Mail it Baby!
No, the title’s not click bait.
The event mentioned in the title really did happen. And despite what you think, it’s not really as bad as it sounds.
There’s a brief time in the US Postal Service History where American parents sent their kids to their relatives through mails.
The incident started when the US Postal Service announced on January 1, 1913 that they would start accepting and delivering large parcels and packages.
The announcement should be a happy thing since it allows goods from mail-order companies from big cities to reach rural areas in the US.
Unfortunately, some people loves abusing the system, and looking for loopholes
After knowing of the announcement, the parents of a certain baby boy thought its good idea to send their baby to his grandma using the postal mail service.
This move of them theirs kick-started it all…
Granny, the Baby’s on the Mail!
The first case of children being sent through mails happened just a few weeks after the announcement.
A Ohio couple who goes by the name of Jesse and Mathilda Beagle had a “eureka” moment and thought that they could save on passenger train ticket if they sent their 8-month old baby, James, through the new parcel post offered by the US Postal Service.
Baby James, who happened to be in the weight limit (there’s an 11 pound weight limit for parcels for parcel post) was packaged and delivered to his grandma in Batavia.
Okay, that was a joke.
Although the postmaster accepted the job of sending baby James to his grandmother in Batavia which was just a few miles away, they did not actually package the poor baby like I mentioned.
Also, despite being cheapskates, the parents still had some conscience and insure baby James for $50, along with a 15 cents in postage.
And yes, baby James was delivered safe and sound to his grandmother thanks largely to the effort of the trustworthy postman.
If They Can Do It, We Can Do It Too!
Baby James’ case might be the first case of children being sent through mail but it won’t be the last.
Having read in the newspapers that someone actually succeed in sending their child using the parcel post, other parents followed suit and started sending their kids to their relatives through mails.
Yes, it’s safe to say that what occurred next were just parents copying what the Beagle’s did.
From 1913 to 1915, several more cases of children being mailed to their relatives surfaced.
Once such case happened on February, 19, 1914. It was that of a 4-year old girl from Grangeville, Idaho named, Charlotte May Pierstorff; who was delivered to her grandparents’ house 73 miles away from home via train.
Fortunately, May wasn’t simply left alone with a stranger, nor was she thrown into the canvas along with the other packages. The girl was actually chaperoned by her cousin who was working as a clerk for the railway mail service which makes her experience a lot better compared to baby James and the other children before her.
Actually, instead of calling it being mailed, May simply rode on the train to her grandparents’ house. The only real difference was instead of person, she was considered a “parcel” or a “package”, which mean that her “fare” should be a lot cheaper if she rode the train as a person.
How cheap?
Well, according to some account, her rate was the same as that of a parcel for chicken or chicks.
May’s case was just the more popular case of children being mailed using the postal service. There were actually similar cases before and after her.
My Thoughts
If I were to describe the parents who “mailed” their children to their relatives in two words or more then I’ll use the words: Adventurous and insane – adventurous because they had thought of such a crazy idea, and insane because they actually went and put such crazy idea into action.
Sure, it’s not as bad as it sounds since none of the children were harmed (or so they claimed) but it should be something that should never happened in the first place.
I mean seriously, who in their right mind would wake up one morning and say, “Honey, why don’t we mail our baby to grandma’s place?”
I’m almost certain that most people won’t.
You must be a special kind of crazy if you thought that mailing your children was a good idea.
What’s more unbelievable though was the fact that the media thought it was quirky, and sensationalized the story which resulted in copy cats.
In my opinion, they should be telling people how dangerous it was to entrust your children to a stranger even if said stranger was your mail man.
Admittedly, it was a very interesting story but common sense should tell you that it’s not a good idea to promote the story the way the media of the time did considering that there were children involved.
Maybe it’s just the difference between mine and the American culture but I sure in hell would have never thought of such idea.
What do you guys think of this crazy part of US history? Did you find it as crazy and strange as I did or is it just business as usual in America for you?
Please share your thoughts at the comment section.
Thank you for reading. Till next time!
Source:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/brief-history-children-sent-through-mail-180959372/
Image Source:
https://pixabay.com/photos/mail-newsletter-home-mailbox-1048452/
https://pixabay.com/photos/curiosity-baby-boy-desk-face-1910023/
