Going Postal - The NAPR Part IV

St. Stephen's Day Massacre

The decline of the NAPR may have begun several years prior but December 26, 1933 truly marked the beginning of the end for the National Association of Postal Riflemen. On this date in Boston, MA occured the most troubling account of brother against brother since the civil war just some 70 years ago.

It started out like any other St Stephen's Day for those of Irish decent who worked at the Main Annex several blocks from the harbour. As normal, some 63 Post Office Department employees were brough in to sort the accumulation of mail as a result of no mail delivery on Christmas Day. As was custom on St Stephens's Day, at least custom prior to Prohibition, each employee scheduled to work that day was required to bring in a bottle. Since this was the first wet St Stephen's Day since the ending of Prohibition, some celebration was in order.

Not only did each employee bring in a bottle but employee after employee brought in 2, 3, 5 bottles and in fact a few brought in several cases of beer each. Seamus McWayne later recalled, "It was truly going to be a day to remember." "We had no idea at the beginning how prophetic a thought that was."

Indeed. The men started out with good intentions and actually got some work done....initially. It seems from postal logs that only Boston's 1st Ward and parts of the 8th and 12th actually received mail the following day.

Things started going awry about noontime as the men took a break for lunch. Already in high spirits from the imbibing of the overabundance of various types of alcohol the men broke open the room used as the armory and took to the streets for their lunch. It seems as though a little lunch, some beverage and some target practice became the plan of action for the afternoon.

Under normal circumstances a little target practice at the larger of the post office facilities was not uncommon as a room was set aside next to the armory for the employees to use during breaks and lunch. The activity was used as seen by management as a way for the employees to let off some steam during the course of the day. Never in the course of Post Office Department history had the arms room been raided by a bunch of celebratory intoxicated postal workers and taken into the streets.

The men took to the back dock and shot upon the wearhouses nearby using the windows for target practice. This was not the best of ideas but essentially the men were left to their drunken devices for at least an hour. As complaint after comlaint was called in to the local police magistrate something had to be done as it appeared that the men would not stop on their own.




more to come....