Terre Haute Weekly Gazette, Terre Haute, Vigo County, 10 January 1878 — Page 3

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F.RANK RftHM.

always was

4 .«

Interesting facts Concerning His Career in thp Penitentiary. •*iti

An Inte fries# With Gtedfge

S. Grahaih, Lata of Michigan City.

How Rande Plotted, bat Wilted j'tfndera Dose of the "Cat"

An Astonishing? Amount, of lV!«'tliol in His Madness. fif ,*«# s* *'/*$?*»«

•4lFrom the Wayne Sentinel.) .* Our reporter had an interview with Mr. George Grsfliam, this morning, for the purpose of ''obtaining information concerning Randy's operations while in oners in a general revolt and endeavored the Michigan City prison. Mr. Giahain to accomplish something toward securing although a prisoner, was for a time assist ant book-keeper for J. H. Winterbo liam & Sons, contractors in the orison, and was librarian and letter writer for the prisoners a-*d ha&Tfocilities enjoyed by few others similarly situated for observing Ramie's motions. He said, in sub stance, the following: Rande, or Van Z$ndt, as he was known at the prison, wa* sent to Michigan City on the 12th day of September,

1872.

An'ugly cuss'

at his best, but when disfigured by the zebra uniform of the prison he became perfectly hideous in appearances and was preeemin :ntly the ugly of uglies He immediately commenced operations similar to those engaged in bv him while in jail here declared the food was not fit tor hoj fe^d (Graham agrees with him on that point), and that the prisoners were unfit to call themselves men un less they would take steps to bring about a change in this respect. He was promptly sque'ehed, but was continuously plotting to create dissatisfactian and mutiny in the prison, and succeeded more nearly than the officers of that ssitmion perhaps iinagine. Much has been aid of his insanity. lie was regarded at the prison as a 'dead crank,' 1. e„ entirely crazy. II. A. Stonef, the physician in charge, officially pronounced him insaue, and the contractors gave the state the option of removing him from• their shops or .receiving half pay for his labor, as they did not wish their material to beat the mercy of a suppos luna'ic. The etati kept him at work for ha!f .«iy, thus admitting that in their Opinion i*«? ,-ii-

HE WAS NO\ COMPOS.

It is the very decided opinion of Graham that Randc's madness is very like unto that of the celebrated Dana—there is method in ir. lie is a fairly educated unscrupulous biute, having no m®re regard for the lives and property of others than if such rights did not exist. B'it those who labor undar the impression tht\t he is defective in his mental faculties are rerv much deceived. He is slurp, shrewd and calculating. He never tried his 'rc'y u,i 11 anvperson in the prison tlv.,t lie did not think was afrairlof him His first overt act against the discip'ioe was an

ATTACK UPON CRYZY CONVICT named Doc Mc Cape. Rande had secured a medical work from the library, and, afier studying for some days, he imagined he knew more about physics than the authorized physician. McCabj was, or claimed to be. a phvsician, but is a v-eek-mindid, in ffjnsive creature. He workeJin the same'team' with RatiJe, an 1 msequently had opportun ties Inlet limited conversations wit"i 'uim when the guard was engaged in another portion of the shop On one of these occasions the*two engaged in an argument upon some disputed point in medical jurisprudence, and. as our city is ilustrati .e of the fact that doctors sometimes disagree out of prison, the law of analogies would give them the same privilege while in durance vile Be that as it may—their arguments in this case became forcible and striking consisting more of chair-posts and arms than would be njet with on a similar occasion in our Mecical College. McCabe was pretty severely thrashed before the guard could interfere. Rande, as the assultiug party, was taken to the office, for punishment, and here

THE CUR IN HIM

was develobed. It it considered a mark effortitude and manliness among the prisoners to submit to an inevitable pun ishment in silence. Like the aboriginals, they have an admiration for the man who exhibits stoicism under pain Rande was ordered to '6trip for the cats. He demurred and begged like a cur for mercy. Finding this of no avail, he swore he

KEVER WOULD BE CATTED ALIVE that any G—d d—d deputy warden who laid the'cats'upon him wjuld not sur vivelongto boast of it. Two guards then seized and held him do «n while the terrible pur ishment ot catting was inflict ed upon him. Five times the cats rose and fell upon his quivering flesh, each blow followed by an appeal lor mercy and then bv cursing and vows of revenge. From this time forth he never remained quiet a moment. He had at least four different plots in operation at one time, having for their object the delivery of the entire institution and the murder, if necessary,"of every official connected with the prison. It is not to much to say that he would have succeeded had it not been for his betrayai in every instance by some convicts in whom it was necessary to confide. His plots were alwavs characterized by shrewdness in every detail and exhibited none of the insanity that is so much talk ed of in connection with him at this time. About the latter part of November,

1873,

Rande was reprimanded by his guard (Thomas Corbett, well known in this city, and one of the most kind-hearted and humane men connected with the institution.) On receiving the reprimand he immediately showed fight, and injured Corbett somewhat before assistance could arrive. He was placed in a sell to await the rereturn of the deputy warden from the village, and while there made a

FEIGNED ATTEMPT AT SUICIDE to avoid the punishment he knew would follow unless something extraordinary occured to prevent it. Procuring an old shoe knife he made an incision through the veins of his wrist and gave himself a cut in the throat, being very 4!itfefui however, to injure no vital part.

He expected to be called from the cell immediately for punishment, but on the return of the deputy warden it was decided not to punish until the mattar had cooled down a little. Here wis adilirarrla for Rande.' If he called for a guard to remove him to the hospital, he tacitly ad mi ted that he dare rial accomplish the work of self-destruction. If he did not call for assistance he wou'.d „i gaj, -i

SPEEDILY BLEED TO Diltli,"

and give Geo. Wood, the prison resurrectionist, an opportunity to turn an honest penny by the sale of his caress to some medical colltge (the cfae in this citv was in embryo at this time.) It is hardly necessary to say he called to the guard. He was carried to the infirmary, his wounds dressed, and himself remnnded to bis cell on a bread and water diet,

would have succeeded in having a regu lar arsenal, rifle*, revolvers and ammuni tion conveyed fro 11 the outside of hi shop, and 'bidden among the rubbisl The result may have been the

DESTRUCTION OF THE ENTIRE PBISO for if the movement assumed a sha which insured success, Rande would have left one brick upon another, and would not have been a remarka' healthy locality for guards or contract at tha» time. The defection of Lookh left him alone, and from tiiis lime never al:owed any convict to become duainted with any of his plans. He

Babies wuz alluz'my e&peshl avershun A babe is a thing to be taken care uv, not a thing to take care uv anybody else Babies are expensive, and he who hez his quiver full uv that kind uv arrtrs, must expjck to devote hisself religiously to them, and, by j!st so much, neglect hisself. Taking care uv others and negleetin mybelf wuz never my best holt I am well adapted to bein takin care uv

It wuz, therefore, with feelins uv, profound disgust I taw the first uv the Nasbvs impendin. I didn't like it. I object ed to it not only on akkount uv myself, bu-on M'aria's, the wife uv my buzm That excellent woman wuz' a milliner, and I felt that it wuz enuff for her to take care uv me, without hevin piled onto her the burden uv another and be sides, woodent the st uv carin for that addishnel one lessen my comfort? I- am not, selfish. I knowed that a woman with a child coodent care for her customers and git thro her house keepin ez well with a child ez the could without, Ez it wuz, she could give her whole mind to me and the shop—the shop takin care uv me ez I ought to be cared tor. I murmured 'My deer,' sed Mariar, (it wuz the first and she waz still lovin,) 'My dear, it's a fine boy, and can't yoo take some comfort in the refleckshun that in yoor decl.nin years yoo will hev some one to lean upon? Tnink uv that!' "My deer," I replide promptly, "I ain't a discounting the fucher. The present is good enough for me, I thank you. A bird in the hand is worth a great many in the bush, and I can't see the pint uv taking that boy thro' scarlit fever, mumps, measles, colic afid other diseases incident to childhood, uv paying for books, scholin', close, and et seterer, on the hope uv his taking care uv me in my 6eer and yeller leaf. I hev to take the chances nv his being a billiard player, or o( studyin or turnin reformer, of any of them unprofitable okepashuns."

I sed this to let Mariar know that Ij wuz displeased, so that she would be more keerful to please me in everything else. .*

But what she sed sunk deep into my hart all the same'. Ef John, which id what we named the boy, shood g.-ow ujj and shood inherit the disposishun uv nis sainted mo: her, he would support me, and possibly through his earnest efforts I cood go thro the balance uv the valley and shadd^r in comparative comfort., awaz finelly,reconciled.

Time rolled on, and there wuz anothef added to the fold, wich wuz a girl. 'Maria,' wuz my remark, 'this is too much. The buy was 9 incubup, but hev borne it, looking to the fucher'. But wat kin a girl do? She is a expense froni the time uv her birth till she gits off yoor hands. I shudder wen I think wat that puny girl will cost us, and wat we hev got to go thro on its account'

And in a bitter mood I sot down with my head in my hands, like one whos** fucher is gloatm Lp spoke Mariar, once more: 'My dear, Imogene will grow up into a fine woman, and when she is twentyfour—' 'Why not seventeen?' 'ieventten be i'. When she is seventeen she will marry a rich old man. You kin do better out ov a son-in-law than yoo kin out ov 4 son, for the son-in-law will be in love with the girl, and a man in love kin be made to do any thing. For yoor sake, deer, I hope all our children will be girls.' 1

Agin I pondered. It wood not be a bad thing to hev a rich son-in-law, to whom yoo cood go and borrei ten dollars every time you needed it.- Wat son-in-law in this Chrischen land wood let his father-in-law, the author of his wife's bein, go dry for the lack of a few"paltry dollars? And besides, if be didn't like it, and he saw anv chance uv the old man's drinkin hisself to deth, he wood^nt be mean about furnishi.i the supplies* that, would hasten that conclushes. What a gldrious deth! I accepted the dawter, and

-p*

soon as he was able to work he was again placed in the chair shop with a reminder of hid condition in the shape of a sixty pound shot attached to his leg bv about to feet ot chain and a shackle. The guard of this shop had Orders to shoot him at the first svmptom of insubordination. At this time he had despaired of effecting his release by engaging the pris

very particular as to the literature furni ed him by the library—knew at! standard authors-Dickens or Shaksp *e was almost al.vays found in his cell wl :n wanted.

I '^UTILIZATION OF BABIE

BT PETROIRIM V. SlASBY. From the Splvitof the Times. It wuz Tuppcr, I Relieve, the immortal Tupper, who wrote: "A babe in a^well is a house-spring of pleasure." LJike Tupper, for thece ain't no nonsense about him. His poetry is ez easy to r^ed ez prose, and he never goes meandrfn off out uv the grasp uv the intelleck uv tbe most humble. You ken digest Tupper ez easy ez'vou ken pumpkin pie. But I didn't intend to str off into the field uv criticism.

E E A E W E E O A

bo [ariar's jncreest labers,to pervide for nth resignashun. \s: I narate how one lollered anotfn rapid succeshun—how the numbe Teen till there wuz ten uv cm, an

eagerly I looked forrered to the tu rhen I shood rest from Mariar's laf, and sit down under their vines ajfe-tiees, and enjoy life.

uz a terrible strane on Mariar, and pathized with her. The children onev ez well ez lab r. Them chilcost me ez follows:^ ^4%* »1 by mother-in-law thrv« weeks, each 18 00 le attendance, each iu Hyrnps. carminative

tal»»insr

6 CO

mfo'r, and scb, aach outfit, for chilu jfuv beads, forculu uv wife's servit vs, three weeks.. ilD,8chooliu. anilmedikle attend* nee, ct settry, till they could rowec for their selves, cucta 500 00 5 r, say in round numbers,

80 00 3 00 lo 40 0J

$600

each,

ltiply thi* by ten, and you hev the iortable sum uv

$6,000

wich these ad-

luns to the census subtracted from riar's earnins, wich wuz jist that much en fiom me. But ez it wuzgoln on, I er rebelled or murmured. Ez I lookat John, I remarked to myself, 'You 1 be a lawyer and win (iistinkshun and s. That di6tinkshun I will share, and foes likewise Mariar, you shel marry 11, and your husband shel be my prop ay. Sammy I destined for the

his liberty by calling ihto requisition the services of his old pals on the outsida of| the wall. It is most certain that had not been for the treachery of Lockhart the prisoner he selected to carry his cor responbence in and out of the prison, he®n£tr£ To.n for bankin, and the others

wn to the girl in the cradle 1 hed arnged in my mind's eye, so ez to make Jean incum.

