Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-10-07
Live Things Disturb Postal Force

night one Of the battling birds fur
Their complicated matters by laying an
egg. Then the question arose of what
to do with the egg. The shipper had
paid no extra postage on an egg, and
his fowl was violating the law by being
in the mails at all. After written mes
SageS had passed between the post ONCE
authorities and the owner, the birds
were finally sent on to their destination
by express, while the egg, being within
the law, was. wrapped separately and
went c. o. D. by parcel post
The American Express Co. has helped
out the post ONCE In such tangled mat
tiers. A big Airedale terrier got as far
as New York by mail He, too, was
against the parcel post laws. AS his
crate was practically airless and so
small that the dog was unbearably
crampcd, the kind-hearted post office
people let him out and kept him in the
office while they. conferred with the
American Express. The express COM
,pany agreed to take chance on coll
lecting the fee. to build the dog a crate
to mt and ship him on, to his destina-
ton. When the shipper learned OF his
dogs arrival, instead of being grateful
for their care of his illegal package, he
wrote. the inquiry department a letter
beratinS them for daring to touch his
crate. T..
The inquiry department has not yet
had to cope with newborn babes. The
nearest approach to human body that
has come to their attention was an
artificial leg..A letter to the manufac-
turer established the name and address
Of the woman to whom It had been
sent. AS the leg was valued at $500, the
person to- whom 1t properly belonged
was grateful when 1t was finally dis
patched to her. 80
A grueson1e article once came into the
departments cars. 1t was round tin
box Of the kind commonly used by
crematorieS, in which the ashes of the
dead are shipped to their relatives. The
address tag was missing. However. the
tin box bore clue. Stamped on 1t was
the name OF the crematory from which
1t had been mailed Telephone COM
munication with the establishment re-
vealed the name and address of the
man who had accompanied the body
TO the crematory. The post ONCE au-
thoritieS sent messenger to the adj
dress, where he was told that the man
had been temporary bOarder there
and had since departed, leaving no for
warding address. The situation was
delicate. The post ONCE offlcialS were
worried. They telephoned again to the
cTematory, where a further search of
the records showed that the man. had
left q second name and address In Cali
tornia. Perhaps that had been the
original lost address. At any rate,
thither the tin box was sent. And un-
less they were expecting It, the family
or friends must have been little star
tied at what came In the mail.
About four times year the unclaimed
-perlshable articles which have ac-
cumulated In the New York Post once
are sold at auction. Every odd sort Of
article Is for sale. from clothes to har-
monicaS. Automobile tires In album
dance, underwear described as new
secondhand" books, jewelry, loving
cups (damaged) and electric curling
irons have all been on the auction lists
ANY one who wants to get bargain
in a set OF false teeth, either or a
couple OF pocket TASKS would do well
to attend the auction sales Of the New
York Post once.