is somewhat narrower than the ordinary leathern pouch. It is lightly
suspended by a slender iron rod projecting from the horizontal joist,
passed through a ring at the top and lightly held at the bottom in the
same manner as at the top.

[Illustration: POUCH HUNG ON "CRANE."]

When the pouch is snatched from the crane, the top piece flies up as
described, and a parallel short joist at the bottom of the pouch drops.
The pouch is strapped small in the middle, resembling an hour-glass,
where the catcher-iron on the car is to strike it. This "catcher"
consists of a round iron bar across the door of the car, and placed in a
socket on each side about shoulder high; a strong handle, similar to a
chisel-handle, projects perpendicularly from this bar; on the under side
of the bar projects, at an angle of about forty-five degrees, a slender
and strong iron rod, slightly turned at the end to prevent its tearing
the pouch, of about three feet in length. As the train approaches the
crane, the operating clerk with a quick, steady throw delivers the mail
at a given point, usually near the crane; he then grasps the handle with
his right hand, swinging the handle over inward; the arm when thrown
outward, the horizontal bar turning in the sockets, comes in contact
with the pouch, striking that part of it narrowed by the strap and
striking the arm near the vertex of the angle into which it is driven by
the momentum of the train; the greater the speed the more securely it is
held there; but the clerk is on the _qui vive_, and as soon as it
strikes the catcher-iron, grasps the pouch to make sure of getting it,
as sometimes if the pouch is not hung properly, the arm will strike it
at such a part as to require the most agile movement on the part of the
clerk to secure it and to prevent its falling to the ground or under the
wheels of the train and being torn to pieces; these cases, however, are