Ez I looked over them children I telt ch. I looked upon them ez an investment, better than lite inshoorance or savings banks. The luv uv a child for its Vent is more certain than bank or life ishoorance. They may brake, but tcher can't be wiped out, nohow, and is jrtain to endoor. And in moit states iere is a law compellin children to take iter av their parent*, whethtr they want to or not,

And so communin with myself 1 let Miriarfwork for them children cz much exshe ljhose 10. I found myself lookln With sojissitood on them off-prings, and "I S4W it that they wuz kept in good condisfcn, and not exposed to any disease that yyuz likely to prove fatie. My So'icitjfcd went so far that on one occasion, "when one uv em wuz iil, I actually West 4ul split oven wood ruther than !eti\Uriar drop that child and do it herself vdeh hed alluz uin her dooty and privilege.

Afither's love is the most techin thing in racher. Hundreds of nites hev I laid in bd and permitted Mariar to git -jp tor caiiip tea,.when I reely needed sleep, arfflher arisin disturbed me, and the w|m water I hev allowed that woman %o Hng from the kitchen nites, for them clUren would never be bleeved. Like a tr 1 father I made sacrifices for them clidren. I felt the duty uv enconomisin th a they might enjoy advantages, and to tl lend I sternly refooscd to let Mariar pi for a pew in the church she bel tiged tc ind at once cut off her annooal subsi pshen to the Furrin Mishinary Sosie

rlariar,' I remarked, pinten at the ten, 't heathen is not only at our door, but tl are inside thereof.'

Veil wood it hev been for me ef I hed er allowed mvs:lf to be over Buadid in this matter. Mariar sank unci the labor of carin for *ttiem children, a I went to her long home, despiie the ice I had given her lor twenty-five concernin the proper management em. I drop a teer to trie memry of excellent pervider—she was my «tay a quarter of a centry. My second batter lookin but the ggpinshe wuz married &!» she ased the shop (I have alluz married illiners), and she insisted on my sup trlin her. My third wuz weakly-rl uz took in with her—and couldent ork. Wat a contrast! Mariar frekentput a mortgage on her fixters to sup:y the father uv her children with the issaries uv life. Alas! them fixters all re gone this many a veer.

Time rolled on, and "Tom reached the ge uv twenty-two, and wuz admitted to tie bar, and got into a good practip. low, I sed to myself, I shel reap my reord. The first "fee Tom got I promptly eked him for ten dollars, wich wuz to ev bin the first drop uvthe golden show•r that wuz to foller. Tom looked at me with a expression that boded me no good, and turned on his )ieel and walked away. Net a dollar wood he give me, tho he did squander some uv his money on his younger brothers and sisters, and aboosed me one day for not givin en a better chance. He wuz hard:harted and ungrateful.

Imogene cid marry a rich old man at eighteen, and moved in a brillyant speer Confidently I approached her husband on the subjeck uv taking up tny abode with them, and pat sin my declinin years in comfort, but he remarked he'd see me further fust, and he was ekally on reasonable on the subjeck uv temporary relief. Finelly he informed me that he didn't marry me, and Imogene quite agreed with "him, and I departed sick

Looiser married a week-minded man, fiom whom I cood hev borered money but for the insurmountable fact that he didn't hev none, and never did. He Ranted to return to the parental roof, but I indignantly declined*

Joolius got to be a mechanic, but he hed had his own family to cupport, and Abner luffed me to scorn when I came upon him, insistin that he wood do ez much for me ez I had ever done for him.

Samy^ol, from whom I did expect suthirl, flouted and jeered at me, and when I insisted and talked uv parentle authority an sich, absolootely threatened me with a brick.

Melindy, my fifth, gotto be hiillirtlr, and never married. Ez a last resort, I proposed to live with her and take charge of her biziness, as I hed hed experience Excuse me,' wuz her artlis remark 'I ain't ma.'

