click to enlarge Mollie McWilliams

The inadvertent time capsule with a working door bell.

Mollie McWilliams





While neither man won their race, Wolden did go on to become a well-known politician in San Francisco — for a more notorious reason. As Rachel Swan pointed out in "



As far as Bud Graham goes, we hope he found that customer he was looking for.



On to the next piece:



Mollie McWilliams

Merry Christmas... 55 years later.

The fourth piece we pulled out was an envelope (empty inside) that had a note from Ethel to the former resident Mary (the torn piece we eventually fished out with some tape says "Mary-") followed by "would you please address this card to Jack (or Jake?) + (Mich? Midge?) I don't have his address [we think that's what it says]. Many thanks 'Merry Xmas.' Ethel (Isabella?) [unreadable]." We're not sure if Mary took the note and left the envelope, or how the two became separated. click to enlarge Mollie McWilliams



The following piece we pulled out was an ad for cleaning services, but from what the women are wearing, it appears this may have been stuffed into the little slot sometime in the 1960s, but whatever year Tinkler and Kris Jones stuffed it into the mailbox, they had already been "Serving San Francisco for five years with quality cleaning for your house or apartment."



The next three pieces we pulled out were all duplicate flyers from Miss Jackson, who, according to the flyers was a "Southern born spiritualist " who was sent from God to help people. An exert from the flyer reads she can bring people "the solutions to the mysteries of the deep south, [and] seeks to help many thousands of people who have been crossed.... Want to stop nature problems or want to get rid of strange sickenss. If you are seeking a sure fire woman to do for you the things that are needed or wish to gain financial aid or peace, love, and prosperity in the home you need to see this woman of God today!" click to enlarge Mollie McWilliams

Miss Jackson really wanted Mary to get this message, so she dropped off three flyers.



The rest of the mail we received this weekend, through the boring door slot, was just a bunch of bills and catalogues; but, maybe we'll stuff the Walgreens ad in the mailbox for someone to discover in another 55 years. However, before we do — there is one more piece of mail that we pulled from the box that we'll write about later this week.

While neither man won their race, Wolden did go on to become a well-known politician in San Francisco — for a more notorious reason. As Rachel Swan pointed out in " Crimes with Benefits ," there have only been four City employees to lose their pensions: "Between 1907 and 2012, the city only denied four retirees their awards." Wolden was one of them. In a finding from the San Francisco Employees Retirement System, "[Wolden] worked in Assessor’s Dept.; 'convicted bribe-taker making $60,000/year moon lighting as a tax consultant.'” So maybe it's best the former resident at our Richmond District house didn't get her "Win With Wolden" card. Exploring "Win with John Abraham," we found he was a painting contractor and owner of Veteran's Paint and Wallpaper, who ran again in 1961 (and again, didn't win).As far as Bud Graham goes, we hope he found that customer he was looking for.On to the next piece:The fourth piece we pulled out was an envelope (empty inside) that had a note from Ethel to the former resident Mary (the torn piece we eventually fished out with some tape says "Mary-") followed by "would you please address this card to Jack (or Jake?) + (Mich? Midge?) I don't have his address [we think that's what it says]. Many thanks 'Merry Xmas.' Ethel (Isabella?) [unreadable]." We're not sure if Mary took the note and left the envelope, or how the two became separated.The following piece we pulled out was an ad for cleaning services, but from what the women are wearing, it appears this may have been stuffed into the little slot sometime in the 1960s, but whatever year Tinkler and Kris Jones stuffed it into the mailbox, they had already been "Serving San Francisco for five years with quality cleaning for your house or apartment."The next three pieces we pulled out were all duplicate flyers from Miss Jackson, who, according to the flyers was a "Southern born spiritualist " who was sent from God to help people. An exert from the flyer reads she can bring people "the solutions to the mysteries of the deep south, [and] seeks to help many thousands of people who have been crossed.... Want to stop nature problems or want to get rid of strange sickenss. If you are seeking a sure fire woman to do for you the things that are needed or wish to gain financial aid or peace, love, and prosperity in the home you need to see this woman of God today!"The rest of the mail we received this weekend, through the boring door slot, was just a bunch of bills and catalogues; but, maybe we'll stuff the Walgreens ad in the mailbox for someone to discover in another 55 years. However, before we do —there is one more piece of mail that we pulled from the box that we'll write about later this week.

This weekend we opened our mailbox — 55 years since the prior tenants had locked it up one last time. You may be wondering how did this happen, how do people just not open their mailbox? At some point, we now assume about 55 years ago, they added a mail slot to the bottom of the front door, then locked and painted over the mailbox, directing USPS to use the door. But not everyone got that memo right away — specifically, Bud Graham the electrician, home cleaning services business-owner Sue Vera Tinkler, Ethel (friend of the former tenant), a "southern born spiritualist" Miss Jackson, and the 1959 San Francisco mayoral candidate Russell L. Wolden and 1959 supervisor candidate John Abraham. But before we get to the mail, let's start with the fact people have been walking by a mailbox for 55 years without noticing there was something in it. (Yours truly included.)This Saturday, as we were saying goodbye to our mom, the send-off at the front door turned into a lengthy conversation (as that tends to happen with moms), and we started fiddling with the mail slot. Noticing our lack of concentration on the subject at hand she directed her gaze to the mailbox and said, "Hey, there's something in there." Our gaze went down the mailbox to the small, decorative holes near the bottom of the box, and lo-and-behold, there was an envelope pushed up against the inside of the box. We then went to work with our MacGyver tools — a hanger, a paperclip and two paint brushes — and shimmied the mail up and out the original slot it had been stuffed into (as the paperclip key didn't work).And this is what we found: