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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
218
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.
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