Special Agents.
“The special agents are the eyes and hands of the department
to detect and arrest violators of the law, and to render the
mails a safe and rapid means of communication. In their
selection I have endeavored to secure the qualities of
integrity, sagacity, and efficiency.”—_Report of
Postmaster-General Montgomery Blair, June 30, 1861._
In England “special agents” are considered among the most important
adjuncts of the post-office department. In this country they are equally
important, and hold the most responsible positions in the general
arrangement and organization of its managerial system.
It was under the administration of Amos Kendall, whose devotion to the
interests of the office forms one of the most interesting features of
our postal history, that the special-agent system was introduced. As Mr.
Blair observes, in the passage quoted above, “special agents are
selected for their integrity, sagacity, and efficiency:” it required
more than mere political influence for an applicant to obtain an
appointment, simply from the fact that _party_ studies its own interest
first and leaves the consequence of its intrigues to time and
opportunity. But the postal department, aware of the sort of material
which generally makes up the political elements of party, very wisely
made the selection of special agents a matter of more serious
consideration. And yet we are fearful that even this department will, if
it has not already, become one of the links which bind and connect it
with the spirit of party and to the chain of its political power. As
far, however, as we are able to judge of the character of those who now
fill these offices, the _upas power_ of _party_ has not been exercised
to any great extent in procuring their appointments. We do not imply
that from the political ranks there cannot be found men in every respect
calculated to fulfil any office in the postal department, but we do mean
to say that in numerous cases men are selected not for their ability to
perform the duties intrusted to them, but for a blustering, roystering
reputation they had gained in their respective wards. Every failure in
our state department, the want of energy, the lack of intelligence, the
confusion attendant on improper amusements, can invariably be traced to
these improper political appointments.
Special agents, apart from those qualities alluded to by Mr. Blair,
should be men of intelligence and character, and possess an intuitive
knowledge of physiognomy, phrenology, philosophy, or the ancient
Moshical, or, rather, the Mosaical, so as to be able at a glance to read
men and become acquainted with their “inward dispositions and with the
faculties of their souls,” and be enabled to say, with Mr. Evelyn, who
studied the science, “that man is all dissimulation.” But we contend
that there are men who, having made the subject of detection a study,
not by examining the features or watching the actions of others, but by
analytical observations, are alone capable of fulfilling these
positions.
The system of ferreting out losses, or, rather, its process, is a
science, and one that to succeed must be closely studied.
Science is knowledge, art, power, and skill in the use of such
knowledge: if it be directed to one particular object, exercising
caution in such connection, the result will inevitably be favorable.
The duties of a special agent are such that these qualifications are
essential to success. And we may say that in the selection of men—men
who now hold these positions—the postal department has not been governed
by petty political influence, but on the principle involved in our
popular maxim, “_The right man in the right place_.”
The duties of a special agent are, in a measure, “secrets of the
office,” and his movements are generally so quiet that few persons in
and out of the office have the least idea what those duties are: hence
the mystery in which all his operations seem involved. Perhaps it would
not be proper, or, at least, so far as the interest of the department is
concerned, for us to explain the exact position these special agents
hold. They have a wide range of duties, which, however, it is not
necessary to particularize and, as stated, explain, except so far as
either of them may have a bearing upon the object of this work. All
losses of valuable letters or depredations on the mails are submitted to
them for investigation. The particular means to be used in discovering
the exact locality of a theft from the mails or in ferreting out and
arresting the perpetrators, are left entirely to their intelligence,
vigilance, and ingenuity. It is natural that a special agent should
become reserved, unobtrusive, quiet in all his actions, no hurry or
bustle, ever cautious, so that he may be enabled to make discoveries
without leading to suspicion and alarming the guilty. Indeed, such an
effect on a man’s natural temperament would be the consequence of his
peculiar business. His means, however, depend upon his observation: he
first learns the amount of loss, the nature of the theft, the character
of the money, and the line of postal communications between the sender
and the expectant recipient. These are his ground-works, upon which he
erects his superstructure, theoretical and practical, for the detection
of the criminal.
