davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Saint Paul globe., 1905-04-16

As a rule the ends and edges were
charred. This is unfortunate for the
reason that it is just where the name
of the writer is sure to be obliterated.
The address on the envelope is usually
scorched or obliterated by dirt. The
mike" man works largely on the few
stray sentences he can piece together
out Of what is left of the letter.
One letter may be taken as an ex-
ample. On the envelope all that was
visible was Miss Clara W." Below
was the first letter of the address; it
was 'P." The mike" man at once con-
cluded that this was meant for Portland.
from the fact that the mail had come
from the west. Both ends of the en-
velope had been so charred that it was
impossible to get the beginning or the
end of any of the lines. Down in the
body of the letter was this sentence.
start for Hennepin-." The mike"
man began to look up his records and
guides. sHe found several ''HenDepins"
but none of them seemed to give enough
of clew to connect with the letter.
Another letter had evidently been
written by woman on the coast to a
friend who was coming to visit her. 1t
had five different sheets, and one OF
them was intended to be read each day
as reminder of the sender. One was
marked the first day" and there was
one for each of the five days of the
journey. On the one for the third day
all that could be deciphered was you
will now be crossing the Missouri
river"
What bothered the mike" man in
this letter was a sentence on the sheet
for the first days journey. you will
see a great deal of barren country to-
| day" read the missive. If the visitor
was coming from the east the mike"
man was not able to connect with the
barren country" proposition. One SEN
tence almost led to Identification. Il
hope you will have as nice a journey
! as Ethel did when she came to"
was what Ii said. If that next word
| hadn't been burned off the mike"
map would have been able to return
| the letter to the town ii started from.
1t is a good plan to have the return
| marked on the corner of the envelope.
| In several cases this was plain enough
to enable the mike" man to send back
| the letter. They will know why their
letter was not delivered and the mike"
man viii be glad to be able to returE
| the letter.
The Saint Paul globe., 1905-04-16

works of human hands, it does some-
times go wrong.
But if the postal department has been
unable to entirely free itself of the ills
of human fallibility.the government has
done the next best thing: it has pro-
vided the best medical attention for
weak and delayed and misdirected mail
matter. When things go wrong there
is a balm in Gilead, and the physician
is ready to do his part.
The "Nixie" Department
The physician that stands ready to
administer to the needs of such mail
matter as has met with an accident is
known in the service as the inquiry d.
vision. Among the profession it is
known as the mike" department
Mike probably means the same as the
slang term nothing doing" but it is
the duty of the 'niXie" department to
start something, within the least pos
sible time, and to effect a cure as
quickly as possible.
St. Paul is headquarters for a large
portion of country in the postal service.
When the present plans of the depart
ment are materialiZed there will be
more work for the division here. The
department has announced that the pol
Icy will be to distribute the growing g
business more among the division head
quarters and leave less routine for the
central Office at Washington. Conse-
quently the duties and authority of the
st. Paul Office in general and the mike"
department in particular will be en-
larged. At present the pixie" depart
ment here looks after practically all
of the misdirected, the lost or dam
aged mail matter in the northwest.
Ryan and Sullivan Do IL
The mike" department Of the st.
Paul division of the postoffice is under
the direction of Walter S. Ryan, who
has been with the department for many
years. He is supposed to administer
to all Of the mail that goes wrong.
Michael Sullivan is assistant superin-
tendent and he has also been in the
work for a number of years.
,fhe work Of the department might
be said to be roughly divided in three
parts. One might be classed as the
lost and found division; another is the
work of figuring out addresses that are
so poorly written or have been mis-
directed, or where the writer has ne
elected to place any address on the
letter, and then comes the damaged
The Saint Paul globe., 1905-04-16

the extremes of heat and cold being
felt as much as in some of the eastern
states. There is an abundance of pure
water to be had at a depth of from
twelve to twenty feet, and artesian
wells with a sure flow about $50 feet.
The crops of Sargent county are
abundant, and a crop failure Is un-
known. The county is in the northern
limit of the corn belt, in the heart of
the wheat and fax belts. Besides corn,
wheat and fax, this county grows a
sure crop of oats, barley, rye, millet
and all small grains. fruits and vegeta-
bles. This county is in direct commu-
nication with the great markets of the
world-St. Paul, Minneapolis and Du-
luth-making it easy for the farmers
to dispose of their crops. Raising
stock is q great feature of this county,
and hogs are raised in great numbers
Hog cholera is unknown, and hog
raising Is very profitable.
To find and see the advantages Of
this county, and to gain an idea of
the beauty and wealth of this section
of North Dakota, you will have to
join the throng this spring. buy a
ticket over the Northern Pacific rail-
The Saint Paul globe., 1905-04-16

schools forty years ago. All of these
allow that the writer is to the manor
born, and knows nothing but the Eng
liSh language, but especially in the
northwest account must be made for
the large contingent that try to write
English after having been raised to
the German or Scandinavian, or
French or Italian or Hebrew style of
writing. Allowing that the writer
knows exactly what should be put on
the envelope. and places it all there,
still these is room for some clever
guessing as to what he succeeds In
making really stands for.
1t is the foreigners that cause much
trouble in letters that are illegibly
addressed. The German script in par
ticular is responsible for much puck
ering of lips and many wrinkles in the
foreheadS of the clerk. An address
partly in German or Scandinavian,
and partly in English, written poorly
at that, offers a wide field of en-
deavor.
Guide books, city directories, pos
tai and railroad guides are valuable
ally in the work. If the clerk can get
an address or a name down to some
semblance of a proper name, he takes
the city directory, the street directory
and the postal guide, and endeavors
to find out where he lis at In other
words, he tries to find what the writer
might have meant, and reasons in a
deductive style to arrive at a proper
conclusion.
The Damaged Mail
A third division of the mike" de-
partment takes care Of mail that has
been damaged by going through a
wreck of any kind. A great pile of
damaged mail is eloquent witness to
the fact that mail does not always
reach its destination. and that railroad
wrecks still abound.
In this class comes damaged let
ters and papers, and damaged mer-
chandise. The mike" department
tries to find who the owner is. or,
failing in that, tries to find the sender
and return the property to him.
The ordinary citizen has but little
idea of the queer articles that get past
the postoffice and get into the mails.
Doubtless the mail order system that
has grown up in the last few years
is largely responsible for this. In a
consignment of five sacks of damaged
mail that struck the mike depart
The Saint Paul globe., 1905-04-16

OF about $4,000, all modern, four ele-
vators, one 125 barrel -four mill, one
bank, six general stores, two hard
ware stores, two farm implement
dealers, one drug store, two furniture
stores, two meat markets, one hotel,
three liveries, three restaurants, two
very large lumber yards. two black
smith shops, three real estate agents.
one bakery, three confectionery
stores, opera house seating 300 peo-
pie. one barber shop. two harness
shops. two lawyers, three physicians,
one weekly newspaper. the Sargent
County Teller, published by r. v.
Fyies; good fire department, two
chemical engines. one hook and lad
der company and a good artesian well
with a very heavy force. The busi-
ness men OF Milnor all pull one way,
and that Is for the town, and in doing
this they are building up their town
and today 1t ranks first in Sargent
county. They pay the highest market
price for all produce from the farmers
and by doing this they are pulling
trade away from other towns, and the
farmer of Sargent county knows he
can come to Milnor and get anything
The Saint Paul globe., 1905-04-16
HOW UNCLE SAM WORKS
TO DELIVER LOST MAIL

ment last week there was a good ex-
ample of what goes through the mails.
The train had gone off a trestle and
the mail car buried partly in the river.
After that fire broke out, and the mail
was in bad condition. AS is usual in
such cases, the sacks were gathered
up and sent to St. Paul to be worked
over.
In three sacks was the merchandise.
Here was a straw hat that had been
soaked and crushed beyond recognition:
yair Of yellow leggins that cost 19
cents at a department store had been
robbed of their newness by fire and
water. A package of onion sets per-
fumed the whole package witt-its odor
and made the clerk think of making a
garden. Some woman had ordered a
bunch of herbs, and they had been
sent along to their destination by the
common carrier-the mail.
= A pair of new trousers, also from a
mail order house. were soaked and
burned; pair of lace curtains looked
like they had done service on windows
of a cheap rooming house. The list was
long. Crammed into the mail sacks,
they presented a very different appear
ance from what they evidently did
wheD they started on their journey.
skilled man was making fast work
of the pile. When the address had been
obliterated, it was sometimes possible
to lind what mail order house they had
come from, and they were bundled up
and sent back, with explanations.
Packages that could not be located at
all will be held until disposed of in the
regular channels, to be dumped in with
a lot of similar stuff and sold by the
government.
Walter S. Ryan was working care
fully at the letters. Here was where
the skilled work was necessary.
well I'll show you how we do it,"
he said, taking package that had been
put up in a heavy envelope.
The letters had been partly burned.
The Saint Paul globe., 1905-04-16
Mrs. Stewart Is Sentenced

