRsRs AT
THE 0Eacs LETTER OFFICE

q work Ofs&t rs PUZZLE EPROSSRSSA
i The DEAD LETTER OFFICE
Expert. at .sBIind Reading. WHO
L Can UarareI Riddles or writing
J.. and Addressing That appear At
First to Be CnsoIrnble EniSmas.
/ When q letter goes to tie dead letter
/ office a. Washington il is not necesssl-
rily dead. So far as the. ability of
the ordinary postofnce official to de-
/ cipher tn" address is concerned il is
dead. hut there may be . spark of
| lie in il for all that. To rc>;irTect It.
to S..iTanize It INFO living leSibiiity. TO
| fan i:2lo existence the faint essence of
/ III. and utility. is the business of tie
| specialists whose long training has
| made tiica4 expert 1T blind :cadtn-.'
| Mans, and m&a:5' u ;lc-elict. honclcsS!y
! Discarded ~ tie puzzle prcbe:s OF the
| cctill:ry's poStotzices. finds Ks Way c:lt
Of the ,,1""-Ue of correspondence ANA
into tie !.;i1ls.S tt the person TO whom
il was !E1,:!::cS! TO go
There are jus, we points Of wEic-l
l'2iclc SANS posio::,ce ,:evcr Loses
si@t.7. G;i2 is rilat the letter i. i.!c:slst
tIsr ef-.,@ on" OF the ,i:.iiU:!.s al peTsa::s>
i! u" United States: t;2e ether IS li:;.l
i i q rc.i%ioCS d;:tT 10 Gc!ivcT il. Sc
2cl.t 1.lS i" ";ivC,c,se 70 lc c1esstst. =.
ors.e!r - -. c.rV i!IE tt,..l:S:!n.i ST.
III" ;71tc! "a - "a :,,,s-.yss CO l." c@st
$i,t. .s92.! .."il@;:I ra;si,i ~. S;.i;..- b:r
T:,,:ls -. -. wit" = rIle g.4,:r.: t:lali
HOS; n ti.2 :sC:&gess2i! :n!S#iEcs ti:;tt
Gn;! t--c!:- 10y Co 1c l.iI..t!s ii TIC read
cr- c. lis.--lc- vic (-:'.s7,.r With ti!Eri
;..il :-i-a ;...r rlre..' n9ns!t:scI. S;a..ie
= i!c"o 3u,-; tie S@"awis OF the address
is - c:szs. 10 laa1;o. Ec,yv slender iric-
t;ce !.s resolved t..e working Of these
tiny ...@NE-:s LT almost 4 science. II 50
much - :; street and :s}:nArr arc Sly
en-. frequently the letter is Forwarded
with L:it Katie delay cr ti32 operating
table .: these specialists.
Instances have boon l:n3Wn even
where jokers had addressed letters in |
cir!.el. ana these Lave promptly reach |
cd tile addresses. In fact. cipher would |
be as ie@ihle as 81 top line on three
sheet poster compared with some of
the inscriptions on which are exhausted
elaborate calculations and ponderous
thought before they are discarded as
unsolvable. Processes of elimination
are reSorted 10 that would discount
Sherlock Holmes who had Il life train
ing as 4 postmaster. Deductions are
made that would daunt q builder or
lOSaIllllLlS llOISe ScIlSe, biitlil oIdi-
nary reason on logical lines. embracing
intentions of scnders, allowing for pho
neticiSnlS of language and for iIliteracy
Of correspondents. are at the root of
many Of the :e-ivcls into living mes
50 ges Of some of the apparently dead
beyond recall.
Perhaps he greatest flood of blind
letters fTGi.l abroad come from Italy.
For many years after the Italian mail
had grown to be one of the greatest in
volume that comes to these shores the
lead letter experts We're troubled. The
1y tracks on the envelopes, written ,
With some vile compound that loses
IDENTITY in the filth Of the paper before
t has been day at sea. We're riddleS.I
# the most impenetraDlc nature Grad
tally. by deduction, these became more (
Ineligible to the experts. Soon they 1
mastered the fact that the average l
Italian peasant who had message to i
end to his kin here wasn't q bit par {
ocular where he put the postoftice ad-' 6
ress. Often the name of the town s
you'd get mixed up with the first. L
econd or third patronymic Of the adj q
ressee, or the street would assume an s
Importance beyond all else on the let t
ar's face. Sometimes. indeed. there i,
Tasu't an address on the whole bust
ess; the cautious writer would put it f
aside. All these idiosyncrasies We're t.
lastered in time. until it is almost c
lfe to say that blank envelope would q
e delivered properly if it bore an Ital- e
n stamp t
In the museum of the dead letter b
flee are some trophies to the skill of a
lie blind reader" These men are IL
roud of their calling and like to get, "
possible, the envelopes which were G:
their day ''Sticklers" to the force. CT
heSe are framed in an interesting col p:
cIion for the admiration of visitors ii
the mcrgue. CT
One OF these exhibits is i soiled en- fc
,lcpe containing three lines of exc tt
able scrawl; the only one OF Which
at is regular in outline is at the bot 81
III, where educated letter writer's put til
e town and state. Above are two IL
les that look like the aimIcSS ram til
ing OF q paiSied hand. The bottom in
reed looks like DiSczZo CucZ2o; the co
ST looks like nothing or anything di
.t1inG down to work nj this HERO
vpHic exhibit, q glance showed the y
pert that the bottom was the mans
me, as usual. with the cart before th
~, -