Were we to give our readers some account of these discovered thefts,
romance would lose half its charms of enchantment, truth being more
powerful and impressive than fiction. To do this would be to betray the
secrets of the office and to stimulate the rogues to form new plans of
avoiding detection, as well as in their system of thieving.
These agents, as we have observed, keep themselves aloof from the
general business of the office, and not unfrequently mystify those with
whom they occasionally come in contact. They are not the tempters of the
clerks by _meaningly_ employing the decoy-letter practice, but the
silent workers of justice in pursuit of the guilty: hence the honest
employees of the office can boldly say with Macbeth,—
“Thou canst not say I did it; never shake
Thy gory locks at me.”
or with Hamlet,—
“Let the galled jade wince,
Our withers are unwrung.”
_WHAT IS REQUIRED OF A SPECIAL AGENT._
1. He should have a thorough knowledge of the laws and regulations of
the department.
2. Apart from his special duties, he is to report and make known to the
department any unnecessary expenditure on the part of those who have
control of the mails, and at the same time report where there is any
deficiency of agents, &c.
3. He is intrusted with keys to the several mail-locks in use, and is,
by virtue of his commission, authorized to open and examine the mails
whenever and wherever.
4. He is also empowered to enter and examine any post-office which, in
his judgment, may lead to the success of his investigations.
5. He should, when travelling, attract as little attention as possible,
and conceal his official character from observation as much as
possible.
6. He must make himself acquainted with mail-routes, and their
connection with the office of a special agent.
It is not possible for the department to instruct an agent in the
particular means to be employed in discovering the exact locality of an
ascertained robbery of the mail, or in ferreting out and arresting the
perpetrators. These must be as various as the circumstances which
surround each case, and he must exercise his own ingenuity and acuteness
to effect his purpose.
We have, probably, furnished our readers with sufficient information
upon this peculiar branch of the postal department. A writer speaking
upon this subject says,—
“From the nature of their employment, special agents are constantly
brought in contact with the most intelligent and prominent men in the
community, who justly expect to find the post-office department
represented by men of gentlemanly bearing, fair education, correct
deportment, and sound discretion. The absence of any of these qualities,
especially of all of them, would lower the standing of the department
with those whose good opinion is most valuable, and would naturally
cause speculations on the reasons why persons so deficient in the
qualities necessary to make them acceptable to people of discernment
should have been appointed to such a responsible post.”
_SPECIAL AGENT OF THE LETTER-CARRIERS’ DEPARTMENT._
Since the introduction of the free-delivery letter system the position
of a carrier has become one of considerable importance, from the fact of
his duties being not only doubled, but the amount of responsibility
considerably increased. At first there was considerable opposition in
some places to having carriers at all; and even in large cities
postmasters opposed it, as a general thing. Mr. C. A. Walborn,
postmaster of Philadelphia, was among the first to favor the abolishing
the one-cent system, and the making four trips a day, instead of two, as
heretofore. It is true, this added materially to the labor of a carrier,
but by lessening the routes it was soon found as practicable as it was
beneficial to the community. Perhaps no city in the Union can boast of a
better-organized system of the carriers’ department than that of
Philadelphia. Gradually, as merchants became aware of the facilities it
afforded them, and the energetic movements and attention shown by the
carriers to their interest, and of letters being delivered free of
charge, they hailed the system as an important era in the postal
department. In all large cities and populous towns the system became
general, and four deliveries of a letter a day added materially to the
confidence it had inspired.
In view of the importance attached to this department,
Postmaster-General Montgomery Blair appointed Joseph W. Briggs, Esq., of
Cleveland, Ohio, “special agent” to superintend the operations of the
letter-carriers’ department throughout the United States. Mr. Briggs in
every respect was qualified for the position. His acquaintance with
postal matters, and the interest he took in the general delivery of
letters, well qualified him to undertake the important duty. We met Mr.