And so I wuz cast off from all uv em. '1 he memry uv their mother riz up like a wall between me and them ez shcod hev cared for meez 6he did.

And so on down. They showed great alacrity in gettin away from me, and a indisposishen to return wich I never cood accsunt for. In speekin uv the

family they wuz alluz profoose in reverin mry of their mother, wich didn't the memry need it, but they didn't reveer me, did need it, a particle. Tnen I ized— ..

livin'. My investment didn't pan. The $6,000 that them children cost my various wives wood, ef I hed it now, give me a decent inkum and enable me to live in Comparative comfort. It was the mistake or life, and I am too old to begin agin. And so life is to mee a weary dreem. and my fucher overcast with leaden clouds thro'wich I see no rift. May heaven forgive my wives and my unnacheral offspring.

THE GAME OF FARO

TWELVE MEN WHO KNEW ALL ABOUT IT ONE MAN'S PREJUDICE. From the Virginia City Uhronioles?

The case of John Doe Tome, a man whose real name is said to be Burns, car-e up again before Justice Knox, Saturday. The man is one of those charac* ters known as a check guerrilla. He was accused of having p'eked up a

from the fare table at the Capital Saluon, the money belonged to a plaver who was a half-intoxicated condition. Tome demanded a jury trial, and when the selection had been made, each juryman was asked wether he had any prejudices against the game. The following yvere the experiences of the twelve:

Juror No. 1.—Have played a little lost $1,200 at a sitting once, at Simpson's corntr had won the money at poker the night before, won it of the fellow who dealt have no prejudice at all against the game.

Jnror No.

2.—Have

Juror No.

7.—Got$5,068out

DEAD

$20

played faro some

lost nijteen straigh: bets at once, at the Sawdust Conner—just my fool lock think the game is all right used to play faro one, but haven't played now for over a week.

3.—Dropped

Juror No.

ab")ut$40 once

at Omdorff tryin' to call the turn no prejudices Juror No. 4.'—'Play faro occasionally, whenever I have any money won

5.—

of tlie'rise

in Orphir, and got ready to start back to the ttate, [Here the juror wiped away a teir, and his honer seemed much affccted.] I struck one of the games—notnat tar which one it was—and in about two days hadn't a red.

The remaining five j-irors related their experiences

4in

a most affeating

manner, and but one man was found who had any proju.ice against the game. He said he never won a bet in his life. He always opperel and played straight at the wrong time. He'd b?ert calling the turn steady for two year* and never caught it once thought faro was a swindle, but admitte.1 having played it the night before. He was excused.

George Kxitzer, the dealer ot the game, testified as follows: I was dealing at the me McCarty came in and called for some chips. He had won about $So when Toine first showed up McCarty had the jacn coppered, taking in tray and queen—

The court—Does the jury comprehend the situation?.} The jurors nodded simultaneously and the witness continued:

The tray lost and the ja:k Wbn. So it was a stand-off, and— The court—lathis f.oint clear to the jury?

The jurors again bowed with military precision. Witness—Then, after two turns, he planked a

$20

piece on top of the chips

on the jack, and this man Some reached for it. As soon as I saw him muzzle the sugar I sang out, but he slid off and was getting away with it when Officer Hanks snatched him and made him give it up.

Jailor Mc Carthy related the admission or Tome in the jail. He had admitted taking the money, but excused his con duct On the grouud that he might as well have it as the game.

The jury 6tood eleven for conviction and one for acquittal, and being unable to agree were discharged, as was also the accused.

THE POPE'S WOUND.

THE FAITHFUL PIOUSLY TREASURING THE BLOODY BANDAGES. The Pope has a wound in thecalfof his left leg. from which flow the humors and mucn diooo.

It is a kind of open seton.

This increases the weakness of the pope, but his physicians dare not close it lest gangrene should ensue. This wound is dressed twice a day, and of course requires much linen, which naturally ecotnes stained with blood. This linen is said to be piously collected dailv by Signor Zangolini. the chief chamberlain who has as his perquisities the soutans and slippets, etc., left off by the Pope. A whole sack of this stained linen i9 possessed by Signor Zangolini,who daily receives letters from England, France, etc

to send pieces of this linen, or any gar-,

jV,„

circular

wich real-

How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is To hev a tbankUajhild.'