CHICAGO, April 15.-Mrs. Louisa
Stewart, divorced wife of Wisconsin
physician, was today sentenced here to
six months in the house of correction
While on trial recently Mrs. Stewart
denied any knowledge of the thefts al
legged to have been perpetrated by her
self and a man known as "Raffies"
Walsh, with whom she was arrested
She claimed she was engaged TO marry
Walsh. The jury acquitted her, but
when she was arraigned on another in
dictment Mrs. Stewart caused sur
prise by pleading guilty. Her motive
apparently was TO save Walsh, but the
change was unayailing.
The Saint Paul globe., 1905-04-16

MmILNOR is a prosperous incorpo-
IMl rated village on the Fergus Falls
and Breckenridge branch Of the
Northern Pacific railway. Is miles
from Forman, the seat of justice. Mil
nor is growing very fast and at pres
ent has a population of about 600 peo-
pie. The town iss surrounded by some
of the finest farms and farming land in
the state of North Dakota. This land
is selling today from SIS to SS5 per
acre and is going up in price very fast.
The soil is a rich deep, black loam,
with clay subsoil-a splendid combi-
nation for farming purposes. The eli
mate is bracing, equable and healthful.
The air of this wonderful state is in
vigorating, and it's dryness prevents
The Saint Paul globe., 1905-04-16

mates, $7.000,000 below the total of
1903 and S55,50e,000 more than in 1902.
The ordinary expenditures was. $685.
100000 leaving surplus of S53,500. 900.
In the extraordinary budget the $780,
100000 assigned for war expenditure,
the $S1,000,000 for railroad construc-
tion and the loans to railroad compa-
nies for extraordinary expenditure
were met by the above surplus and
S53,500,e0 proceeds of the per cent
treasury bonds realized in 1904, i'm
perial rente bonds totaling s215, 500, 900,
other extraordinary revenue amounting
to $4,000 900 and the balances of former
years amounting to $190,500.0 900. This
left at the beginning Of 1905 a free
balance of s59.500.000 in which the
proceeds Of the 4 Y per cent loan were
not included
The Saint Paul globe., 1905-04-16

WMHHILE paying tribute that is
WkW deserved to the postal depart
WW ment there is one trouble in
that it works so well that
persons do not stop to examine
into the complicated machinery by
which it is run. The average per-
son writes a letter, drops it into box,
and then takes out his watch TO see
what time it will arrive at its destlna-
ton. 1t is usually easy to foretell just
what time the letter will reach its des-
tination. for delayed mair' is some
thing that has come to be a contin-
gency much to be summed.
In these days of flying mail trains
with the we'll drilled corps of postal
clerks, both in the offices and on the
trains, it is not often that letter goes
wrong Some of the best trains, the
fastest and the safest, are those which
carry the United States mails. This
system is not the work of a day, but is
indeed, the work of only a half cen
tury. Even this is a short time, con-
sidering the marvelously complicated
system that is necessary to carry on the
work. 1t is one of the best hall marks
of American genius. But it has worked
so we'll in a generation that the public
has come to regard it as an infallible
machine-one that never goes wrong
and always reaches the destination on
time 1t would be beyond the power of
man to estimate the value of goods car
1ied by the mails in a year by this COM
plicated but almost perfect system.
While willingly acknowledging all of
the good that there is in the postal de-
as.fr, liz,
reaches its destination in a fair degree
of promptness and that goods sent by
mail are almost perfectly safe, still it
must be confessed that, like all the
The Saint Paul globe., 1905-04-16
HEINzE is BRUISED
Six Others Hurt i'm Automobile
Accident

