Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Statue of Liberty #3 (1918)


This Statue of Liberty postcard was published by the Success Postal Card Company of New York. It has this caption on the back:
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty stands upon Bedloe's Island, 1¾ miles southwest from the Battery. Designed by August Bartholdi. Presented by the French in 1884. It is 150 feet in height, standing upon a pedestal 155 feet, and symbolizes "Liberty Enlightening the World."
The postcard was mailed to a woman named Julia in Ferndale, Washington. It was postmarked in March 1918 at Penn Station in New York City. The cancellation mark contains the message "FOOD WILL WIN THE WAR. DON'T WASTE IT."

Note that this was less than two years after the Black Tom explosion, a World War I act of sabotage by German agents that killed several people and caused significant damage to the Statue of Liberty. Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia:
"Fragments from the explosion traveled long distances, some lodging in the Statue of Liberty and some in the clock tower of The Jersey Journal building in Journal Square, over a mile away, stopping the clock at 2:12 am. The explosion was the equivalent of an earthquake measuring between 5.0 and 5.5 on the Richter scale and was felt as far away as Philadelphia. Windows were broken as far as 25 miles (40 km) away, including thousands in lower Manhattan. Some window panes in Times Square were shattered."
This postcard was penned in very sloppy cursive. Here's my best guess at the message:
"My Dear Julia,
Just sending you a few lines to let you know I'm OK. Sending you a couple Pitcures [sic]. Send one to Alamos[?] [indecipherable]. I only send two by mistake. Should have send tree [sic]. Will send another."

No comments:

Post a Comment