Evening star., 1922-09-20
DEAD LETTER SALE
TO OFFER VARIETY
PIoWs, Clothes, Tires ane
Other Articles on Post
Office List.
DELEGATES TO LOOK ON
Auction Next Wednesday Dated
for Benefit of Conven-
ton.
DELEGATES TO LOOK Oh

washiugtonians desiring to snop
carly" for Christmas cannot miss hho-
ing gifts If they attend the semi
emma, auction sale of dead-letter
merchandise. which will be held AT
c. G. Sloan & Co.. ZIG 18TH street
northwest, at 10 am. September - T.
ANYTHING from a package OIL sew
enty-six elk teeth or tiny M9s'io
Shrine pin. to automobile tires anu
hand plows, are in the lot, the fos'
Office Department announces. 1h's
col. ;nc,udes only articles received
NV the main dead letter ONCE a.
Washington. Similar sales are ne,t
on various dates at Boston. New orr
Atlanta. Cincinnati, Chicago, st. Louis
San Francisco, st. Paul. Fort :" oE al
. New Orleans, Seattle ana n'"a ha,, co,
The time Of the sale has peeh SET
to coincide with the date of the con-
vention of the National ASsoclatiC u
of PostmasterS here, September %
and %, with a view to bringing !"
the attention of the postmasters .is
. large amount of parcel post md.tei
that Nnds its way to the dead letter
office. and to permit them to witness
the method of disposal Supt. DaiZeli
of the dead letter office is endea'or
ing to fix upon uniform methoos III
preparing articles for disposition.
Box of Foreign Coins.
CONSPICUOUS among the articles TO
be sold is a cigar box tuil OF 1oreisi,
copper and nickel coins from az.
parts of the world. Many of them
are yery old and show by illegible
inscriptions evidence of years ot
service as pocket or lucky pieces.
Gold and silver coins received at 'ile
dead letter Office are turned over 10
the Treasury Department tor mlntihs
into American money: ;
taken from different packages ana
labeled solid gold will be sold: either
separately or all together. Ihe llSt
of the other articles would NIL
good sized catalogue There are
hats, clothing and shoes, both new
and second hand: books on nearly
every known subject. musical lnstru-
ments from jewsharps to 'violins
silyerwars ribbons. dishes, electrical
supplies, hand plows. suit cases. rat
traps, typewriters. rouge and wrist
watches and other watches galore.
"All undelivered articles received
at the dead letter Office are not sold.
declared Supt. Dalzell. as he drew
from his desk a bottle of cocaine
worth hundreds of dollars. "Poisons,"
obscene literature and narcotics are
destroyed"
The elk teeth were received from
Seattle. Wash, with a. note from the
postmaster that delivery could not
be effected and that elk's teeth could
not be sold in that state
Objectionable I'm ID. c.
Supt Dalzell took the question up
with the Department Of Agriculture
with a view to determining whether
there was any restriction on such
sales in the District of Columbia. He
was informed that, while there was
no federal law prohibiting the sale,
the government annually spends thou
sands 9f dollars to protect the elk
and that to sell the teeth might be
considered as an encouragement to
Illegal killing Of animals. He was
told that frequently an elk is found
in the woods breathing its last with
it's teeth knocked out. The question
of the sale is still under advisement.
Still another package which will
not be sold is held under lock and
key. 1t contains five or six pieces of
Japanese scenic embroidery, appear
ing at first glance to be paintings.
The package was mailed at San
Francisco, evidently by a globe trot-
ter. to Vancouver. B. c., with a nota-
ton that should it be returned to the
United States it would be subject to
duty. The package was returned un-
delivered by the Canadian postal au-
thorities and the sender could not
be located