BUTTE, Mont, April 15.-Seven
persons have been injured in a colli-
sion between motor car belonging to
F. Augustus Heinze, the mining mag
nate of this city, and the runabout con-
tanning Thomas Roe. liveryman, and
Miss Lille Lacombe. In the motor
were Mr.. Heinze, A. l.. Frank. mining
engineer; T. c. Bach and M. L. Gum
of Helena and A. E. Hook, the chauf-
feur. All were painfully injured, but
none will die. While going about
thirty miles an hour the automobile
crashed into the vehicle driven by Roe,
hurting the occupants a distance of
nearly twenty feet. The motor car
turned completely over, but the per-
sons riding in the car were thrown
clear Of the wrecks. Heinze and other
members Of the party escaped with
slight bruises and scalp wounds
The Saint Paul globe., 1905-04-16
MILNOR, SARGENT COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA

way from st. Paul to Minor. the chief
town Of Sargent county. and take a
drive over this section of the county,
and you will never return to the east.
Good schools in every district for
your children, good churches, good
markets, creameries, good soils, plenty
of fuel. good pure water and the best
of society is what you will find in this
section of Sargent county. Minor
pulls trade for twelve miles in all di-
rections and is only eight miles from
the great Sheyenne river and the same
distance from the. Wild Rice river
The town contains three churches. one
public school with about $50 pupils
enrolled, four teachers, and a solid
brick school building built at q cost
The Saint Paul globe., 1905-04-16

mail, which must be sorted over and an
endeaVor made to send it to the owner
or back to the sender.
The lost and found department has
a book wherein are recorded all of the
articles of this class The date, the
arucle, and the name of the person
nndlng the article are recorded in
this book. Sometimes it is a purse
containing large sum of money,
sometimes it is any article of general
use, or it may be a single piece of
money. To show the thorough work
of the department it may be mention
ed that not a few entries of l cent ap-
pear in this book; and in some cases
the penny has been sent to the right
full owner. The mail clerks and the
postal employees in general find these
articles and send them IN. Then the
department works, sleuthlike, to find
the owner
1t is naturally to be supposed that
one who takes enough trouble to
write a letter would be careful that
the address is so plain that a wayfar-
ing postal clerk might not err, but
such is not always the case. The
clerk who works on this class of mail
must not only have a natural adapta-
tion for it, but must have long eX-
perience in dealing with all kinds and
manners of writing. This, at first
glance, does not seem 10 O1er Wlue
field of endeaVor, but the observer
would be surprised to inspect a pile
of letters on the clerks desk and see
what manner of contortionS different
people can have when they take a
pen in hand.
Reading the Addresses
In the first place there are many
different styles of writing. There is
the scrawl of the child, and the heavy,
ponderous scribe of the business man,
or the hand grown clumsy with hard
labor; then there is the "backhand,"
the vertical" hand, the "Spencerian,"
and the "old STYLE" in vogue in the
The Saint Paul globe., 1905-04-16

brought by DR.. Edgar Cans of Carls-
bad against Rudolph Spreckels OF Cal
ifornia for fees in connection with
services rendered when Mr.. Spreckels
was suffering from appendicitis. DR..
Cans is awarded $1,000 and full costs,
which amount to a considerable sum.
The case originally excited considera-
bic notice. Mr.. Spreckels having re-
fused to meet the doctors demand for
$4,000 as compensation for his serv-
The Saint Paul globe., 1905-04-16
Killed in Pitched Battle

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo-, April Is
Three men have been killed in a pitch
ed battle at Ten Mile creek, ten miles
west of here, resulting from a quarrel
over a piece of land. The dead are
II. S. Adams, William Hoch and Riley
Henson. The fight resulted from
quarrel over a strip of land
The Saint Paul globe., 1905-04-16

and have been in business for two
years. The building is 50x70 feet, two
story and full of a fine stock of goods.
Mr. JorgenSon is president of the school
board and has been twenty years in
the mercantile business.
The Bank of Sargent County Is the
main bank in this section of the coun-
ty. organized in 1885 as a private bank
and incorporated in 1890 as a state
bank, capital $4,000. surplus $2,5O0,
and does a real estate, first mortgage
loan, insurance, collection and general
banking business. ID. V. Vail president;
u. V. Babcock, vice president, and F.
w. Vail, cashier
The Minor Hardware company is the
leading hardware firm of the town and
does a very large business, have been
In business since April /, 1904. II. K.
remington, president and manager;
ole A. StockStad, secretary and treas
urer; @. X. Taylor and Andrew H. An
derson are the members of the firm
+. F. Harlow is the leading real es-
tate and insurance agent of the town,
and has about 250,000 acres of i'm
proved and unimproved farm land for
sale in Sargent, Richland and Ransom
counties: also sale solicitor for Hack
ney-Boynton company lands. This land
runs In price from Sc to $35 per acre;
some of the best stock ranches in the
state. Mr.. Harlow has been in the
land business for about thirty years.
For any further information of this
county please write Mr.. Harlow and
he will answer all correspondence and
send you advertising matter and Sec
tional maps of the county.
The Saint Paul globe., 1905-04-16
Russian Finance Explained