My childreh are all m5st uv em in fair circumstances, and their children are well clad and well cared for. I am ,a lonely old man, depend in'for a subsistence on my bort owing capasity. among strangers, a precarious and disagreeable method uv

ment having touched the august body of ,if,nH

the sovereign pontiff. The slipper that

the Pope wore on the day that he received the pilgrims of Carcasscnc, and which is stained with blood, is accounted to be of great value, since a considerable sum has been refused for its possession. The chamberlain, it appears, derives a considerable revenue from this source. I own that at first I myself doubted the truth of his account of the distribution of the sacred relics of the living pope! But I find it js really true. "What manners!" exclaimed'a writer in one of the Italian papers "let us return to paganism! it was at least more ck^nly!" Such strange kuperttiticn is this at the cl se of the nineteenth century is at once distressing and humiliating. Heieafiter, no doubt these pieces of linen ill be exhibited as the blood-stained relics of the sainted prisoner of the Vaticanl

has been issued by

Fouse, Herschberger Co., proprietors of thfe mercantile agency represented in this city by Messrs. Nantz Brothers, in which is a copy of an article taken from 'The New York Trade Reporter. The charges made by Dunn, Barlow & Co., are reviewed, as also the suit which Messrs. Fouse, Herschberger & Co., ha* brought to recover damages.

Messrs. F. H. & Co., are pushing the matter in lively fashion, and the public awaits with interest the issue cf the pending suit.

Jk-

Secret* of the Post-Office Cnarnel Hou*e.

Wonders' fin earth eif&y "oar Correspondent.

Money and grafts That Never Reached Their Cesti-

nation.

-'a

1 'v*? the Mail

A Romance Among: & 'I Bat's.

piece

Don Sauza Cabral. the ,Xing."

'Diamond

v', [From our own Correspondent, Washington, D. C., Jan.

$2000

one ni'jht at the Palace—busted the game went back and tried to bust it again a tew nights after had to spar for my grub all the res' c»f the week think could beat the game blind if'I haJ capital noprejudice.

\mfami!?r with faro—

slightly, stepped into Joe Stewart's one dav and tapped the game for $601 in one deal called the turn for $ too. and then quite playing because the limit was't big enough made enough to pay up that

assesment on my Justice stock think faro if a good game. Juror No. 6.—A.ways liked faro when it was square think therj are some square games, but, the splits give the game a big percentage,

3, 1878.

Ding a-ling goes the front bell. 'That's the mail-carrier, I know,' says Helen, as she bounds out of her chair, tosses aside her embroidery, and runs to the window to take a coy peep through the halfclosed blinds. 'I was certain Bob wouldn't let another day pass without sending me a letter. Oh. yes. here it i9 —thank you Jane—isn't it a heavy one, though bless his heart, be always did write good, long letters, and now that he's in Italy he will have so much more to tell me about the sunny hills and beautiful galleries—'Hotel D'Elora, lorence, Italy, December

4, 1877.

My Dear

Helen: Here I am at last in Florence— that ideal Mecca to which I have been journeying for so many days, &c., &c."

Little by little Helen's voice died awav, and soon the contents of the letter from her Bob was only to be interpreted by the tell-tale blushes which came and went on her beautiful face. She was so wra[ up in what she read that one could have envied her happiness. That letter' was truly a sorcerer. It has come all the way across the seas from faraway Italy to tne very house win re Helen lived without accident. But suppose, instead there had been en error in the direction then Uncle Sam would have taken it, ahd first having it pronounced 'dead' by the postworter physician, would have burried it among the other dead letters in the gt"eat sepulchre he keeps for that purpose. Every day hundieds of precious and important _* LETTERS GO ASTRAY, and hundreds of hearts are made sick by hope deferred In the early colonnial tinies, so the old yellow pamphlet in the department archives tells us, great pains were taken to recover letters which had been lost. A letter in those days was an expensive affair paper cost a great deal, and the postage was considerable, ranging from twenty-five cents even up to one dollar to s*y nothing of the annoyance of having to whittle out your own pen from the quill, and impressing on the back of the missive the immense seal so customary in those days. Some ot these remarkable epistles are still to be seen at the dead-letter office. Their faded lines and yellow appearance lures one into a deep reverie of those lone-gone days, aud the imagination pictures the writers who years ago h-»ve crumbled into dust from which they came,

