The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1907-03-01
llH>T Eslf.MAN MAI. CAR
Brra1hf >aJ News to the North
During the ttstt Mar.

ypa IL this country said Joseph
Elliott. ~ho had charge of me nFa'
experiment taeie SAM made wtth e
travelling postofiire
"A be spoke Mr Elliott dropped
back into big heather covered chalf
tn the Nc~ YorA isostoffie" building
and began toying wlih hts srsy mus
,achs. rctiec,tsviy Mr. Elliott is
veteran ot many sears service ia the
po&fofficu. lie is uuw supagiBtsnd-
eat nf The money order department.
having held the same pnsf sell nigh
thirty five years
1T IN nearly forty-thrce years
stncs that first trip was made. he
resumed. and / recall that IL ~aa
regarded as one OF the most impnF
tant experiments In the history nf
mails So it was. too. for without
these railway postal cars Today the
handling Of mails would be q wretch
cd hoteh
II had been attached "a The car
fior department in New York City
prior 20 that time. and my duties
were to assert the mails as they
came into the general postotiice for
the several stations throughout the
town In this way | had come to
know the streets of New York thor
oughly. and II WAS my knowledge
Of the geography of the town. per-
hnns. ths, caused the officials 10
Il
charge Of the first railway car ever
used in the postal service.
The car was nothing more than
an old freight ear which had been
fitted up with pigeon holes. We
were ordered 10 take the ear to
Washington on a jaunt. and then
bring back a load of mail from that
city. distributing II as We travelled
along.
Prior To that time the mails had ]
simply been shipped in bags There |
we're no clerks on the trains to work !
over the letters and assert them, 50 /
hat they might be rushed straight /
rom the railroad station TO the va
.ious sections of the city.
There were three other clerks
With me-Thomas Jenkins. who is
low clerk here with me in the
money order department of the New
'ork postoffice; Henry G. Pearson.
fterward became postmaster at New
'ork, and another man, who got on 4
1 Philadelphia and whose name ! do
ot recall now. We also had with
IS one or two high officials from ,
he postoffice department and one OF
he assistant postmasters general of
for the Canadian people
we're just about as ready then to es-
ablish their Dominion and We're
anxious to see how this experiment
would work out
I'VE left New York in the morning I
and travelled all day before We ar
DAYS railroading was nothing like
what il is now. We We're simply on
a junket going TO Washington. The
was to be made coming
back to New York, for ii should be
that the heaviest mails
were those that came from the south
then. for the army of General Lee
and that of sherman were down that
way.
Il remember that General Grant
was fighting the Battle of the Wild
erness the day We arrived in Wash
ington, and this way ! know the
first trip must have been made with
the railway postal car between May
. and May :, 1864 When We left
the car in Washington ] recall that
q great train load Of wounded sol
diers had just come in from the
Wilderness They We're strung along
PENNSYLVANIA avenue i'm Washington
pending their removal 10 the army
hospitals.
THAT night We started back 70
New York. and then oar work be-
gan You can imagine We had thou
sands of letters from the army let
ters that had been accumulating in
Washington and which no doubt car
ried many % sorroVful message 20 tho
hom,foiks in The north.
'it was the first test oft strength
between Grant and l.se. and there
had been some terrible slaughter uu
both sides Gen, rHl ioucstrrrt. the
famous Cputydsraf. auillsNmau.
bad been wounded. ad thousands
of ufb.r. staff aud I.u. v,r, Grip
Piled
81 Hlt, often fHussHt what tut-
fI. bon .strt.. H.. U..II.N .u chat