Briggs in the Philadelphia post-office, September, 1865, while on his
postal tour; and it afforded us an opportunity of exchanging opinions
upon the subject of the carriers’ system, in which he expressed himself
in terms of one who had studied it with an eye to the interest both of
the carriers and that of the department.
Apart from his special duties in large cities, he was authorized by the
department to establish the system in all places requiring it: hence in
a short time the having letters brought to our very doors, even in the
rural districts, will become general.
Mr. Briggs goes into the philosophy of the subject: he calculates first
the amount of labor a carrier has to perform in the office; secondly,
the amount of physical labor required in the performance of his duty as
a carrier of letters. Thus the mental and physical are properly inquired
into, and their respective duties classified. The result of the latter,
as calculated by Mr. Briggs, is as follows:—One hundred and twenty-eight
carriers of the Philadelphia office travel daily 2652 miles,—being an
average of over twenty-two miles per day each man. _This is no
sinecure!_
Apart from this statement, the author of this work called the attention
of the agent to an additional item in this calculation; and that was the
travelling up several pair of stairs, passing through long corridors and
galleries of large public and other buildings, to deliver letters to the
several occupants, would make up an additional mile or two to the above
statistic of figures. Perhaps one good result will arise from the report
which Mr. Briggs has made to the department; and that will be to
increase the number of carriers, and add some twenty-five per cent. to
their salaries.
_A LEAF FROM A SPECIAL AGENT’S NOTE-BOOK._
In the months of April and May, 1861, a large number of registered
letters from points in the State of New York, passing through the New
York and Philadelphia offices to Egg Harbor City and other places in
that section of New Jersey, failed to reach their destination. Before
Mr. C. A. Walborn took charge of the office at Philadelphia, the
attention of special agent Mr. S. B. Row had been drawn to these losses
by the late lamented Mr. James Holbrook, who was the oldest special
agent in the employ of the post-office department. In June, Mr. Row went
to New York City, and had a consultation with Mr. Holbrook; and,
although they differed in opinion as to the precise locality where the
trouble probably existed, it was determined to put through some
_decoy-letters_. One of these letters “turned up missing,” but, for
reasons not necessary to repeat here, nothing was said about it then,
but Mr. Row was perfectly satisfied that the abstraction of letters took
place in the Philadelphia post-office; and, after an interview with one
of the clerks whom he had taken into his confidence, suspicions were
directed to Franklin M. Reed. Reed was an old post-office clerk, who,
with an intermission of perhaps twelve months, had been in the office
for twenty odd years. Efforts were frequently made to “trap” Reed, but
none of them succeeded, until, on the evening of the 8th of August, a
“decoy” was jointly prepared by Mr. Row and Mr. William M. Ireland, the
present chief clerk (1865) of the Philadelphia post-office.
This decoy had all the appearance of a regular registered letter from
New York, and was addressed to an imaginary Mrs. Green, at Atlantic
City, from her devoted husband, who enclosed her two dollars to relieve
her present wants, and promising to visit her at the end of the week.
This letter was, at a favorable moment, slipped into the New York
package, which Reed was then about “casing up.” Next morning Mr. Ireland
examined the Atlantic City mail, and found that the letter for the
_imaginary_ Mrs. Green was missing. At 7 A.M. Mr. Reed quit work. A
short time previous, Mr. Row had seen Mr. Ireland, who was acting under
the instructions of the former, and, on learning the condition of
affairs, it was determined to wait for Mr. Reed at the corner of Third
and Carter’s Streets, when he should make his appearance there on
leaving the office. Soon Reed came out, when he was accosted by the
special agent, who informed him that he required about five minutes of
his time in the postmaster’s private room. On his way there, Reed drew
out his watch several times; but he was too closely watched to admit of
his dropping any thing on his way back. On entering the room, Mr. Row
told him that a certain letter was missing, and that, as it had last
been in his hands, it became his painful duty to search him. Reed
quietly submitted; and in his watch-fob was found the money which had
been enclosed in the Green letter.
