Just for Fun: Mail Theft Circa 1840

Old Time Mail Robbery Mail theft is practically epidemic in the 21st century, but turns out it’s nothing new. In fact, there are reports of thieves robbing mail from Stagecoaches dating back to 1840! The Ohio State Journal reported a Mail Robbery on March 9, 1840:

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1850: Mail Thief Makes Cash and Himself Disappear

Blast from the Past | 200 Columbus Bicentennial The Columbus Dispatch special Milepost edition includes this story of Gen. Otho Hinton of the Ohio Stage Coach, a respected business man and a thief. After a career of stealing from the mail, he avoided prosecution by fleeing the state, and lived the rest of his life…

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Just for Fun: Postmaster “Blair’s Boner”

This Friday, here’s some fun history for ya! From “The Lesser-Known Follies of Lincoln’s Cabinet” courtesy of the Whim Quarterly comes this gem on Postmaster General Montgomery Blair, circa 1864: BLAIR’S BONER The folly: In the fall of 1864, Postmaster General Montgomery Blair shot a mail thief to death. That wasn’t the mistake—in fact, to…

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