Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-07-10
MAIL MEN DATE
BACK TO ROMANS
First TranscontinentaI Trips
by Clerks in This Country
Wildly Exciting.

'' ie'eef carrier. your village post
master or your rural route carrier
has past?
| ne Is the agent by which the long
arm OF Uncle Sam taps your shoulder
ohe' Two. maybe three times day
YET ne Is SO unobtrusive that Won
! propaoiy do not know him half so
| wen as the policeman or the schoo,
| teacher. s'iooi
Recently he has been in the public
! Eye by the presentation of his need
nection. the National Geographic So
ciety calls attention to him as an his
toric figure. ~
| me history of the postal service
! ana It's employees extends to the DAYS
OF the Romans. when the earliest
hho"n means of transmitting a mes
sage was by courier" says a bulIe
TN from the Washington headquar-
| ters OF that society. These admira BILE
| organizers. the Romans, marked by
post the place in the road where
| the relay of one runner by another
was affected; thus they named our
system long before it was born
System Existed In 18th Centurx
| The first letter post seems to have
existed in the Hanse towns in the
| thirteenth century in order to facili-
| tate relations between the merchants
| OF the various members Of the Hanse-
| attic League
The British post office had its be-
| ginning in the sixteenth century and
our own colonial methods of handling
| mail were inherited from our British
iorefathers Long before the people
1 haa any means of exchanging either
personal or official letters. the king
mad established system for convey
| ing MS personal messages and Official
| documents by royal messengers. In
| the reign of King John this petulant
monarch paid out large sum for a
! postal service and charged il to the
| household and wardrobe accounts,
! Messengers who were thus intrusted
with matters of state had to be above
| suspicion. They went the whole dis
| lance and We're paid according to the
length and danger of their journeys.
When Edward Nv found the Scots
were too hot upon his trail he de-
cided that he needed a system of
communication between his own head
quarters and those of his fighting
forces, so he had horses placed at
| twenty-mile intervals on the road
! between England aud Scotland. That
was our present post office system in
embryo. Finally, In 1912. Sir Brian
luke became the first postmaster
general of Britain. and personally
| took charge of all the royal messen-
| gers.
| Persons of less Importance than
! kings had to arrange to send their
| letters by their servants. messengers.
merchants or friends, but there is
evidence that by the close OF the
| fifteenth century regular couriers be-
tween few main points were en-
ployed.
''In privy council proclamation in
1903 the duties of mail carriers were
made extremely arduous The post
man had to have two leather bags
lined with hayes. or cotton. for his
letters. he had to toot horn when
ever he saw any one approaching. or
at least four times in every mile, he
might not delay more than fifteen
minutes at any point. and he had to
make at least seven miles an hour in
summer and five in winter. Besides
this he had to keep a record of the
name and address OF the sender and
recipient Of each letter.
Opened ONCE in Boston.
I'm 1888 New England proposed to
the British sovereign that a post Of
flee system be established In the col
onies. AZ 1t was so useful and abso-
lutely necessary His majesty paid
no attention to the plea, but Richard
Fairbanks. in the same year. set up
an ONCE in Boston to receive letters
from ships. He undertook to deliver
the letters received and charged Il
penny for each letter. He also re-
cefved mall for outgoing ships. but
no one was forced to send mail
through his Office.
What step 1t is from those days
to a system that specially delivers
our eager and anxious words, carries
our parcels. registers our valuables.
banks our money or transmits ii to
pay our bills, and was the Paul Re
we're OF our drafts for service In the
world war. calling Americans to Con-
cords and Bunker Hills on the fields
of Flanders,
To-day, in many sections of our
country. the farmer has his daily
paper Just as the Wall street banker
has his. and often he has superior
delivers It TO him is his friend, and
may add verbal bulletins on items of
local interest.
"A thrilling story OF the devotion
of mail men 10 their duties 10 that OF
the Pony Express. the first rapid
transit mail line across the 1896
miles OF prairie, desert. snow-capped
mountain peaks. and alikali wastes
between the Missouri river and the
Pacific coast. 1t was inaugurated
early in 1850 in order that the west
might be kept more closely in touch
with the north, in view of the trouble
brewing from the slavery question.
and. though II had an existence of
only sixteen months, II made the
east and west only ten days apart at
a time Of crisis.
When Carriers Carried Guns.
THE date OF starting was to be
March 26. 1880, and Forts Kearney.
Laramie Bridger. Great Salt Lake
City, Camp Floyd, Carson City. the
Washoe silver mines. Placerville and
Sacramento were to be the points OF
delivery Of mail. In st. Joseph, Mo-.
eager and excited crowds gathered in
the streets to see the first courier. the
wiry. twenty-year-old Johnnie Frey.
as he dashed away on his jet black
flesh blood and determination against
The desolate spaces of an unpeopled
country.
These riders were clad in buckskin
shirts, ordinary trousers. high boots.
and soft SLOUGH hat, and were armed
with sheath knife and Colts revolv
ers and Spencer carbines. The best
time they made across the trackless
waste was in carrying President Lin
coins inaugural speech to San Fran
cisco-seven days and seventeen
hours"