Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-12-14
DEAD LETTER OFFICE JUNK
Annual sale of Unclaimed Articles n
Feature of washington
sport.


Preparations are being made at an auc-
tioneers office in Washington for the an
nual sale Of articles accumulated In the
division OF dead letters which will be DIS
posed Of Under the hammer by order OF
Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock. The
sale will open at 10 a. m. on December IL
and will be continued daily until the whole
lot is disposed Of There are 20 be 1891
packages of unclaimed articles offered for
sale. and Of these 5.7i4 are miscellaneous
articles. 1,222 are books and the remaining
ass packages contain varied assortments OF
jewelry.
Under the term miscellaneous articles.
listed as Schedule A. are odds and ends Of
almost every conceivable thing that is not
too heavy TO be carried in a mail sack
Among some of the curious things that are
TO be sold to the highest bidder are telo-
scopes skeins of floss, combs, pipes, doll
dresses, bicycle spokes, spark plugs, card
cases, harness, crockery, cards. leather
moccasins, razors. mufflers, flags OF hale
dozen nations, music, fountain pens
gloves rubber collars. hotwater bottles,
belts, lace curtains, shoe laces, monkey
wrenches, needles. soap. surgical instru-
ments, dried fruit. harmonious, small bas-
kets, dolies. necktes, tools. slippers.
I
shawls violin chin rests, suspenders, laun-
dry bags, hatpins. toys. postcard albums,
hair rats and switches by the dozen. pocket
knives. fans. tennis balls, whips, toilet sets,
cheap watches piano scarfs. toothbrushes
and an extensive and varied lot of women's
wearing apparel, including many pairs OF
SILK stockings, real lace embroidery and
dainty bits Of flimsy lingerie so dear to the
heart OF every woman. Then, too, along
that line, there are so many kinds OF in
fants clothes in the collection that any
mother would not have the slightest trouble
in finding the right size II she were look
Ing for bargains in ready-to-wear garments
for her small children.
Bundle No. $685. which bears the stamp
mark of a town in Florida, contains the.
following: "Aigrette three cheap ostrich
feathers. lace-trimmed corset cover $3.50.
three spools Of thread book pressed flow
ers (Holy Land, cheap necktie and a
pie knife. 1t does help lot for a pros
pectve purchaser to be able to bid on such
varied assortment of useful things The
government of course in offering package
No 1857 for sale all in a lump is taking
big chance on the bidder being a woman
to whom ell the articles in the bundle may
not appeal She may not care at an for
articles of personal adornment and yet she
might be fond Of pie. In that case the pic
knife would strike her fancy and she would
buy the bundle for the knife alone and
take the other things for good measure.
On the other hand, the woman might not
be a pie eater, and as she would have no
use for the pie knife. she might wish 70
outbid the woman at her left 10 acquire the
aigrette' ostrich plumes and the rest. So
the government expects to get EN- COM
ing and Saang" at this rummage sale.
Package No. 1904 Will indeed be a prize.
IL contains six slate pencils, forty lamp
Wicks' bicycle pump, corn plasters. thir-
teen steel traps, two paint brushes an
underwaist, muff and a rattlesnake skin"
The postmaster general says that he pre-
sumes this bundle of odds and ends will
strike the fancy of some man and that any
one Of the several articles should prove
useful, no matter who the purchases was.
where he lived or what business he was In.
The contents of another interesting pack
age should sound promising as II COM
prises "a straw hat (snghtly damaged
four furniture casters six harness buckles.
worsted sweater. automobile goggles. dry
ing pan, rosary beads. shears, buttons. two
boxes fish hooks. three speedometers, elder
down dressing sack, violin strings and rub
Der heels" 1t is pretty sure thing that this
bundle will not go begging. Mr. Hitchcock
thinks, especially when it win be offered
for a mere song when the sale starts the
opening day.
There are hundreds OF different books
with hardly eny two alike The range Of
titles runs from Shakespeare 10 Blinor
Glyn, and from DR.. johnson to Victoria
Cross. There are big and little copies OF
the Bible, modern plays, novels, diction-
aries, collections OF poems and scientific
reports along with books in the following
foreign languages: Choctaw, Danish, Fin
nish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew,
Hungarian, italian, Japanese. Latin, Nor
wegian, Polish, Portuguese. Russian, Span
ish. Swedish and Turkish.
The list Of Jewelry comprises sticlepins.
earrings, signet rings, watches brooches.
knives, forks and spoons. cigarette cases.
watch chains, pendants, lockets, cuff-but-
tons, key rings, gold-mounted pipe, cigar
and cigarette holders, cut glass dishes, gold
eyeglasses, beauty pins, fraternity pins GAL
pha Epsilon Nu, Beta Sigma and AIpha
Delta PhD, watch charms and gold-mounted
umbrellas
Because most of the unclaimed packages
that have found their way TO the dead let
ter office at the Postoffice department
were intended for Christmas presents last
year and never reached the destinations in
tended because OF the carelessness or iRno-
rance on the part OF the senders, this an
nual rummage sale is conducted by the
government each year about the middle OF
December. The net amount realized each
year through the sale OF unclaimed parcels
averages $s,5Oo.-Boston Transcript
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