Reed was taken before United States Commissioner Hazlitt, and, after a
hearing, was committed to prison in default of $3000 bail. On the 20th
of August the United States District Court convened, and the grand jury
found a true bill on the indictment. On the 27th Reed was tried, and the
jury rendered a verdict of “guilty.” Reed was sentenced to ten years’
imprisonment in the Eastern Penitentiary of Pennsylvania.
_THE YOUTHFUL MAIL-ROBBER._
Some time in the year 1860, a man by the name of Pardon Barrett made his
appearance at Jackson Corners, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania. He was
a shoemaker by trade, and opened a shop for business. He had no family,
kept bachelor’s hall, and associated very little with men, simply
confining himself to business relations with them. He, however, seemed
to take pleasure in the company of boys, and, by insinuating himself
into their good graces, soon succeeded in making his domicile a sort of
rendezvous, or place of meeting, for a select few, upon whom he seemed
to have some special design. In the winter of 1862-63, Barrett’s shop
became a sort of _pleasure-place_ for these youngsters,—pleasure to eat
oyster-suppers, play cards and dice, until he obtained an influence over
them that their parents could never have obtained either for good or
evil.
Were we writing an essay on juvenile depravity, one of the strongest
arguments used would be that of parents losing sight of the vacant hours
of their children. Associations formed at these times have not
unfrequently laid the foundation of their ruin. This will be illustrated
as we proceed.
Among the lads who visited Barrett was Henry W. Fletcher, a bright,
intelligent boy of thirteen years: he was the son of the village
postmaster. Barrett seemed to have a more than ordinary fondness for
this boy,—associated and talked with him wherever and whenever he met
him. It was for the purpose of cementing this friendship still closer,
and strengthening the influence he was gradually obtaining over him,
that the oyster-suppers and card-playing were inaugurated. No one would
have taken such pains with young Fletcher, mastering his timidity,
establishing a friendship, and ministering to his youthful pleasures, if
he had not something in view,—some purpose, some object. Those who have
read Oliver Twist cannot have forgotten the character of “Old Fagin,”
and how he gathered around him a number of boys and taught them the art
and mystery of stealing. Barrett, no doubt, had read Oliver Twist, and,
as we shall see, imitated his plan and followed his example in preparing
boys for the gallows.
On the occasion of one of the oyster-parties, Barrett suggested to young
Fletcher that, as our soldiers were sending money home, he might, if he
were sharp, get some of it. Fletcher started: he could not at first
comprehend how, _honestly_, he could hold the soldiers’ money. “Easy
enough,” remarked Barrett; “by taking the letters out of the
post-office.” An associate of Barrett’s, and perhaps the only one he
had, was present. For reasons not necessary to give here, we conceal his
name. This man urged the boy also to commit this serious offence of
robbing the post-office, but stated, as if he possessed the power,
“that he would see him out of the scrape if he was detected.” The
imagination of the boy was excited by the programme laid out by these
villains,—how they would take him with them to Buffalo, then across the
lake into Canada, “where,” as Barrett remarked, “nobody could find
them.” Then they would proceed to the Western States, seek a wild,
retired place in the forest, build a hut, and pass their time in
hunting, fishing, and other wild-wood sports. To a lad naturally
sprightly, romantic, and possessing more than ordinary intelligence,
such a prospect was quite fascinating. All arch-villains, whenever they
want tools to work with, invariably excite the imagination, which
oversteps the bounds of discretion, and carries the victim on to his
ruin. When Aaron Burr planned his great scheme of revolutionizing the
South, and, no doubt, with an eye to the subjugation of the North, he
selected out a wild enthusiast, one Herman Blennerhassett, for a sort of
leader. Blennerhassett was an adventurer, romantic and chivalric: he
lived on an island of the Ohio River, still retaining his name. Here he
built a splendid mansion, and possessing, it is said, great wealth, he
expended vast sums of money in decorating both the mansion and the
island. The ruins of the former are still to be seen.[51] Like the man
Barrett, Aaron Burr and Blennerhassett enticed to their island a number
of young men, whose imaginations became excited by the descriptive
scenes given them by these arch-traitors of Mexico and the
South,—gardens of beauty and Golconda’s of wealth. High commissions were
promised them; but the bubble burst, their plans were detected, the
parties arrested and tried for high treason.