From November, 1777, to December, 1789, all the letters that went astray are recorded in a book of forty-five pages. This covers^ a period of twelve years A marked contrast is evident when it is known that for the year

1877

more than

FOUR MILLIONS OF DEAD LETTERS were recieyed by the Ppst-office Depart ment. For the handling of this immense number fifty-nine ladies and twenty-nine gentlemen are employed. It is an easy matter to talk about millions of letters, but when it is understood that each par ticular one has to be seperated, handled, marked, inspected, and the majority opened and returned to the writer, ihe the magnitude of the work can be imagined it not appreciated. When a letter is misdirected or the postage has not been prepaid, it is sent by the postmaster immediately to the dead letter office with the other letters which hav^ not been called for. Here they are opened by the gentlemen who sit at long tables in the large cheerful room. If any-thing valuable is contained in them they are handed over to another division where- the contents are registered and placed in a large safe for future redemption. If there, is nothing in them of value, they are sent up stairs, where the ladies inspect them, and if the address of the writer is found the letter is enclosed to the person by whom it is writen. If the letter has been held for postage* a circular is sent to the person to whom it is addressed, informing him that there has been recieved at the dead-letter office a letter directed to him, which will be forwaaded upon receipt of of the necessary postage. To this circular the department recieves many very funny replies. If no response is made within thirty days, it is treated as an ordinary dead letter.

THE GREAT AMOUNT OF MONEY passing continually through the mails can be imagined when out of the dead let'ers alone—a small percentage—over

#ll

\,'aZ 850,000 in money and more than a mil-

nmn 9

lion and a half in drafte and commercial paper was taken within the last year. All but about $5,ooaof this has been returned to the writers. A great share of this comes from the mis- or non-directed letters. People seem to be so intent on what goes into the letter that they forget the superscription. It is a sad thought when one reflects npon the vast amount of suffering in many cases that comes from th's neglect. Here, for instance, is an illustration—an exact copy of a letter received at the office not long since: "My Dear Mag—i resieved your verry wilkim letter yestuday it gave me grate ease of mind to bear that you are well as this leaves me in at present, thank God!"

The writer then adds a sad story of disappointment and disaster, and finished by saying: 'I send ou ten dollars for you need it more than I do.'

Poor Mag! The $10 for which she has longed and waited has gone into Uncle Sam's rich purse—not from choice, but from necessity.

FOREIGN LETTERS

are treated in a veiy diplomatic manner, and are in all cases returned across the water without being opened. America seems to te a perfect geographical enigma to foreigners when the/ direct letters to friends here. They mix all the states and cities up in on£ grand mess, and then put a considerable amount of the ttfeture on each letter. For instance,^

ond address reads as follows: 'Ole An-^ drrson, Roctraway citi P*. North Amerika. New York' Who Witt undertake to forward

thAfcletter? And yeit^e dwellers

across the sea probabl make no more mistakes

this kind than we Americans

for how many of us fully understand all the geographical' localities of the minor tW*«*nd province* of Germany or .» Sweden, or, yy fact, any country on thai 1* continent?

In the gallerv the re ar? wed! forty or fifty ladMra&.whose business it is fo txrttirn the letters in official envelopes to the writers whpn their address can be found. Every day the huge sacks which go forth from,that place rammed with letters show the amount of work which the ladies do. One tumlsontt "young lady is kept busy all the day in stamping the envelopes, and she does it with lightning rapidity. It is said that these ladies are the best readers of bad writing in the country, and it is not to be wondered at when one sees some of the specimens of their work. The average lady reader will probably think that it must be "too funny for anything" to be continually reading other people's love letters but even gold tarnishes with much handling, apd so it is with reading other tolk's letters when it has to be done at the rate of from twenty to fifty an hour, day after day and month after

A WONDERFUL RESURRECTION.' A few months ago an application was received for a letter which had a famous historv. Forty-two years ago it missed its destination and landed in the dead* letter office. No call was made for it£ana there it remained in the archives till the descendants of the writer, wishing to prove their right to his property, obtained from old journals the information that the deed had been mailed at such a time to such a person, but had never reached its destination They then made application to the department for the letter. The odds were so greatly against them that their surprise must have been boundless when the old yellow document was returned to them just us it had been mailed over forty years ago.

