Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-01-21
THE POSTAL MORGUE
WORK OF THE PUZZLE PROBERS At
THE DEAD LETTER OFFICE.
Experts at "Blind Reading" Whs
Can Unravel Riddles Of Wr1tfna
and Addressing That Appear At
Frat to he UnsOlvable EnigmaS.

Can Unravel Riddles 0f Writ1na
and Addressing That Appear ut
Frat to He UnsOlvable Enigma.
When a letter goes to the dead letter
office at Washington it is not necessa-
lily dead So far as the ability OF
the ordinary postotfice official to de-
cipher the address is concerned it is
dead but there may be spark Of
life in it for all that. To resurrect it,
to galvanize it into living legibility, to
fan into existence the faint essence Of
life and utility, Is the business Of the
specialists whose long training has
made them expert at blind reading"
Many and many derelict, hOpelessly
discarded by the puzzle probers Of the
country's pOstOtfices. finds its way out
of the mOrgue of correspondence and
into the hands of the person to whom
it was intended to go.
There are just two points Of which
Uncle Sans postoffice never loses
sight. One is that the letter is meant
for some one Of the millions of persons
in the United States; the other is that
it is ii religious duty to deliver it. Sell
dom has the envelope to be opened in
order to get a clew not furnished by
the attempt at an address on the out
side. And seldom could anything be
wei7der or wider of the mark than
most of the addressed missives that
find their way to the hands Of the read
ers of riddles who wrestle with them
and who are rarely nonplused. Some
where about the scrawls Of the address
is clew, 10 matter how slender. Prac-
tice has resolved the working Of these
tiny clews by almost a science. If SO
much as street and number are CIV
Ell, frequently the lie is forwarded
with but little delay on the operating
table Of these specialists.
Instances have been known even
where jokers had addressed letters in
cipher and these have promptly reach
ed the addresses. In fact, cipher would
be as legible as top line on three
sheet poster compared with some Of
the inscriptions ON which are exhausted
elaborate calculations and ponderous
unsolvable. Processes Of elimination
are resorted to that would discount a
Sherlock Holmes who had life train
ing as Il postmaster. Deductions are
made that would daunt builder Of
logarithms. = Horse sense. plain. ordi-
nary reason on logical lines. embracing
intentions of senders, allowing for pho
neticisms of language and for illiteracy
Of correspondents, are at the root Of
many Of the revivals into living mes
sages Of some Of the apparently dead
beyond recall.
Perhaps the greatest food Of blind"
letters from 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
dead letter experts were troubled The
fly tracks on the envelopes. written
with some vile compound that loses
identity in the filth Of the paper before
1t has been a day at sea. were riddles
Of the most impenetrable nature. Grad
ually, by deduction, these became more
Ineligible to the experts. Soon they
mastered the fact that the average
Italian peasant who had q message to
send to his kin here wasn't a bit par
ticular where he put the pOstofiice ad-
dress. Often the name Of the town
would get mixed up with the first,
second or third patronymic of the ad-
dressee, or the street would assume an
Importance beyond all else ON the let
teTs face. Sometimes, indeed, there
wasn't an address on the whole bust
ness; the cautious writer would put It
inside. All these idiosyncrasies were
mastered in time, until 1t is almost
safe to say that blank envelope would
be delivered properly If it bore an Ital-
ian stamp.
In the museum of the dead letter
Office are some trophies to the skill of
the blind reader" These men are
proud Of their calling and like to get,
If possible. the envelopes which were
In their day ''sticklers" to the force.
These are framed in an interesting COL
lection for the admiration Of visitors
to the morgue.
One OF these exhibits Is a soiled en-
veiope containing three lines Of exc
cradle scrawl; the only one Of which
that Is regular In outline is at the bot
tom, where educated letter writer's put
the town and state. Above are two
lines that look like the aimless ram
bling Of a palsied hand. The bottom
screed looks like Digezzo Cuezzo; the
rest looks like nothing or anything.
Getting down to work at this hero
glyphic exhibit, a glance showed the
expert that the bottom was the mans
name. as usual, with the cart before
the horse, and that it was Cuozzo Di-
gezzo. or something that would sound
like that IL spoken. Two of the char.
acters In the top line were taken to
mean IN. T." or IN. j." both being
aike to the peasant Of Sicily. This