CHAPTER XVI.

POST LETTER BOXES: POSITION, VIOLATION, PECULIAR USES.

The three hundred and fifty pillar and wall letter boxes are placed at convenient points, regard being had to the wants of the immediate neighbourhood that each has to serve--to approach by paved crossings, to contiguity to a public lamp, to being out of the way of pedestrians and as far removed from mud-splashing as possible. At the same time, the inspectors endeavour to place the boxes so that they may be an attraction, rather than an eyesore, to the spot where erected.

The sign of "The Pillar Box" has been given to a public-house before which a Post Office box stands. Occasionally the Post Office letter boxes are greatly misused. Some little time since a woman in Bristol was savage enough to drop oil of vitriol, nitric acid, and other dangerous fluids into the boxes. She even poured paraffin into the letter box at a post office, and dropped an ignited match in after it. A conflagration was only averted by the fortunate circumstance of the postman clearing the box just in time to extinguish the commencing fire. The woman's determination is evidenced from the fact that her hands were severely burned by the strong acid she used; but, notwithstanding this, she continued night after night to carry on her dastardly work. She was found out after much anxious watching, and having, on trial, been found guilty, she was sentenced by a lenient judge to six months' imprisonment. She would assign no reason for her incomprehensible behaviour even when asked by the judge in court. Not infrequently, mischievous children place lighted matches, rubbish, etc., in the Post Office letter boxes, and in the letter boxes of private houses and warehouses. The Post Office officials are always on the alert to discover the delinquents. It is desirable also that the public, in their own interests, should call the attention of postmen and the police at once to any case in which they may observe letter boxes being tampered with. It may not be generally known that offences of this kind are punishable by imprisonment under the Post Office Protection Act.

A remarkable case was that of a servant who was a somnambulist, and who for some time wrote letters in her sleep, night after night, and took them to adjacent letter boxes to post. Sometimes she was fully attired, and at other times only partially so. As a rule, the letters were properly addressed, but the girl did not always place postage stamps upon them.

Occasionally the postmen have to encounter the difficulties arising from a frost-bound letter box. Such a case occurred with a box situated on the summit of the Mendip Hills. The letter box and the wall in which the box is built were found by the postman to be covered with ice, caused by rain and snow having frozen on them. The door resisted all his efforts to open it, and he had to leave it for the night. On making another effort when morning came, it taxed his ingenuity and that of other interested and willing helpers to get the box open. Hot water was tried, paraffin was poured into the lock, and it was only after a hammer had been used and a fire in a movable grate had been applied for a time that the lid could be opened.

A letter box erected in a brick pillar in a secluded spot on the East Harptree road, about a mile distant from any habitation, was, late one night, damaged to the extent of having its iron door completely smashed off, apparently either by means of a large stone which lay at its base when the violation was discovered, or by means of a hammer and jemmy. Although the adjacent ground, ditches, and hedges were searched, no trace of the iron door could be found. As three roysterers were known to have passed the box on the night in question, it was assumed that the damage was done by them out of pure mischief and not from any desire to rob Her Majesty's mails. Whether such were the case or not, they had the unpleasant experience of being locked up over the Sunday on suspicion.