Postmaster Stoughton Gets a Complaint, 1914

          Otterbein President Walter G. Clippinger was ticked off.  A reserved man most of the time, the letter he wrote to the postmaster of Westerville was dripping with ire:

The enclosed letter which was very important but which cannot serve its purpose now was mailed by me in Columbus on Sunday, December 28th. . . . There is no Westerville [receiving] postmark so we cannot tell when it was received at your office. . . . Believing that you are anxious to know of all these things, I am calling your attention to it, not that it will do us any good but that avoidance of similar errors may be made in the future…….[1]

         Chastened, George L. Stoughton replied:

I have to report to you that the letter in question was boxed in box number 151 instead of box number 141 upon receipt in this office…..I regret this mistake very much, and that it should have remained in the box for so long a time is almost without excuse…..[2]

           Citizens love to complain about the post office.  In 1914, the post office was the average citizen’s only contact with the mysterious, faraway federal government.  Today postmasters are rarely locals, and are appointed through Civil Service testing.  In George Stoughton’s time, the local postmaster was usually a known, local citizen with a familiar face.  Clippinger was a minister appointed by the United Brethren hierarchy, and was not (yet) a “local boy.”  Let us take a quick look at Stoughton’s background:

           George L. Stoughton was born February 26, 1872 in the hamlet  of Lock, in Licking County.[3]  Moving to Westerville, he graduated from Westerville High School in 1886.  He graduated from Otterbein in 1892, and Ohio State’s law school. On April 16, 1896, George Stoughton was sworn in as mayor of Westerville.[4]  The youngest person ever to serve as mayor, Stoughton held the office for four years, turning the office over to H. L. Ferguson in 1900.[5]  After practicing law for a bit, Stoughton was nominated as postmaster of Westerville in January, 1902 

  Trouble was, Stoughton was no longer a resident of Westerville.  After his mayoral retirement, he had moved to Columbus.  Recommended by Simeon Chapman, the previous postmaster, this raised the hackles of some Westerville citizens.[6] But the United States Senate confirmed his nomination, and the tempest died down.[7] However, more trouble was afoot.

  When he became postmaster there was an ongoing investigation of a robbery of the Westerville post office.  The office safe had been “cracked.”  Explosives were used to blow the door of the safe, which sailed clear across the room.  The thieves made off with $1200 worth of stamps and an undetermined amount of cash.  A postal inspector was summoned from Cincinnati, and bloodhounds from Columbus were called in as well.  All this was awaiting George Stoughton upon his arrival.[8]  The robbery seems never to have been solved.

  After this rocky start, George Stoughton appeared to have smooth sailing as postmaster, despite his tiff with Walter Clippinger.  For unknown reasons he was listed as being appointed in 1906, and again in 1910.[9] His time as postmaster ended when he was replaced by one Frank Bookman,

February 25, 1914.10  In 1915, he was appointed secretary of the Ohio Industrial Commission, and later served on the Westerville Board of Education.  He was also secretary of the Ohio Good Roads Federation for many years.  He died in 1936.

           We don’t know if George Stoughton was miffed at the Otterbein president's scolding.  They were both diehard Republicans and it may be that Stoughton, nearing the end of his term, let his successor deal with further repercussions, if any.  Like many civil servants, he admitted his office's mistake but did not take it personally.  Until bureaucracy is perfected, mistakes will happen.  That might take a while.

Alan Borer

[1] Walter G. Clippinger to George L. Stoughton, January 12, 1914.  Otterbein University Archives.

[2] Stoughton to Clippinger, January 14, 1914, ibid.

[3] https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GPFF-QP3?view=index&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2

F61903%2F1%3A1%3AXZX1-MYD&action=view&cc=1307272&lang=en&groupId=

[4] Columbus Dispatch, April 16, 1896.

[5] Dispatch, April 9, 1900.

[6] Dispatch January 4, 1902.

[7] Dispatch, February 21, 1902.

[8] Dispatch, March 5, 1902.

[9] U. S. Postal Bulletin, February 21, 1910. 10 Ibid, March 8, 1914.