mailman invading my dreams with knowledge of our correspondence. Colonial postmasters routinely opened mail, freely published quotes from private love letters in the newspapers, and confiscated packages containing poisonous reptiles insects and liquids, opium, explosives, and an "infernal machine" mailed to the commander of a Spanish warship while anchored in New York harbor, after the destruction of the Maine. 1849: first US patent for the envelope. contents sealed. 19th century American anarchist mail bombings, the Unibomber, pipe bombs placed in mailboxes, a letter sent to the President of American Airlines saying you will be receiving a book in the mail that will be of interest to you, followed three days later by a bomb that exploded when he opened the hollowed out book it was hidden inside of next