March 10, 1914: Duluth postal workers swear they all hate mince pies

On this day in Duluth in 1914, employees at Duluth’s post office swore to reports that mince pie is “shunned, tabooed, and blacklisted for the diet of Duluth postal workers. Henry Greuser declared  he “never touch[ed] it, and Tom Considine claimed to have an aversion to “any kind of pastry that even remotely resembled the culinary potpourri of our New England grandmothers.” The declarations came after a local Duluth woman attempted to mail a mince pie to her daughter. The pie was improperly packaged, drawing the attention of several postal workers who helped her secure the savory treat. But the package never arrived at its intended destination, and the postal workers were soon suspected of commandeering the pie. No complaints were made, but meanwhile the newspaper reported that the “Anti-Mince Pie Club has an ironclad constitution and each member has taken his solemn oath to do his utmost to discourage even the making of mince pies, and has sworn that he hopes to be poisoned if he ever eats one. Well, case closed. Meanwhile, the same day the newspaper worried that “gallantry [is] on the wane in Duluth” after Assistant Postmaster W. C. Weld reported that sales of stamps and envelopes for February were $30,100.95, down from $30,786.16 in 1913, a decrease of 2.3 percent. The News Tribune reporter feared that this indicated that fewer Valentine’s greetings were sent, and therefor Duluth was losing its love of love.