Putnam patriot., 1920-06-25
$4,000 LETTERS
SORTED EACH NIGHT
ed" Murfey, Formerly of Put
nam, In Charge of Import
ant Mail Train
Wonderful System of Railway Postal
Departaleat.Stee Cars Nov In
Use

When a Boston "Globe" reporter
oa accompanying staff reporter
aoaEaei train Ne, 80, New York to
ca. the most Important and fast
e., nail train that rushes into New
En iaad from the metropolis, to
l.te up" what happens on a nights
Jun, 5Ge Of the features brought out
was the fact that Ed Murfey. for
merly of Putnam, has been in charge
CT the train for - years of his AZ
years IN the service.
After outlining the work done while
the mail train rumbles through the
night between the metropolis of the
United States and the metropolis of
New England, the following appears
regarding the boss of the crew of
"a postal clerks on board.
For such work the men must be
highly experienced Ed Murfey, the
clerk in charge on train 80, has been
42 years on the road, and "a years in
charge on the same train. When he
entered the service there were only
35 men running on R. P. o. trains be-
tween Boston and New York Today
there are 200.
''Murfey has had some hard expert
enees. Twenty-eight years ago he
was coming over from New York, the
train was sideswiped by an overhang-
~ 60 oh 81
vile down Attleboro way. One side
of the mail car was smashed to pieces.
One clerk was killed and several were
injured Murfey had his skull crushed
in. and no hope for his recovery was
held out.
But here | am says he, still at
-; and | expect to be for many year
to come.
That was in the day of the wood
c. cars, when the loss of life by acct
dent was high In the five-year period
prior to the advent of the steel post
Office ear, SO railway postal clerks
were killed, 496 seriously injured, and
220s slightly injured, total of 2789
killed or wounded This was about
30 per cent of total working force
at that time of from 10000 to 1000
men Now, however, steel ears are
being placed in commission as fast as
possible :
The Murfey family lived in Putnam
many years. Both of Mr. Murfey's
children, Miss Ruth Murfey and Mrs.
Walden Wright, were born and edu-
Gated here. 1t was only little over
year ago that Mr. Murfey sold his
property on Grove street and removed
with his wife and oldest daughter to
New Haven. where his married daugh-
ter resides.
Lewis T. Champlin, one of the pro-
prietors and business manager of the
"Observer," was formerly in the en-
ploy of the government railway post
Office department. His run was on
the train opposite to Mr.. Murfey at
the time he resigned to enter the
newspaper field.
Accompanying the article in the
Boston paper are three large pictures
of the interior of the mail cars. Each
one shows Mr. Murfey. In one he is
Z pouring coffee from pot that swings
shout on chains as the train rounds
curves at the rate of SO miles an
hour, for it is lunch time in the
Maine" car. This is the only relax
alton the crew has in the course of the
nights run.
The train is the most important
mail train out of New York, carrying
the heaviest letter mail into New Eng
land; $50, 900 letters are sorted night
". This takes about $50 bags, nearly
l90 of them being marked for Bos-
ton. These letters are sorted accord
ing to districts in the big city before
the train reaches its destination. This
saves time of sorting at the Boston
postoffice and imsurcs early morning
delivery.
The clerks have to know all post
offices IN New England and to distrlb-
ute the mail to reach destinations at
the earliest possible moment. Their |
work like machines, due to |
long training and study. They know |
the street or postoffice boxes Of all !
firms and individuals in Boston re-
ceiving any considerable mail each |
lay. Many letters go through without |
a street address, but are almost un- !
failingly classified to the proper car
ret route.