Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 May 1878 — “Blind” Letters at the New York Postoffice. [ARTICLE]

“Blind” Letters at the New York Postoffice.

The average of misdirected letters sent up to this department is over 500 a day; the day I was there last it ran up to about 1,000. The most difficult of these go to Mr. Stone, who is called “the blind man,” perhaps because he can decipher an inscription that is utterly illegible to any other man in America. His most difficult cases are the foreign letters. Here is a letter directed to “ Sanduik,” which he makes out to be Sandy Hook. Sometimes the arrangement of the name and address is curious:

For Mr. thomas Smith Bridge port poHtoffice Conn. America is very plain when you once understand that is “ For Mr. Thomas Smith, Bridgeport, Conn., America.” But when a man says “ Hoio,” how is anybody but a blind man to know that he means Ohio ? One letter reads, “Bet Feet Rue de Agua.” Now the blind man knows that “ Rue de Agua ” is Spanish for Water street, and that there is a Water street in New Bedford, Mass. “ Lysram, Warner C 0.,” he translates into Luzerne, Warren Co., and “Common county, P. A.,” is made into Cameron county, Pa. But who would guess that “ Overn C. D. Learey,” in one line, means that it is to go to Auburn, in search of C. D. L.? One letter is directed to “Kuustanzer Brauerei, S. L, Amerika.” Mr. Stone recollects the fact that Constance’s Brewery is at Stapleton, Staten Island, and the letter is sent there. He reads “ loel ” into lowa, and “ te Pella in Yomah” he makes to go to Pella, in the same State. Nor does Ohio get off with one miss. Here is one letter that wants to go to “ Stadt Hioh Zuusounati, Strasse 15,” —that is, to the State of Ohio, Cincinnati, Street 15. But that is not all. This other one wants to reach the same city ; but it has a bad spell of another kind, for its direction runs “Scitznaty.” And then “Pizzo Burg Messessip,” is sent to Vicksburg. Michigan is spelled “mutting,” “Glass works Berkshire” is sent to Pittsfield, in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, where there is a glass factory. But the hardest one I saw was addressed to “ John Hermann Scliirmen,” in one line, with the wonderful word “ Staguekaundo” for the rest. Mr. Stone cut the word in twain, and read it “ Chautauqua county.” while he translated the whole into “John Hermann, Sherman Postoffice, Chautauqua county, N. Y. ” But there are some which even a blind man cannot make out. One letter in rather a good handwriting is very vaguely addressed to Mackay, Esq., Amerique, Another reads : Too much ofthis. From your affectionate son, Anton Hiembuboer. In this case the close of the letter has been copied exactly by some one who did not understand the language. Instead of too much of this, there is really too little. But here is a case where the top of the letter has been imperfectly copied in the same fashion. It reads : “ Tuesday Evening, Nord America.” If Tuesday Evening should see this article, he will know that his letter has gone back again to Europe.— Edward Eggleston, in Scribner for May.