#postal clerk

[retropopcult]

"Buying stamps in post office. Siren, Wisconsin." Photographed summer 1941 by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration.

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“Minimum Sentence Given Former Postal Sorter,” Toronto Globe. August 15, 1930. Page 3. ---- (Special Despatch to The Globe.) St. Thomas, Aug. 14. - The minimum sentence of three years was imposed on Wallace Henry Wheeler, former night postal clerk and mail sorter, by Acting Magistrate Sanders when he pleaded guilty today. The charge was to the effect that on Aug. 5 he took from the mails money amounting to $2.50. Because Wheeler is a returned soldier and the father of four children dependent on him, leniency was extended.

[AL: Wheeler was 52, bald, from Brighton, England, and obviously a postal clerk and mail sorter; he had never been in prison before. He was convict #1805 at Kingston Penitentiary, and worked as a clerk in an industrial shop. He was transferred December 1930 to Collin’s Bay Penitentiary and released by parole May 1932.]

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“Dismiss Charge Man Sold Jobs to Post Office,” Ottawa Journal. February 12, 1932. Page 1. ---- Montreal Man, Louis Pouliot, Gov't Employe, Wins Freedom When He Appears in Court.  --- Canadlan Press by Direct Wire. MONTREAL, Feb. 12 - Holding that the prosecution was not commenced within the time limit provided In the Criminal Code, Mr, Justice Wilson today dismissed a charge against Louis Pouliot, Dominion Government employe, of Montreal, based on alleged sale of positions in positions in the Post Office Department.

Speaking to a motion for dismissal, Fernand Chasse, counsel tor Pouliot, said the accused was charged with an offense of a class falling under a limitation section of the code. The limitation section provided no prosecution might be commenced later than two years from the time the illegal act was claimed to have been committed. The accused was alleged to have committed the wrongful act in February 1929. Mr. Justice Wilson granted the motion and Pouliot was freed.

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“Pleads Guilty to Theft Of His Majesty’s Mail,” Kingston Whig-Standard. February 4, 1932. Page 1. ---- ST. THOMAS, Feb. 4— J. Wilson Hodgins, 35, a railway mail clerk of London, was charged in St. Thomas police court yesterday with tampering with His Majesty's mall while on his run between London and Canfield. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to serve three years in penitentiary .Hodgins was caught by a decoy letter, containing four marked United States bills which were found in his possession when arrested.

[AL: Hodgins had never been in prison before. He was inmate #2504 at Kingston Penitetiary. He worked as the bookkeeper in the tailor shop. He was at the prison hospital on the 17th of October, 1932, when a major riot broke out. He refused, in the investigation afterwards, to name names - “I have good health and I want to keep it.” He had been threatened several times for refusing to support the prisoners and their protest. Weirdly, the investigators were very understanding, noting that “a man must protect himself. I think the law of nature is ahead of prison rules in a case of that kind.”  Hodgins had been examined in September 1932 for trannsfer to Collin’s Bay Penitentiary, and in November was moved to that prison. He was paroled in September 1933.]

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“Three Years in Prison,” Toronto Globe. October 15, 1931. Page 12. ----- Edward J. Grogan, aged 21, a postal clerk, was sentenced to three years in the penitentiary by Magistrate Coatsworth yesterday, after conviction on the charge of stealing letters. A decoy letter, it was related in evidence, led to the conviction of the accused.

[AL: Grogan successfully appealed his sentence, fighting over several appeal courts sessions, to prevent going to the Penitentiary until late October 1932, having also secured a shorter 2 year sentence, and was paroled in October 1933.]

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“3 Years For $5 Worth,” Kingston Daily Standard. September 19, 1917. Page 06. --- Toronto Judge Imposed Minimum Penalty On Youth. --- Three years in the penitentiary was the sentence Judge Coatsworth imposed at Toronto on Morris Rotstein, who had pleaded guilty to a charge of having stolen a number of letters, the property of the postmaster-general. Rotstein, who is a Russian-Jew, sixteen years of age, was employed at the post office, and the minimum sentence provided by the code was imposed. His Honor thought it drastic punishment for a young boy and Crown Attorney Greer promised to lay the facts before the Department of Justice to see what could be done for him. The letters taken contained about five dollars.

This is the second three-year sentence imposed by Judge Coatsworth this week. It is also the second to be followed by suggestions of pardon.

[ugallery]

Finger on the Pulse: "Herb & Dorothy"

In 2009, "Herb & Dorothy," a film about a couple of modest means who created a jaw-dropping art collection was released to rave reviews. Here's their story in a nutshell (be sure to watch the trailer below - Herb & Dorothy are adorable!):

"Herb & Dorothy" tells the extraordinary story of Herbert Vogel, a postal clerk, and Dorothy Vogel, a librarian, who managed to build one of the most important contemporary art collections in history with very modest means. In the early 1960s, when very little attention was paid to Minimalist and Conceptual Art, Herb and Dorothy Vogel quietly began purchasing the works of unknown artists. Devoting all of Herb's salary to purchase art they liked, and living on Dorothy's paycheck alone, they continued collecting artworks guided by two rules: the piece had to be affordable, and it had to be small enough to fit in their one-bedroom Manhattan apartment. Within these limitations, they proved themselves curatorial visionaries; most of those they supported and befriended went on to become world-renowned artists including Sol LeWitt, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Richard Tuttle, Chuck Close, Robert Mangold, Sylvia Plimack Mangold, Lynda Benglis, Pat Steir, Robert Barry, Lucio Pozzi, and Lawrence Weiner.

HERB & DOROTHY Trailer from Herb & Dorothy on Vimeo.

I just learned that a new film - "Herb & Dorothy 50x50" - is scheduled to be released later this year. "50x50" will take a closer look at the historical gift project by the legendary art collector couple, Herbert and Dorothy Vogel, and its impact on the art community in America. We can't wait!