The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1907-03-28
CRAZE CLOGS MAILS
Chain-Prayer Fanatics Wor-
ry the Postal OeRrtment.
INTOLERABLE NUISANCE
Millions of Letters and Cards, Con.
tanning Silly Vaporings in the
Guise ct Prayer, Are Chok-
ing Mails Daily.

According to Washington dis
patch the chain letter" epidemic has
again broken out. This time 1t ap-
pears that all the religious cranks
in the country have been set to writ
ing prayrs.
The more prayer letters, the more
imprscations from postal clerks and
carriers. The thing seems to have
taken a tenacious hold upon. the super
stitious in widely separated communi-
ties, and their name is legion. The
innocent cause OF the trouble has
sought to stem the tide and entirely
disclaims responsibility 1or the scheme
which has loaded the mails with these
prayer letters. Ministers have de-
nounced the fake and urged their con-
gregations 70 burn the missives and
pay no attention to the threats they
contain, but still the letters multiply
and are seriously overlooking the
mails. 1t seems that nothing but COM
mon sense will serve TO break up the
chain The letter is as follows:
Dear Friend and Christian: Below
is a prayer chain just as il was sent
to me, so | send it out TO others, for
| do not want it broken in my hands.
May God bless you and others to keep
it going:
".Oh, Lord Jesus, We implore thee,
O Eternal God, to have mercy on all
mankind; keep us from all sin, and
take us to live with thee eternally.
Amen.
This prayer was dictated by Bish-
or Lawrence. He commands 1t to be
written and sent to nine other per-
sons. He VINO will not do it will be
afflicted by some misfortune, and per-
sons who pay no attention to it will
meet with a terrible accident. He who
will write this prayer for nine days
and send it to nine others, commenc-
ing the day you receive this (only one
each day., will after nine days ex-
perience some great joy. At Jerusa-
lem, at the feast, it was said he who
would write this prayer. would be de-
livered from every calamity. Please
do not let this, drop in your hands. |
have written this just as l received it.
Now, please send it to others. Sin
cerely, CHRISTIAN,
Through fear of being oyertaken by
some dire calamity, as predicted in the
letter, the superstitious recipients have
invariably set down and complied with
the instructions to write letter each
DAY for nine days. AS consequence,
millions of prayers have been writ.
ten and sent through the mails in
the form OF letters AMI postal cards.
Postal cards are thrown out by the
clerks and carriers under instructions
from headquarters, but OF course the
sealed letters are usually sent through
to their destination, since there is no
way of telling from the outside what
they contain.
In speaking of the matter an official
of the postal department said:
The Bishop Lawrence referred to
In the letter Indignantly denies that he
ever commanded or authorized anyone
to use his name in such matter. He
thinks the originator is either prac-
t!cal Joker or some religious enthu-
siast, possibly possessing more piety
than common sense. .1he bishop
asserts that the originator CT the
chain. was not good Christian or
he could not have incorporated the
falsehood in his original letter, setting
forth the bishops supposed connec-
rion.''
A newspaper correspondent called
at the assistant attorney generals Of
fee in the postofice department and
was shown the card reproduced above.
The assistant attorney was asked un-
der what law this matter could be ex-
cluded from the mails. He referred
to the act OF September 26tn, 1858,
which refers to "ScurrilOus matter"