The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and RomanceHyde, James Wilson
History
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
Hyde, James Wilson
Postal service -- Great Britain
On the 27th February 1885, a medical gentleman residing at Richmond,
Surrey, when going his usual round of visits, found on the carriage
floor two letters, one addressed to a person in Edinburgh, the other to
a lady residing near Castle-Douglas. The letters had been duly prepared
for the post, each bearing an undefaced postage-stamp, but nothing in
their appearance indicated that they had ever been posted. The finder
was at first puzzled at the discovery, but on reflection, he remembered
having a few minutes previously opened a large newspaper, the 'Queen,'
which had reached him from Edinburgh two or three days before, but had
till then remained unopened in his carriage. It occurred to him that the
letters might have come concealed within the folds of the newspaper, and
he was good enough to forward a note with each to the persons addressed,
explaining the circumstances under which he had found them. Subsequent
investigation by the Post-office brought to light the fact that one of
the two letters, and the copy of the 'Queen' from which they were
supposed to have dropped, had been deposited in different pillar-boxes
in Edinburgh, but in the same collector's district; and there can be no
doubt that this letter, and probably also the other letter, were shaken
inside the folds of the newspaper during their conveyance to the
head-office in the collector's bag. In one of the notes which the doctor
sent with the letters, he made this remark:--"I cannot help feeling that
the postal authorities and the public should both have their eyes opened
to what a serious danger such a letter-trap as a large newspaper might
prove." He omitted to add, however, that the sender of the 'Queen' had
tied it up very carelessly without a wrapper, and in a way that could
hardly fail to render it a dangerous travelling companion for letters.
Had the letters fallen into dishonest hands, their loss would certainly
have been attributed to the Post-office, and the case is one which aptly
illustrates a means by which letters sometimes get out of their proper
course, or are lost altogether.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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