Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 January 1911 — Stray Letters Puzzle “Nude” Clerk [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Stray Letters Puzzle “Nude” Clerk

CHICAGO. —Working away like the proverbial trooper, the “nixie" clerk was discovered behind a battlement of pigeon holes, In the Chicago poßtoffice. He was plying his trade of finding the destination of misdirected letters and of letters whose addresses other clerks had been unable to decipher. He was too busy to talk. .... “The ‘nixie’ clerks run a haven for wayward epistles,” explained a selfappointed guide. “When a misguided letter is discovered it is sent to ‘nixie,’ where the clerks give it the proper treatment and send it on its way.” That more information regarding the “nixie” department might be E lined, C. A. Mallory, assistant superten dent of the city delivery, was bought his office. 3‘ ; “The ‘nixie’ clerks,” explained Mr. •Mallory, “form an Important part of tJncle Sam’s postal service. They work out puzzle after puzzle in hieroglyphics and erroneous addressing and through their efforts much mall

■ f * matter that otherwise would be lost lands where It should. , “For explanation we will say that a railway postal clerk find a letter addressed to John Smith, Chestnut street,, Illinois. That letter* Incompletely addressed, is thrown into the ‘nixie’ pile In the postal mall car and finds its way to the ‘nixie’ department, In this case, say, in Chicago. The *nixle’ clerk consults a tabulation, which lists the various Chestnut streets In Illinois and tells In what towns they will be found. He then consults the directory of each of those towns —a Bupply of directories is kept on hand —until he finds a John Smith living ln_Chestnut street Then the letter Is readdressed and sent. Should this chance to be the wrong John Smith and the letter la returned a similar process Is followed. Before every method is exhausted _ you may fegl reasonably Bure that the right person has received the letter. “Yes, sir,” laughed Mr. Mallory,” the fellow who called the ‘nixie’ department a haven for wayward epistles struck it about right. “Approximately how many ‘nixies’ do you receive in Chicago a day 7' Mr. Mallory was aakffO. “Ob, from 300 to 400, I should say,” was the reply.