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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
273
The
matter
being
investigated,
it
transpired
that
on
the
morning
of
the
day
on
which
Mr
Onions
called
for
letters,
another
Mr
Onions,
for
whom
the
message
was
meant,
had
called
and
received
the
telegram
from
a
clerk
who
shortly
thereafter
went
off
duty.
The
confusion
had
thus
arisen
through
two
persons
of
the
same
uncommon
name
calling
at
the
same
post-office
on
the
same
day
for
letters,
and,
as
it
happened,
applying
for
their
letters
at
hours
when
two
different
clerks
were
in
attendance.
In
the
following
case
the
names
are
fictitious,
but
in
their
similarity
they
will
adequately
illustrate
the
narrative:--
The
sudden
expansion
of
telegraph
business
upon
the
transfer
of
the
telegraphs
to
the
State
in
1870,
necessitated
the
employment
of
a
large
number
of
inexperienced
operators,
and
some
awkward
blunders
were
the
consequence.
In
the
year
mentioned,
a
Liverpool
man
named
Parlane
went
to
London;
but
before
parting
with
his
wife,
it
was
arranged
that
on
a
certain
day
he
would
telegraph
whether
she
should
join
him
in
London
or
he
would
return
to
Liverpool.
On
the
appointed
day
the
promised
telegram
was
sent
asking
his
wife
to
come
to
London,
the
message
being
directed
(we
shall
say)
to
Mrs
Parlane,
24
Menzies
Street,
Toxteth
Park,
Liverpool.
By
some
accidental
failure
of
current,
or
imperfect
signalling
the
word
"Menzies"[7]
reached
Liverpool
as
"Meins,"[7]
and
there
being
no
Meins
Street
in
Liverpool,
the
messenger
was
directed
to
take
the
message
for
trial
to
Main
Street,
for
which
it
was
thought
it
might
be
intended.
The
messenger
found
at
24
Main
Street[7]
a
Mrs
M'Farlane,
and
to
this
person
the
message
was
presented.
The
names
being
similar,
Mrs
M'Farlane
opened
the
telegram,
and
her
husband
also
being
in
London,
she
had
no
doubt
whatever
that
the
command
which
it
contained
to
repair
to
London,
though
altogether
unexpected,
was
intended
for
herself.
That
evening
she
accordingly
started
for
the
metropolis.
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