The Mail Stage Goes Up in Smoke
A local mail carrier avoids disaster by saving the packages from his burning Reo sedan.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
On the up-river trip Monday forenoon, the Reo sedan stage that J. O. Maupin has been using for the past year to carry the mail from Kennewick caught fire just back of the engine, caused it is thought by a short in the wiring, and with the exception of the two front casings, the cushions and motor, was completely destroyed. The accident occurred about a mile south of Hanford. By working fast, Mr. Maupin, who was driving, was able to save all the mail and express. The car was insured for $600, though this type of car new costs $1,885.
“By working fast, Mr. Maupin, who was driving, was able to save all the mail and express.”
Long before the era of automated logistics, the mail stage was a lifeline for remote communities like Hanford and White Bluffs. Today, these sites are synonymous with the Hanford Site's nuclear history, rendering the small-town drama of a burning mail car a ghost of a vanished civilian life.
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