The notorious “Spanish Swindle” sometimes comes under notice in the Returned Letter Offices. One letter addressed “to Don X. Y. Z., Madrid,” which fortunately for the sender was returned from Spain as undeliverable, was found to contain £185 in bank notes. The sender was an illiterate man who had raised all the money he could in the hope of gaining £10,000.
One of the curious incidents of the office was the return of a letter from Italy in 1905 marked “undeliverable” which had been posted in Ireland in 1862. The letter contained a Second of Exchange for £600.
As a rule the public trusts the Post Office too much. They have a kind of impression that it can work miracles, and very little assistance in consequence is needed on their part. How else can we explain an address such as this? “To my dear Father in Yorkshire at the white cottage with green palings.” This was the address of a packet containing a pair of steel spectacles which a poor girl was sending to her father, implicitly believing that the Post Office would deliver it. Of course it could not be delivered neither could it be returned.
I cannot deny that the Post Office frequently encourages people in the idea that it can do great things. An Aberystwith postman managed to deliver to the proper person a letter bearing the address, “Mrs. Brown, Wearing a Large Bear Boa, Violet Flowers in Bonnet. Promenade mornings, Aberystwith.” The letter was from the lady's son, who had mislaid his mother's seaside address. This was a comparatively easy puzzle, and probably any observant man would have found the lady.
The following was perhaps a little more difficult. An American gentleman arrived in England, and not knowing where a sister was residing at the time, addressed a letter to her previous residence thus—
“Upper Norwood
or Elsewhere.”
The letter was delivered to the lady on the top of a coach in Wales, and in thanking the Department for what had been done the gentleman said, “that no other country can show the parallel or would take the trouble at any cost.”
Here is another quaint address: “To the military gentleman who arrived from Aldershot on Thursday, who often stays at the Queen's Hotel, and who wears a long fawn overcoat and light cap. Queen's Hotel.”
I am afraid a great many people furnish puzzle addresses with malice aforethought, and the Department does its best to discourage such attempts to waste its time. An official may sometimes make an effort to deliver such packets, but there is no call upon him to do so. For instance, a letter was posted in London addressed as follows:—