The Delta independent., 1924-08-22
UNCLE SANS MAIL MEN
ARE OFTEN REAL HEROES

Perhaps few people realize the hero
| ism of the unsung peace time heroes
of the United States-the mail car
riers on dangerous star mail routs.
Records of bravery and of heroism
equal TO the deeds of daring perform
ed by soldiers on the battlefield are
found in the government records.
There is no Congressional Medal of
Honor bestowed on them; no decora-
ton of any kind awaits them, but they
are not seeking notoriety; they are
carrying on their daily labors as a
part of their duties.
Many fascinating tales of adven-
ture and peril and loss of life even
can be told of the carriers on the star
routes. These men work under con-
tract, engaged as a result of compet-
tive bidding. They differ from all
other government employees as they
| fix their own salaries. When it is
pointed out that during the past two
and half years SO carriers have lost
their lives while in the performance
of duty it will be seen that the tasks
assigned them are hazardous in the
extreme.
! There are star routes scattered
throughout the country where seas
of mud" are considered of slight NOM
ent and where the perils encountered
from ice packs and floes many times
result in death or serious or perma-
nent injury for the carriers.
In January of this year Reinhold
| Dreahn. carrier on the star route be
tween Buffalo and Murchison, South
Dakota. fell a victim to duty. For sew
eral years Dreahn had been making
! twice-a-week trips between the two
hamlets, encountering all sorts of
weather conditions but never failing
to carry out his part of the contract
with the Post Office Department He
had started from Murchison as usual
on a certain Saturday and when he
did not put in an appearance the next
! day at Buffalo, a search was made for
! him. He was found just one mile out
side of twon with both hands and feet
! frozen. He was dead when discover
ed and it is estimated he had been ex-
]
sixteen hours. The theory advanced
for his death was that, becoming ex-
| haused from a hard days work while
attempting to crank his car, he fell
and was not able to recover his senses
before he succumbed to the cold of
the night
Probably one of the most hazardous
! lg..gv
more of Uncle Sans mail carriers
was that of the Hitchcock brothers,
carriers on the routes out of San
dusky, Ohio. to near by Islands over
| ice and water. Some winters ago.
while endeavoring to deliver mail to
residents of some of the smaller is
lands in Lake Erie they were caught
in storm and running ice. They
were carried down the lake by the
resistless force of a drift in which
they had become wedged The
carriers were given up for lost by the
excited Islanders, and cablegram
wired to Kelly Island read:
Look out for the carriers: they are
fast in the ice and drifting that way"
But the two men, after many ef.
forts, were rescued. They were in an
exhausted condition and so complet.
ly covered and weighed down with ice
as to be helpless. Their caps were
frozen fast to their heads and their
clothes 80 loaded with ice that the
wearers were unable to bend.
On arrival at home their friends
were obliged to cut and tear away
their ice-armored garments. After
changing clothing bushel OF ice that
had fallen off in the process was
swept from the floor.
Henry Elfers carried the mails to
kelly's Islands from Sandusky. for
over forty years. During that time
he had many hair-breadth escapes
and adventures galore.
When | was a youngster," said FL
fers not long ago, IL was out in a