Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-12
MIsD|RECTED MAIL
Crowds Attend Annual D cad
Letter Sale.
VARIETY OF PACKAGES
ALL KINDS AND CONDITIONS OF
CHRISTMAS GIFTS.
Auctioneers Spread Rumor That Presi-
dent Roosevelt Will Attend Sale
MI. Cortelyou to Be There.

President Roosevelt is to attend the DEAD
letter auction-maybe. At least that Is
what is said at the rooms of the auctloh-
GERS. and as the sale will run week or
ten days 1t ought to add a further atmos-
phere of lottery interest for those who at
tend the sale Postmaster General Cortel-
YOU, Mr. Hitchcock, the handsomest man
In the Post Office Department and num-
Der of other notables also scheduled
among the attendance. The annual auc-
ton opened yesterday morning with falr
attendance Seven-eishths of those present
were women They were probably out buy
ing Christmas presents, and their selections
certainly appeared to be intended for any
one but themselves There was one OF
them who got box of 100 cigars for Si.4o,
and there was general slgn OF leIiei
from the men around at the thought that
noen of them was her husband. There was
a young man with a brown DERBY ana d
prominent Adams apple who PAID TO GEMS
for a corset cover q cotton chemise ana
three ladys handkerchiefs. Whether the9
were for home consumption or boagat as
a speculation, he did not divuige.
1T was a well-dressed crowd as RUE,
and there were apparently few professional
dealers in the room. One or two OF them,
who were evidently secondhand men, MAD
chairs IN the DacR OIL tHt IotDl d1io biNi
Systematically for all sorts of things that
could have been of no possible use TO them.
But It could be noticed that they always
dropped out if the bidding reached a DOL
lar One of them accumulated pile OF
packages, and probably by the end of the
day hired g push-cart to taks his pur-
chases home. He had roll of bills as Gig
as rolling pin, apparently made up en-
treIy of ones for the benefit of the auc-
toneer. and by the time he got the change
from fifteen purchases into his side pocket
he had a decided list to starboard.
A Little of Everything.
The government had S, 1872 packages to dis
pose of, and these contain on an average
four articles each. 1t is the accumulation
of the dead letter department for year,
and runs from pair of women's stockings
to sledge hammer, from a book on higher
criticism to a damaged mouth organ. The
dead letter Office IS more or less CRAFTY In
dating the sale at this season, for Wnlle
there are things In the 600 miscellaneous
packages that might Go to give away, few
people would buy them to keep themselves.
There are more than 1,OoJ packages OF
books, some of them single volumes, with
the Bible a leading favorite, and some col
lections of small volumes, five, six or seven
in a package, with no title The majority
of the things are described in the catalogue
we'll as the limited amount OF space per
mits. In the jewelry schedule, when there
Is ring with a stone setting 1t is given
in weight by carats, and all through the
catalogue If there Is damaged article 1t
is so marked There is certain lottery
element In the purchases, as they are not
open to inspection, and a box of cigars
may mean the choicest proc let of Havana
Wheeling stogies. while Feather fan
may mean ostrich feathers or 1t may mean
turkey. There is no line to indicate which.
The auctioneer got we'll through the list
yesterday and estimates that tse packages
will go at the rate of about loo day.
frnrN nnrafG n
There were few bundles that brought more
and few went for less. The sale usually
lasts week or ten days and realizes about
$1,000 clear to the government, not count
ing the fees of the auctioneer and the ex-
pense of cataloguing.
Lost Christmas Presents.
It would seem at first glance mystery
how so many things accumulate for the
sale They accumulate principally at
Christmas time, which accounts in part for
the homogeneous makeup of some of the
packages. Take one, for instance damaged
watch, woman's dressing sack, boys pair
of gloves, lace-trimmed dolly and two
pipes" That is a sample of the packages
that come into the post office IN flood
after Christmas. Some of them sent
to the wrong address and their owners
cannot be traced. Some of the things are
really unavailable and get in through the
ignorance of the small postmasters. Such
fat irons. Boxes of ore from prospectors
In the west and that sort OF thing go to
swell the list. Then there are many things
that are mailed to places abroad With
some Of these we have no parcels post
convention. and nothing can be accepted
except at prepaid letter rates. The adj
dressee usually will not forward several
dollars worth of postage and the mailer
cannot be traced, and the things finally
get into the dead letter auction in that
way.
Some of the articles are cut out of their
wrappings In the mail and others are found
without addresses or with the addresses
rubbed off. Then they go to the next an
nual sale. There is lot of perishab!e stuff
mailed. The girls in the dead letter Office
have all the candy they want to eat and
often more than Is good for them Patent
medicines of all sorts are caught up, mostly
samples mailed to the wrong address. Stuff
of this sort is destroyed. Altogether in the
last year the office handled about il ,OO0,O 600
pieces of dead mall, that the amount of
money realized from the sale of that which
finds its way to the auction room does not
near cover the expense of handling it all
Baby's Sack First Article Sold.
Brown & ToIson were the auctioneers this
year. and Mr.. Tolson had the block yester-
day. The first article on the list was a
baby's zephyr sack The last was a dia-
mond engagement ring. The sack went tc
a lady down by the door for 40 cents There
were a lot of bicycle tubes in the various
packages, and the young man with the
brown derby and the prominent Adams
apple bid on each one of them, whether II
was in lot with a safety razor or a hank