ST. PETERSBURG. April 15.-A
financial statement regarding the bud
get for 1904 shows that the total of the
ordinary revenue collected was 81 ,00S,-
100000, being s,5oo,000 over the esti-
The Saint Paul globe., 1905-04-16

1t cannot be done. There is not a house
on earth in either Of the Twin Cities that
VIII give you as much for your money
and give you as long a time to pay. Just
take time to investigate.
CARDOZO'S,
No-144 East Seventh
The Saint Paul globe., 1905-04-16
SpreekeIs Has to Paw Doctor

VIENNA, April 15.-The Eyer court
has delivered Judgment in the suit
The Saint Paul globe., 1905-04-16
Will an Extra Session Change Matters

The country has certainly indicated
that 1t is in hearty accord with the
presidents policies. He is no oppor-
tunist, but a practical reformer, and
If congress does not wish to be placed
in the attitude of obstructionism it will
cooperate with the president at the
earliest possible moment, especially in
regard to the railroad rate matter,
which is of course what President
Roosevelt is just now most concerned
in. his tariff views being more or less
neutral If there should be an extra
session it will probably develop the
same disposition on the part Of the two
houses as heretofore-the senate dila-
tory and hostile, but the house reflect
ing popular sympathies.-Pittsb
Press.
Sistersville daily oil review. [volume] (Sistersville, W. Va.) 1902-1905, 1905-02-03
The Careless
ness of Man

Is often the cause of bitter disap-
pointments. The modern man
looks after the future welfare OF
his family by buying life insur-
ance, Government bonds or some
other safe investment, and neg
lects one thing that possibly
would be more consolation and
comfort in case he was called
away. And that is a modern pho
tograph; 900 of our business is
women and children. The men
are always putting it off until
finally a black gowned woman
brings in an old tin-type taken
when John was 20, and has it cop
led. Not much comfort, but it's
all she has. Don't you think a
small investment in photography
would be a good one for you?
Styles and sizes to suit all tastes
and purses.
Sistersville daily oil review. [volume] (Sistersville, W. Va.) 1902-1905, 1905-02-03
West Virginia Editor De-
CIdreS For Gas Measure

support artisans, merchants, doc
tors, lawyers, teachers and other
business people. We have every
thing to gain and nothing to lose
by selling our gas within our
State. Gas is different from coal.
1t would be to our advantage to
have our coal burned within our
State, but that is impossible. Coal
can be had elsewhere. But gas is
limited. 1t may seem selfish in us
to want to make use Of our mo-
nopoly, but that is what we want.
We have it, and want to make the
best of it. When it is gone it will
never come neutrality-suspicious.
Chronicle.
Sistersville daily oil review. [volume] (Sistersville, W. Va.) 1902-1905, 1905-02-03
HAMLlNS
WIZARD0lL.

This great, soothing, curative
remedy relieves pain, reduces
swelling and Inflammation, and
heals up all open wounds and
sores. Il IL the one perfect, mod
ern dressing, or treatment, for a
wound. Its quick use will posi-
lively prevent blood poisoning:
Always keep it At hand.
6syy Mrs. Jessie Farris, OF Eliz.
sbsth, Ky: my little boy waa
badly burned on both legs, which
were 30 drawn out Of shape that
hs could not even crawl. I tried
many remedies without relief, but
finally Hamlins Wizard Oil made
o perfect cure, and he can now
walk and run. We thought We
should have to anputate both his
legs, and feel that Hamlins Wizard
oil saved his Life" Price 5Cc and
$1.00.
Sold and recommended by
For Sale by All Druggists.
Sistersville daily oil review. [volume] (Sistersville, W. Va.) 1902-1905, 1905-02-03

The Pittsburg papers are great
ly alarmed on account OF the loss
to West Virginia farmers if the
gas bill passes, and the exporta-
ton of gas from this State stops.
They say farmers will no longer
be able to get rent on their gas
leases. The sympathy is wasted,
No alarm need be felt on account
of the West Virginian with gas
to sell. He can sell his gas IN
West Virginia. Factories will
come here and burn it. They will
pay taxes, thereby helping to
build roads, bridges and school
houses; they will employ men
here who will build houses and