Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1922-02-09

have disappeared en- route. At any
rate, the JOY of those who received nice
things from home, including fresh
pudding and sausage and spare-rib and
backbone, was only equalled by the
intense disgust of those who felt that
they had been forgotten. Hence orig.
mated Shepherdstown classio-a
brief, curt note sent % his wife by
a soldier who had had no portion in
the good things received by the men
Of Company B. 1t said:
Some git puddin' and sausage and
some git none. Send my socks by
Chris Emory"
Some time during the war br i'm
mediately afterward Elias Baker was
appointed postmaster, and the post
oftice was kept in the general store of
David Billmyer in the old building
which was afterward torn down to
make room for the business block in
which the Farmers Bank is located
There was little case of pigeon holes
that sufficed to hold all the mail that
came to town. Observers earliest
recollections go back TO the unique
method of distributing the mail at
this place.
About noon Butch Crowl, driving
Adams stage coach that made daily
trips to and from Kearneysville, would
pull up in front of the store and de-
liver the mail sack. Mr.. Baker would
take the pouch into the store, a win
dow facing the street would be raised
and then the postmaster would call out
the letters to the crowd waiting OUT
side. If the person to whom the letter
was addressed was present he would
call out "Herel" and the letter would
be passed out to him. If no response
was made, the letter would be put
In pigeon hole to await the later call
from the owner. This method of dis
tribution was not satisfactory to every
body, but the regular habitues of the
posroffice-how much alike those of the
present day they were fifty-odd yeara
ago-knew just who had gotten a let
ter today. The mail was limited in
those days-a handful or two of letters,
three or four daily papers from Bal
timore, few weekles and a magazine
now and then. There was no parcel
post, and the great mass of circulars
and papers of every sort that now en-
cumber the mails had not been thought
OF. The distribution of the mail
through the open window by calling out
names was later objected to by the peo-
pie and was discontinued. Letters ev-
cry now and then got into the wrong
hands, and it is said that some spicy
scandals were narrowly averted.
We think Van Underdonk succeed
ed Mr.. Baker as postmaster, and he
kept the postoffice in the room Just east
of the Register building, next to the
alley. Later Joseph Welshans got tho
Office, and the mail was distributed
from little red brick building on King
street, which was next the old Register
printing office. The arrival of the
stage from Kearneysville was awaited
with eagerness each afternoon and the
people assembled as they do now Dur
ing later term Mr.. Welshans remod-
eled his ancient blacksmith shop,
further along King street, and it was
long used as postoffice. How spry
Miss Ellen Welshans was in handling
the mail, and how interested and ac-
commodating in her relations with the
folks whose letters passed through
her hands. Good Miss Ellen-how the
people have missed her!
James D. Fayman was another post
master in the days after the war, and
later VIM. A. Chapline conducted the
Office for long time in the room next
to the Register building on the east.
Shepherdstown never had a better post
master than Mr.. Chapline. The uni
form of his office was howered dress
ing gown that he wore almost all tho
time he was on duty. He was remark
ably accurate, and the records OF his
Office would be passed quarter after
quarter without an error or mark
against him. He was as accommodate
ing as he could be, yet he guarded the
interests of the Office with jealous
fidelity. 1t is coincidence that his
daughter, Mrs Helen Wendell, is now
assistant postmaster-she is as accur-
ate as her father was, too.
| When the Democrats elected a Presi-
dent finally, Mr.. Rentch again be-
came postmaster, using the room in the
building where now S. L. Cooley has
his store. E. H. Reinhart, another
Democrat, was afterward postmaster,
with the postoffice in the Register
building. H. E. Mundey got it when
the administration changed again, and
moved it into its present location.
When President Wilson came in and
Mr.. Mundey's term expired Vim. L.
Reinhart became postmaster, and upon
his death John c. Reinhart filled his
unexpired term. Armistead S. Lucas
followed him and has since been
holding the Office. The Republicans
will take it from him at the end of his
term in just one month from today.
Who will be the next postmaster
| Observer knows, but will not tell un-
til the appointment is made.