September 11, 1927
Glendale
Surely, oh, surely there are some very happy mailmen in Glendale today: a consignment of waterlogged ladies stockings are hung to dry around the post office. Whether they were similar to the Paris Clocked Chiffon Hosiery (in colors like French Blonde and Ecstasy) advertised by Bullock’s recently or simple utilitarian cotton, the Times does not say.
Shipped by the Thieme Hosiery Company to a store in Crescent City near the Oregon border, the stockings were removed from the train and transferred to a “stage” for delivery to their final destination. Alas, though the thought of a macho Wild West wagon filled with ladies’ finery is a pleasing one, the stage was in fact an automobile. The driver probably would have faired better with a team of horses, for after a sudden cloudburst, he was forced to abandon both car and cargo in a flash-flooded stream.
The stockings soaked in the creek for four days, after which the consignee returned them to the shipper. The Glendale post office notified the Thieme Hosiery Company, who refused to accept the soggy, but insured, package and declared they would collect the damages.
Now everyone awaits the postal inspector. “It is expected that the affair will be straightened out after several reams have been covered with correspondence, at a large outlay of time and money,” sagely notes the Times.