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Subject: Dead Media Working Note 06.1
Dead medium: Eighteenth Century English mail hacks
From: bruces_AT_well.com (Bruce Sterling)
Source: OLD POST BAGS: The Story of the Sending of a
Letter in Ancient and Modern Times by Alvin F. Harlow
D Appleton and Company, New York 1928
383 H227o University of Texas
(((It's very clear that the postal system is not a dead
medium. However, the physical and economic structure of
the posts has undergone profound, elaborate changes over
the centuries. Early postal systems often doubled as
espionage networks, and were often proverbially corrupt.
(((Before the introduction of the flat-rate penny post in
Britain, prices were high, yet geographically and socially
inconsistent. Posts were also riddled with off-the-books
"franking" privileges exercised by various privileged
classes of users. Recipients were billed for posting
through a 'collect on delivery' practice. These
structural weaknesses in the postal system created a
booming underground in black-market mail-fraud. Alvin
F. Harlow's avuncular and chatty history takes a deep
prurient interest in these illicit goings-on.)))
"There were scores of devices for the sending of a few
elementary facts by mail without paying for their
carriage. One of the commonest media was the newspaper,
which at that time the post carried free of charge. (...)
A line drawn under the name of a Whig politician meant
that the sender was well; under a Tory meant 'not so
well.' There were other signals which told other things.
Apparent instructions to the post written on the wrapper
were secret messages. Among those which the Post Office
detected and for which it assessed fines were, 'With
Speed,' 'Send soon,' 'To be punctually forwarded,' 'With
my compliments,' 'Postman, be you honest and true,' 'It is
requested that this letter be delivered without delay,
otherwise a complaint will be made to headquarters;' all
of which meant something entirely different.
"Business men had code systems based on the writing of
the address. One man's address might be varied thus:
William Henry Perkins, 97 Pump Court, London
William Henry Perkins, Pump Court, London
Wm. Henry Perkins, 97 Pump Court, London
Wm. Henry Perkins, Pump Court, London
William H. Perkins, 97 Pump Court, London
William H. Perkins, Pump Court, London
W. Henry Perkins, 97 Pump Court, London
W. Henry Perkins, Pump Court, London
Will H. Perkins, Wm. H. Perkins, W. H. Perkins,
William Perkins and so on were other variants; then a
change could be made by putting Mr. before each of the
names, or adding Esq. after them. Mr Perkins' address
could be differently stated: 'At the sign of the Golden
Dog,' or 'Opposite St. Somebody-or-Other's Church.'
Actually hundreds of changes might be made, all of which
were recorded in a key book and each one having its
meaning; the state of the market, bids, quotations,
orders, cancellations, notice of arrival and transmission,
etc.
"The manner of using the collect-on-delivery postage
system for the free transmission of news is illustrated by
an anecdote told by the poet Coleridge. While travelling
in the north of England he halted at a wayside inn just as
a postman was offering a letter to the barmaid. The
postage was a shilling. Sighing sadly, the girl handed
back the letter, saying that she was too poor to pay it.
Coleridge, over the girl's objection, insisted upon paying
the shilling. When the postman was gone, she opened the
letter and showed the poet that it was only a sheet of
blank paper; but there were a few hieroglyphics on the
back of it, alongside the address, which she had glanced
at while she held the letter and which told her the news.
'We are so poor,' the girl explained, 'that we have been
forced to invent this method of franking our letters.'
"Franks were the curse of the mail service then, not
only in England, but in America and other countries as
well. One twelfth of the letters sent from London went
free. Members of Parliament and government officials by
the hundred were authorized to frank letters, and few of
them were averse to handing out whole batches of letter
paper with their names written thereon to friends and
constituents. By one clever scheme of the evaders of
postage, a frank was made as elastic as a rubber band.
Three or four friends or associates in as many cities
would agree to use the name of one of them in their
correspondence. *A* at London would then send a letter to
*B* at Dublin, having the cover wafered and sealed so that
it could be opened without breaking the seals. *B* would
write a letter, enclose it in the same wrapper (...) and
without changing the name would mark out his own address
and write *C*'s address in Edinburgh, as if *B* had
removed to that place. *C* would receive the letter,
alleging that *B* was visiting him, write another letter
and enclose it to *D* at York. Thus one frank would carry
at least three or four letters before it became so covered
with addresses as to arouse suspicion."
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