Mailing Babies: Truth Or Hoax?

I recently saw a post on Facebook with a photo that raised an eyebrow. It claimed that until 1913 it was legal to mail children! With stamps attached to their clothing, children rode trains to their destinations, accompanied by letter carriers. One newspaper reported it cost fifty-three cents for parents to mail their daughter to her grandparents for a family visit.

Any truth to this? Or does it fall into the philatelic urban myth category?

I have never doubted these stories.

Peter

Truth
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart...9372/?no-ist
Don

These facts may be interesting with regard to this issue:




And




Source:

http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/consu...l-a-Baby.htm

The mere fact that the PO felt that a regulation was needed indicates that it must have happened at least once.

I've read details about this, and as the subject just came up elsewhere, I decided to add another link here:
http://postalmuseumblog.si.edu/2013...iveries.html

Big trouble if postage due!

In a case of art imitating life, even Bugs Bunny mailed himself to Washington DC once.

I recall reading a story a few years ago about a child being mailed because the sender did not have sufficient funds to send the child by train ... mailing was apparently cheaper at some point in the past. I do not remember the time frame or the location, save that the event supposedly occurred many many years ago.

There's also the Velvet Underground's song, "The Gift," in which Waldo Jeffers' attempt to mail himself to Marsha Bronson ended badly.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_G...ound_song%29

Its still possible to mail live chicks thru the mail as far as I know.

There was an Australian who mailed himself from UK to Oz in the early 1960s. Bizarre but true.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-31700049

When I was a kid, I got a baby box turtle in the mail. Does that count?

I don't know about babies. I would think that they would get the stamps all wet!

Jack Kelley

It was cheaper than a train ticket!

Great story! And I always thought you had to get to Oz by balloon or tornado.