Post letter boxes: position, violation, peculiar uses
63 |65 | A remarkable case was that of a servant who was a somnambulist, and 66 | who for some time wrote letters in her sleep, night after night, and 67 | took them to adjacent letter boxes to post. Sometimes she was fully 68 | attired, and at other times only partially so. As a rule, the 69 | letters were properly addressed, but the girl did not always place 70 | postage stamps upon them. 71 |
72 | 73 |74 | Occasionally the postmen have to encounter the difficulties arising 75 | from a frost-bound letter box. Such a case occurred with a box 76 | situated on the summit of the Mendip Hills. The letter box and the 77 | wall in which the box is built were found by the postman to be 78 | covered with ice, caused by rain and snow having frozen on them. The 79 | door resisted all his efforts to open it, and he had to leave it for 80 | the night. On making another effort when morning came, it taxed his 81 | ingenuity and that of other interested and willing helpers to get 82 | the box open. Hot water was tried, paraffin was poured into the 83 | lock, and it was only after a hammer had been used and a fire in a 84 | movable grate had been applied for a time that the lid could be 85 | opened. 86 |
87 | 88 |89 | A letter box erected in a brick pillar in a secluded spot on the 90 | East Harptree road, about a mile distant from any habitation, was, 91 | late one night, damaged to the extent of having its iron door 92 | completely smashed off, apparently either by means of a large stone 93 | which lay at its base when the violation was discovered, or by means 94 | of a hammer and jemmy. Although the adjacent ground, ditches, and 95 | hedges were searched, no trace of the iron door could be found. As 96 | three roysterers were known to have passed the box on the night in 97 | question, it was assumed that the damage was done by them out of 98 | pure mischief and not from any desire to rob Her Majesty's mails. 99 | Whether such were the case or not, they had the unpleasant 100 | experience of being locked up over the Sunday on suspicion. 101 |
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