Barrett pictured to young Fletcher the wild sports of the far West,
and how they would enjoy themselves when once settled in some vast
wilderness. Three months, however, elapsed before young Fletcher
consented, and it was in the early part of May, while his father, the
postmaster, was absent at New York, that he commenced operations. The
first step he made in his career of crime yielded twenty dollars. When
this was shown to Barrett, he remarked, with a friendly smile, “Good!
you have made a fine beginning; keep it going, and the wild-wood sports
will soon be our pastime.”
Fletcher, now that his hand was in, did keep it going, and in three
weeks the fund was increased to two hundred and twenty-five dollars.
Barrett had given him certain instructions, which he strictly followed:
these were, not to take more than one package of letters at a time, and
then only such as were passing through the office; nor was he to take
any belonging to the Jackson office; also, he was to take no letters
unless they had Washington City post-mark on them. The understanding
between them was that Fletcher was to retain all the money until their
final departure; then it was to be divided among them, or a treasurer
appointed until they reached their wild-wood destination. Fletcher kept
the money hid away, as Barrett told him it was dangerous to carry it
about him. On several occasions, however, he tried to get money out of
Fletcher, but the latter invariably refused to advance a cent, holding
the former to the bond, which was not to use any of the money until
their general meeting previous to their departure West. It seems,
however, that about this time the losses were being looked to by the
post-office department, and, for reasons which are foreign to the matter
in hand, young Fletcher exhibited a more liberal spirit to a boy named
Brownson than he did to Barrett, by furnishing him with forty dollars to
enable him to run away from home. It was not a very difficult matter on
the part of the department to trace the robbery as soon as the money
from letters was missing. Once on the _railroad_ of suspicion, the
detective soon reached the _depot_,—the scene of theft.
The boy Fletcher was at first supposed to be the only person concerned
in the affair; but the investigation developed the facts above stated,
and Barrett, who had suddenly left for New York, was arrested at Genesee
on the 9th of June. On the 16th he was taken to Williamsport,
Pennsylvania, where the United States District Court was held; on the
17th he was put on trial; on the 18th found guilty; and on the 20th he
was lodged in the Western Penitentiary at Alleghany City, Pennsylvania,
the court having sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment. Barrett’s
age was fifty-six, which influenced the court in shortening the term of
imprisonment.
The principal witness against Barrett was young Fletcher. A large number
of letters was found at a place designated by him. One hundred and sixty
dollars and other mailable matter were found where he said they were
concealed. The most important item of testimony, however, was that which
related to a silver half-dollar, which Fletcher alleged he had taken out
of a letter, and which he had sold to Barrett for sixty cents in
currency. It was ascertained that a drafted man, on leaving for the
army, had taken inadvertently with him a half-dollar belonging to his
little son. At the time the tampering was going on with letters at the
post-office, he had enclosed a half-dollar in a letter to his wife to
replace the one he had taken away with him. This letter had to pass
through the Jackson office, but it never reached its destination.
Doubtless this was the one out of which Fletcher got the half-dollar
sold to Barrett. It is a curious fact in the history of criminals that
their detection, in nine cases out of ten, is caused by some very
trifling incident connected with the operations. So it was in this case.
The 126th section of the act of Congress of March 3, 1825, makes the
opening, embezzling, or destroying of mail-letters or packages
containing articles of value an offence punishable with imprisonment not
less than two, nor more than ten, years. The 129th section of the same
act provides “That every person who, from and after the passage of this
act, shall procure and advise, or assist, in the doing or perpetration
of any of the acts or crimes by this act forbidden, shall be subject to
the same penalties and punishments as the persons are subject to who
shall actually do or perpetrate any of the said acts or crimes,
according to the provisions of this act.” It was under this clause
Barrett was convicted, and it is, perhaps, the only case of the kind on
record.