DON 8ANZA CAnRAL AGAIN. Many will lemember the great sensation caused by the account of the marriage of Don Cabral, tie 'Diamond King.' (a fictitious character created by Mr. William H. McElroy, of the Albany Evening Journal.) Papers all over the country published the accounts, and as a consequence hundreds of letters addressed to him came to the dead letter office, and were afterward returned to Mr. McElroy, as the onlv living representative of the aforesaid fictitious Don. In his application for them he suvs: 'I do not wish these letters for publication, but would value them for file in my scrap books, as illustrating in a marked and unique manner the su-cess of The Brazilian Wedding,' an cxtiavaganza directed at one of the follies of modern life.'

The writers of these letters represented every degree of life and all with American direct actness asked donations or loans from him for this or that purpose. Some even enclosed a postage stamp or a photograph, only to have the clerkt* who' returned these letters wonder at the crcdulity. 4

i'~"

"V fcota'Atfctir.

Every day there comes with the list from Philadelphia a letter enclosed in a plain white envelope and addressed in the delicate chirography of a woman, to 'Edward P. Ewing,' simply this and nothing more. The lady never signs anything but her initials, hence the letters cannot be returned to her. Here is the subject tor a romantic novel. One can imagine a broken-hearted woman every day sending a letter, out into the world to her lost lover, in the vain hope that some day it may reach his hands. She does not know his whereabouts, so she sends her letter out, directing anywhere, nowhere, hoping, yet dispairing of its ever reaching him.

THE MUSEUM

-has been given up, owing to the lack of room. Major Dallas, the genial chief of the office, has been making every endeavor to have it reopened, but there seems to be little chance of his succesa until congress takes some active interest in the matter. In the museum one of the most interesting features would be the immense photograph album, which is a great study in itself. As your correspondent left this interesting place he couldn't help thinking how much trouble and sadness would be averted if people would only direct their letter^ in aloud hand, as Pat did when writing to his .dear grandmother, making the supers scription plain and full, or if this does not suit the ladies, let them always add their address to their letters and they will never be lost F. A. X.

KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS.

The following explains" itself of the. high merits of Prof. Cope, who will ghr« a grand dramatic rendition of the tragedy of Damon and Pythias at the annual an* niversary reception of Occidental Lodge No.

18,

K. of P. of this city to be given on

the eighteenth of this month: f' EXTRACT FROM THE DECEMBER LKTTEK OF P. C. JAMES B. BELL, OF &KW YORK

CITY, TO 'THE PYTHIAN JOURNAL,' OF INDIANAPOLIS, IND. A memorable event in the history of the order in this city occurred at Steinway hall, on Tuesday evening, December 'ihevfth. The occasion was the sec« ond appearance here of the dramatic reader, Homer D. Cope, in his powerful rendition of'Damon and Pythias.':

Some idea of the magnitude of the affair may be known when I state* thai the management comprised the entire order in this city and Brooklyn, numbering thirty-five lodges, and secured the presence of Supreme Chancellor Davis, from Nashua, New Hampshire Grand Chancellor Acker, from Albany, together with the officers of the grand lodge ot New York. The music was furnished by the oratorio and orchestral director, Dr. Leopold Damrosch.

The entertainment furnished another proof of Mr. Cope's genius. The prolonged applause even in the midst of scenes, and the. enthusiastic recall at the conclusion, were evidences cf the powerful effect produced by the recital.

The great practical good in the upbuilding of the order, which has resulted from Brother Cope's rendition cf this sublime play, has won the heartiest approval of the Supreme Chancellor and the officers of every grand jurisdiction in which he has appeared, and they are earnestly calling attention to this most effective means whereby our principles, may be presented for the consideration of cultured and appreciative men who

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