Edison First Day Brings High Price! - New Jersey Postal History ...

Gene Fricks & Jean Walton ~ TRENTON P&DC - Anthrax Site Gets New BeginningFor those who do not recall, it was at this facility that letters containing anthrax weremailed, shortly after the September 11 tragedy, on September 19 (to various media personnel)and October 9, 2001 (to government officials in Washington). These letters were responsible forthe deaths of 5 people, and the illness of 17 others; the case remains unsolved by the FBI and noone has yet been brought to justice in this matter.The best known of these letters originating in Trenton, NJ are shown below: they were tothe New York Post, Tom Brokaw at NBC, and Senators Daschle and Leahy. Another wasmailed to American Media in Boca Raton, Florida, and was responsible for a death there. It issuspected that there were at least two 2 other letters, to ABC News and to Dan Rather at CBS. 1It is hypothesized that contamination of other postal facilities resulted from cross-contaminationfrom these original letters.Letters cancelled September 18, 2001 Letters cancelled October 9, 2001Fig. 3: “Anthrax letters” which were recovered, mailed from the Trenton P&DC. All were mailed in small stampedenvelopes as shown here. Those addressed to Senators had a return address; however there is no “GreendaleSchool” and the zip code given is actually for Monmouth Junction, although Franklin Park [08823] is within 3miles of that post office. There is a “Greenbrook Elementary School” in Kendall Park [08824], and it is perhapsworth noting that the post office in Kendall Park is actually called the Franklin Park Post Office. This returnaddress was apparently an attempt to make the letters look less threatening on the outside.Vol. 33/No. 2NJPHWhole No. 158103May 2005