This interesting case—and were all the details given it would prove
highly so—came under the official management of S. B. Row, Esq., special
agent of the post-office department for the State of Pennsylvania. The
moment the first intimation was received of the mails being tampered
with, he fixed upon his starting-point, and, with a sure eye to the end,
he pursued his course until he arrived at Jackson, and by a little
stratagem the whole plot was discovered. He traced it from the first
step young Fletcher made into crime, after receiving his lesson from
Barrett, up to the loss of the silver half-dollar. The case, if fairly
written out, with all the details, would make an invaluable paper for
some Sunday-school tract-publishing institution. It is, indeed, a lesson
for youth.
_THE DISHONEST MERCHANT._
Crime in high places has of late become fashionable; law itself has
become aristocratic, and maintains its character for partiality by
shielding aristocratical rascals beneath its wings. Justice is no
longer blind,—at least, one of its eyes is open,—and the distinguishing
marks on a greenback, denoting its value, are readily discerned by the
goddess. The poor wretch who steals a loaf of bread to save his children
from starvation invariably gets on the blind side of Justice, and, of
course, the sense of hearing, and not of seeing, is exercised in his
case. Bacon, in his Essay of Judicature, says, “The place of justice is
an hallowed place, and, therefore, not only the bench, but the
foot-pace, and precincts, and purprise thereof, ought to be preserved
without scandal and corruption.” The fate of the bread-snatcher is an
evidence that the precincts of justice and the foot-pace to its throne
must be paved with gold, or his chance, or that of any other poor man,
from escape is totally impossible. The man who steals a loaf of bread
commits a crime: he should be punished: so should the man who swindles
the government, robs the widow, commits forgery, nay, even murder, but
whose wealth paves the way for his acquittal. (_See records of our
courts._)
In the following case it will be observed that the postal department,
having some knowledge of the manner business is conducted in our courts,
took the matter into its own hand, the chief clerk acting as _detective,
judge, and jury_, and who settled the case in a manner, without loss of
time or money, highly satisfactory to all, save the guilty party, who,
shortly after the scene we are about to describe, was compelled to quit
the city and left for parts unknown.
The gentleman(?) who is the hero of the narrative—for he was recognized
as a gentleman in society—had been in the frequent receipt, by mail, of
remittances in large and small sums. Not long since he made his
appearance at the desk of the chief clerk in the post-office, and
alleged that he had just taken from his box a letter from which a draft
on a city bank for about one hundred dollars had been fraudulently
abstracted, and, as the point from which the letter had been mailed was
but a short distance from Philadelphia, he was confident that the draft
had been abstracted by some one in the post-office here. This imputation
on the character of the office nettled the chief clerk, and that
functionary determined to sift the matter to the bottom and ferret out
the criminal, if such there was. He made the necessary inquiries as to
the day the letter was due here, closely cross-examined the clerks, and,
after a diligent investigation, proceeded to the bank on which the draft
was drawn. He found that _it had been paid_, and bore the indorsement,
or seeming indorsement, of the loser. He borrowed the draft and brought
it to the office. On comparing the apparently-forged signature of the
loser on the back of the document with the handwriting of a certain
night-clerk, a remarkable resemblance was discovered. Several experts
were called in, and declared that the handwriting of the clerk and the
chirography of the “forger” were one and the same. A clerk in the bank
was privately shown the suspected clerk, and he identified him as the
man _to whom the money had been paid_! The network seemed to be closing
around the poor night-clerk, and it was determined that he should be
arrested. The chief clerk, jubilant at his discovery, sent for the
merchant who said he had lost the draft. While the chief clerk and the
merchant were closeted in the postmaster’s private office, and the
former was detailing his success to the merchant, he observed, as he
proceeded with the recital, that the merchant began to wear a livid hue;
his countenance assumed a pallid aspect, in which a guilty conscience
seemed to come to the surface to horrify and disgust the beholder.
Trembling lips, too, were seen, and, as the truth in all its damning
meanness flashed across the mind of the chief clerk, he at once boldly
charged the merchant with having written his own signature _in a
feigned hand_, so as to secure the spoils of his own guilt and ruin an
innocent man. The guilty, miserable creature, overwhelmed with
confusion, confessed his guilt and implored mercy. He acknowledged his
criminality in the whole transaction,—a transaction which was about to
stain forever the reputation of an honest, hard-working man, whose only
capital was his skill as a scrivener and his integrity in his clerical
position. The chief clerk, determined that the reputation of the
night-clerk should be vindicated, threatened to have the guilty merchant
exposed and punished unless he proceeded to a magistrate at once and
made an affidavit confessing the crime in all its details. The merchant
humiliated himself by signing and swearing to the odious confession, and
the matter there rested.
_LETTERS ADDRESSED TO CITIES ONLY._
Many persons are in the habit of addressing letters and circulars for
firms and individuals, simply, “Philadelphia,” “New York,” &c. This
practice not unfrequently occasions delay in such letters reaching their
rightful owners. In all cases, however well the firm may be known, it is
most essential, to insure their correct delivery, that the street or
locality in which they reside, and the number of the house, should form
a portion of the address. Many of these circulars are prepared with
great care and considerable expense: yet they are so carelessly directed
that not more than one-half of them ever reach their place of
destination, simply because that place is not designated.
There is another matter to which we would call the attention of
merchants and others, and that is, to be very careful in putting postal
currency on their letters, and not revenue-stamps.
This carelessness on the part of those forwarding letters has led to
much loss and inconvenience, and if persisted in they cannot blame the
department, which has from time to time called public attention to the
fact. Some put on their letters revenue-stamps, others no stamp at all;
and in many instances letters of importance have thus lain in the office
until the parties have received through the dead-letter office
information of their whereabouts.
_UNMAILABLE LETTERS._
“Letters attempted to be sent with stamps previously used or stamps cut
from stamped envelopes.
“Unpaid letters for foreign countries, on which prepayment is required
by the regulations.
“Letters not addressed, or so badly addressed that their destination
cannot be known.
“Letters misdirected to places where there are no post-offices.”
It will be here seen that the government is not responsible for the
ignorance and stupidity of all epistolarians.
In some instances, however, postmasters are to blame in not paying more
attention to the mode of stamping letters.
The examination of dead-letters discloses much carelessness on the part
of postmasters in post-marking letters, and also in cancelling
postage-stamps.
The latter clause of the regulations of 1859, section 397, is repealed,
and the use of the office-rating or post-marking stamp as a cancelling
instrument is positively prohibited, inasmuch as the post-mark, when
impressed on the postage-stamp, is usually indistinct, and the
cancellation effected thereby is imperfect. The postage-stamp must,
therefore, be effectually cancelled with a separate instrument.
Special attention is directed to the duty imposed upon postmasters by
Regulation 396, which is as follows:—
“If the cancelling has been omitted on the mailing of the letter,
packet, or parcel, or if the cancellation be incomplete, the postmaster
at the office of delivery will cancel the stamp in the manner directed,
and forthwith report the delinquent postmaster to the
postmaster-general, as the law requires.”
_ADDRESSES SHOULD BE LEGIBLE AND COMPLETE._
We have under other heads alluded to the carelessness of persons in
addressing their letters. To make them legible and complete, give the
name of the post-town, and if there be more than one town of that name,
or if the post-town is not well known, be careful in giving the name of
the county, which in all cases is as essential as that of the State. The
number of the house, too, if in a street, is a great assistance. It must
not be supposed that because a letter will eventually reach its
destination without a number, the omission is not a cause of hesitation
and delay in the process of sorting for delivery; and when such small
delays occur again and again, they tend greatly to retard the general
distribution. In the case of letters for places abroad, the name of the
_country_, as well as the town or city, should be given in full.
Attention to this latter precaution will often assist in deciphering the
name of the town or city, and will prevent the letter from being
mis-sent when there are towns of the same name in different countries.