The sun., 1884-01-06
THE TRADE IN DIPLOMAS
A Confederate Chicago Man who Sends .
Battle Along with his Bid-Foii"wsnE Up
the Advertisement OF y spurious widow.

A Confederate Chicago Man who Sends .
Battle Aions with his Bid-Foii"winE Up
the Adve-,i.ement OF = spurious widow.
az fear that only too often after doctors
DEATH" said m old physician to a reporter OF
TnE' Sun; his parchment goos on-under an
other name. OF course-liconslng tho auack TO
cure or kill. as tho case may be-"
The doctor opened drawer In his desk and
took out n newspaper. 30 folded "a to Give
prominence to the following short ADVERTISE
ment. marked with blue pencil:
A WIDOW WILL DISPOSE or HER hATE Nus.
WIDOW, box $50, Herald uptown Uflice
II showed this" said he. to young mem
ber OF the profession and asked him to answer
1t. wanted To get at the market value OF prop
erty Of this nature and also to discover whethor
the article offered was genuine or not.
thought II would bc interesting to know
whether our widows were selling our diplomas
-name and ALTO common ouacks: or
whether tho bogus diploma men were
adopting a new and quiet method OF doing
business at the expense OF our widows repu-
tations for propriety. Well. our young friend
answered the advertisement with n letter pre-
tending that q druggist about tn move to .
Western State was ready to enter into negotiR-
tions at once. and asking as to its price and
whore the paper might be seen. He got this
reply few days later:
lie % 'fst S Ro sft " Ss
isS!sG%s \. college fs.isrn state snss y;
* y; " X, r.; @
Ssn ss S s You s"u ia sss ii
s sd % e 5 sns n az S"4 ns som last Ia whom Ts
Let IN. Know at o.ce II you desire 1t. -.
ES1s npysEi should
not return to morrow.
This letter was somewhat puzsling. con-
tanning. as 1t did. marks both Of Eenuineness
and deception. Tho datc. for instance. OF tho
document. us given in her letter. is constructed
with tho first two figures. and g. and tho last
figure. 8. in tho usual manner. and they nro
properly spaced; but the place Of the third
figure OF the date is occupied by curious look
ing pothook. which seems to 5e n s and al
crowded together or n with long flourish
from its upper extremity. AS consequence
the date OF graduation may be taken for 1858
or 1873 or easily changed to ono or the other.
The date Of diploma is an important matter.
1t would be absurd for IL young man OF twenty
uation us 1858. or a man of fifty to possess q
document showing him to havs been graduated
OF diplomas are heavily inscribed and son,e-
times oven printed on them as n means of pro-
| person was most likely to know OF this special
| fact and provide for it so ngeniously. a widow
business My conclusion wns @ that the article
| was genuine. and had been offered to us by a
| " II remained to discover how the srecuIator
obtained his stock in trade The first lady
a respectable New York physician. told me that
| during tho week which followed her husbands
Nheher e Ee ssred to spass e5 Of
her husbands professional effects, and saying
needed only the pi,rehments at present they
would buy the surgical Instruments and books
as Haa o %e n ad s,S1f ASs. h
ap asd SaS nnS her nsr
husband in hospital days He inquired most
deItcatteiy into her cirsumstances. stating that
would be declined. As he arose to derari. lie
might remember his friend, !arything.' said
he. even his old diploma will do He was dis
ing Of diplomas was often done by women two
called upon her and made overtures resin in "a SIM i'm"
pie. matter OF fact way. which seemed to show
TGoS SssR sdTEn2'nssG Sps the
cs e nsf
lGtion. A professional friend. now settled in
gacks practising Under der Eastern @ % dipomas. II oaa S
He knows them to bo genuine. but they are in
from ,he ilbala. BY the way. he says | that there
isa diploma dealer in Chicago who wa tches the
| Eastern papers for notices Of the death OF doc
| tors. and sends the widows Autographed let
| ters making oilers for the documents. and
| forwarding at the same time n small bottle OF
| erasinG fluid with which the relict may remove
| the name OF her dear departed Thoughtful OF
| him. ism it? or course most OF US know well
enough that our widows preserve our Diplomas
| with great reverence and yet we obliged to
| account in some other way for tho enormous
number of these documents to be found in un-
tSnt o wdnMs enas ss We must allow
4 m IN hara , I.,a
| tain number who leave their wives in such les-
| peThte circumstances as to make IL necessary
1or them to turn everything into money. At
| other times diplomas pass to near relatives
| who prefer s20--for that is the d"alcr's rate
! to useless riec" Of parchment. Many Of
| them have been stolen from our offices. I
| know Of three or four smch cases On the other
| hand. have known doctors to destroy their
| diplomas after they have made their reput,,-
| ton. for fear the parchment would fall into tho
hands OF some Quark. Doctors. however 10
not like to do this: II is. nevertheless think.
the better plnn, Either that. or to have law
! that II shall be destroyed within three days
1 alter the DOCTORS dent Inv tla Inf U.u