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The good old days, when you could still mail a child
10.18.2010
05:14 pm
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From the online presence of the National Postal Museum:

One of the oddest parcel post packages ever sent was “mailed” from Grangeville to Lewiston, Idaho on February 19, 1914. The 48 1/2 pound package was just short of the 50 pound limit. The name of the package was May Pierstorff, four years old.

May’s parents decided to send their daughter for a visit with her grandparents, but were reluctant to pay the train fare. Noticing that there were no provisions in the parcel post regulations specifically concerning sending a person through the mails, they decided to “mail” their daughter. The postage, 53-cents in parcel post stamps, was attached to May’s coat. This little girl traveled the entire distance to Lewiston in the train’s mail compartment and was delivered to her grandmother’s home by the mail clerk on duty, Leonard Mochel.

Now that’s what I call finding a loophole. At least they didn’t put her in a box.

Unavoidably, I am reminded of Lou Reed’s short story of poor Waldo Jeffers, hapless protagonist of “The Gift” by the Velvet Underground.
 

 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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10.18.2010
05:14 pm
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