THE MYSTERY BOOK In the New York postoffice a scrapbook scrap-book is carefully preserved containing all or nearly all of the queerlyaddress ed envelopes and puzzling directions which have passed through the city mails during the past 20 years lbs collection was begun by Expert Stone whose long experience and extraordinary I extraordi-nary skill in deciphering mysteries of address won for him an international reputation Today there Is a whole department de-partment devoted to the tracing of i doubtful directions and Infinite pains i nd W Ja I are taken to deliver into the hanus for I which it was intended every letterS letter-S mailed here I A glance through the Mystery book at the general postomce Is calculated to give one a very high idea of the skill in solving problems ot chirography or i misspelling attained by our experts Acrostlcs and rebuses must be as nothing S noth-ing to persons who can successfully Identity the follpwing Mrs Mcgow En 4t > l Side St New York Yet it did not take the postoffice long to lind that this was intended for Mrs McUowen 46 l < ors th street Another curious example victoriously wrestled with was Miss Jarcy Anner ford New York 178 Tom Ison I stieets > This proved to be a letter from some wellmeaning southern darkey to Miss Georgianna ford 178 Thompson str etA et-A letter addressed Sigmgicals New York was intended for the old St Nicholas hotel and an envelope upon 1 which was written William Antick I Esq Linen Company N Y contained i a message for the AVHIimantic Thread company I cor prize puzzle was that directed to I fealch Starch and Co I importers ana ueuiers I New York > This kept the experts guessing lor i some time until one genius discovered j that by repeating Fealch Starch 8 i Co to himself a numoer of times he j got at what might be the PlattDeutsch pronunciation of Phelps Dodge I I Co Sure enough it proved to ue for i that firm I Who except a postofllce expert would fancy that 46 Pde and Green meant 46 Bowling Green that Mr Dick S I Fizztjs was intended for Messrs Dick Fitzgerald or that Chasfredkroo Per was an attempt to copy the rather careless signature of a gentleman named Charles Frederick Hooper I Facetious letter writers give the post ollice authorities a great deal or m > u ble A few years ago one humorous person wrote an address on the lace 01 a postage stamp and a message on the back This extraordinary missive came to New York where it was duly delivered deliv-ered The fiend who deals in elongated handwriting is no longer a terror since I the experts have found that by holding the letter level with the eyes they can easily decipher his addresses The picture address joke how ver Is very common and numerous letters are on file in Which Broadway is designated by a fat gentleman in a weighing machine ma-chine Dey street by a die etc These firE all feeble and nipanlnelfsc attempts t kc = J at being funny but the postoffice people peo-ple regard U as their bounden duty to investigate them as earnestly as they would highly important documents 11 docu-ments The curio address book as It Is called Is In many ways a marvel