Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1911-06-08
80 Year POSTAL
PUZZLE SOLVED
Rev. G. E. Burdette, Then Reg
istTy Clerk, Is Cleared.
OLD BAG REVEALS SECRET.

OLD BAG REVEALS SECRET.
Brother Of Burlington Hawkeye Hu-
morist Left Postal Service Under
Cloud and Became Missionary-Miss-
ing Letters Containing $500 Found
In Ripping Up Old Sack.
Vindication has come to the Rev.
Charles Burdette of Springfield, Mass,
a brother of Bob Burdette, the humor~
list, after thirty years Of silent suffer
ing, during which he has rested under
q cloud.
When Mr. Burdette was a registry
clerk thirty years ago in the postofhce
at Peoria, Ill.,, number of registered
'etters containing $500 disappeared.
Although no formal charge was made.
against the clerk, only the faith of the
postmaster. General D. w. Magee a
civil war veteran, prevented his leav.
ing the service with a stigma on his
name
Unable to live down the suspicion, he
entered the ministry and devoted him
self to missionary work in the far
east.
Recently an old and battered mail
bag was taken from the San Francisco
postofice for repairs. When the work
man cut open the bag in the work Of
repairing between the heavy leather
Innings he found an old manila en-
velope containing the $500 that dis
appeared so mysteriously from Peoria
thirty years ago.
Grew Up In tho Town.
Mr.. Burdette is brother of the Rev.
Robert j. Burdette, now Of Pasadena,
CAL, who as chief Of the Burlington
Hawkeye a decade or so ago won a
niche for himself among humorists.
Another brother, John w. Burdette, is
a we'll known lawyer of Chicago.
When he was boy in the early sew
entities Charles Burdette was employed
as registry clerk in the Peoria post
Office. His family lived in the little
city, and the brothers, including the
afterward famous humorist, grew up
there. General Magee, who had won
laurels as commander of Illinois vol
unteers in the civil war, was postmas-
ter at Peoria. He had known Burdette
from boyhood and was friend of the
family.
The late John Comstock. a wealthy
real estate man, known to almost ev.
erybody In that section of Illinois, ap-
peared one day at young Burdette's
window in the postofice. He said he
wished to send $500 in twelve regis
tered letters to clients in Nebraska and
Dakota.
Now he said to Burdette, II want
you to see me put the money in the
envelopes /.
81 don't want to see you put your
money in the envelopes" answered
Burdette. Il am not supposed to know
what your letters contain"
"But / want you to know said Com.
stock
/ So Comstock counted out the money
before young Burdette and placed it in
twelve envelopes and passed the en-
velopes through the window to the
clerk. Burdette registered them In the
customary way and gave Comstock a
receipt.
Put Them In Mail Bag.
Then he placed all twelve envelopes
In one large envelope Of heavy paper
This he carefully placed at the bottom
Of mail bag in which the mornings
mail was to be sent off by the next
train. On top of the envelope he
threw the unregistered mail. On top
Of the unregistered mail he placed his
railway book. Then he locked and
sealed the sack.
When the railway mail clerk pre-.
pared to distribute the mail among the
| pigeonholes of the mail car he first re.
moved the registry book and then
dumped the contents Of the bag upon
his distribution table. Thus the regis
tered packages at the bottom Of the
sack would fall out on top Of the pile
| of mail on the table. The mail clerks
next step was to compare the regis.
tered mail with the entries in the reg
istry book, sign his name In the book
to show he had received the registered
packages and send the book back to
4 the registry clerk.
The route agent found the entries in
Burdette's registry book, but when be
emptied the mail bag he found no reg.
istered envelope.