POST LETTER BOXES: POSITION, VIOLATION, PECULIAR USES.
The three hundred and fifty pillar and wall letter boxes are placed at
convenient points, regard being had to the wants of the immediate
neighbourhood that each has to serve--to approach by paved crossings, to
contiguity to a public lamp, to being out of the way of pedestrians and
as far removed from mud-splashing as possible. At the same time, the
inspectors endeavour to place the boxes so that they may be an
attraction, rather than an eyesore, to the spot where erected.
The sign of "The Pillar Box" has been given to a public-house before
which a Post Office box stands. Occasionally the Post Office letter
boxes are greatly misused. Some little time since a woman in Bristol was
savage enough to drop oil of vitriol, nitric acid, and other dangerous
fluids into the boxes. She even poured paraffin into the letter box at a
post office, and dropped an ignited match in after it. A conflagration
was only averted by the fortunate circumstance of the postman clearing
the box just in time to extinguish the commencing fire. The woman's
determination is evidenced from the fact that her hands were severely
burned by the strong acid she used; but, notwithstanding this, she
continued night after night to carry on her dastardly work. She was
found out after much anxious watching, and having, on trial, been found
guilty, she was sentenced by a lenient judge to six months'
imprisonment. She would assign no reason for her incomprehensible
behaviour even when asked by the judge in court. Not infrequently,
mischievous children place lighted matches, rubbish, etc., in the Post
Office letter boxes, and in the letter boxes of private houses and
warehouses. The Post Office officials are always on the alert to
discover the delinquents. It is desirable also that the public, in their
own interests, should call the attention of postmen and the police at
once to any case in which they may observe letter boxes being tampered
with. It may not be generally known that offences of this kind are
punishable by imprisonment under the Post Office Protection Act.
A remarkable case was that of a servant who was a somnambulist, and who
for some time wrote letters in her sleep, night after night, and took
them to adjacent letter boxes to post. Sometimes she was fully attired,
and at other times only partially so. As a rule, the letters were
properly addressed, but the girl did not always place postage stamps
upon them.
Occasionally the postmen have to encounter the difficulties arising from
a frost-bound letter box. Such a case occurred with a box situated on
the summit of the Mendip Hills. The letter box and the wall in which the
box is built were found by the postman to be covered with ice, caused by
rain and snow having frozen on them. The door resisted all his efforts
to open it, and he had to leave it for the night. On making another
effort when morning came, it taxed his ingenuity and that of other
interested and willing helpers to get the box open. Hot water was tried,
paraffin was poured into the lock, and it was only after a hammer had
been used and a fire in a movable grate had been applied for a time that
the lid could be opened.
A letter box erected in a brick pillar in a secluded spot on the East
Harptree road, about a mile distant from any habitation, was, late one
night, damaged to the extent of having its iron door completely smashed
off, apparently either by means of a large stone which lay at its base
when the violation was discovered, or by means of a hammer and jemmy.
Although the adjacent ground, ditches, and hedges were searched, no
trace of the iron door could be found. As three roysterers were known to
have passed the box on the night in question, it was assumed that the
damage was done by them out of pure mischief and not from any desire to
rob Her Majesty's mails. Whether such were the case or not, they had the
unpleasant experience of being locked up over the Sunday on suspicion.