The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-07-05
WRITTEN FOR THE SUNDAY REPUBLIC.

WRITTEN FOR THE SUNDAY REPUBLIC.
He's most amoozin' little cuss." said
the late Artemus Ward And ii must be
true. for the president" of the Nashville
Crenn) College of Law is funny enough 10
make funeral laugh. His name is 4 sort
of an interchangeable lockstitch ofair-
John William Farr." y. William Farr."
or William J. Farr," or John William Jaw
Farr." with the titles LII. D.. LII. NJ. d. C.
L.. as the emergency and the weather may
require.
Born in Chicago. he went South some
years since, opening a law school at Chat
tanooga. and later in Nashville. where he
turned out Webstsrs and JeffersOns By the
class or correspondence system OF teaching
In addition TO this. his degrees were scat
tered over the country at SO each Being
young. energetic man. with plenty OF Chi
cago atmosphere. but of questionable meth
ods. he attracted much attention. and the
people OF Tennessee soon discovered that he
was not there for his health
INVESTIGATED BY THE BAR
f.arly in his Tennessee career the State
Bar Association appointed a committee to
investigate him. Extracts from its report
said:
Members of the committee have had such
personal acquaintance with this man as 70
kho" MIN for an ignorant tyro CharIatan
ana faRe-. Other members have seen his
| remarkable advertising pamphlets in which
ne proposes to confer numerous unheard-of
degrees. and resorts to cheap and vulgar ad-
er.isihs tricks to catch the eye and the
uoIIarS OF the adventurer and unwarv Your
committee. therefore. has no hesitancv in
pronouncinC this alleged law school. with
trs, Thoroughly discredtted head. an arrant
,tauq ana humbug, which cannot be r.coe-
; ;hz by the profession. and against which
me public should be warned
GsGrt Was signed By three of the
|. "A Nashville man SAYS that Farr came N
Iie EN- claiming the Illinois College Of
Years old ms slim alma IN mater He is about IS
tennessee. five years ago. he has promoted
I'm 1.iS ohattanoosa Law School, the NashviIle.
Soiiese OF Law and law school in Omaha
ana one in Oklahoma City. --'''' I'D
ar ~ ot.eomins dean of his first institution.
the e ''SshoSga he secured an alliance with
But the character of his operations VS.
sooh discovered. and to prove that desreas
a ,a. a up were being sold decoy letter
ING that the writer, the Honorable Earry,
feiioWS. was studying in a law Office and
va hau NOT yet been admitted to the bar. VET
ne was sure he would pass examine tion and
get license to practice at the exniratfnn
Vi ms term Of service with his law firm. AS
a DIT OF spice to the bait a five-dollar re.
tanning Zee was inclosed.
In response the Nashville president evi
coura gingly: '' ~
Il am surprised that you are not already
admitted to the bar. but as / have already
Undertaken your case. If you will remit sl45
hahihg sloo; including the s. sent and have
your law firm send you strong letters of
recommendation as a lawyer-that is one
VINO Is versed in the law-and say nothing
ABOUT "hsther YOU have already been adj
leading Judges there to give you a strong
letter OF recommendation as to Character
and reputation, and l will get see YOU
and If for any cause I should fail in this /
| the $50" SA'' y,
The terms meant $50 for initiation fee and
expenses and $50 each for two degrees on
| this point President FaTr further wrote:
| TO HUMBUG OREGONI4AN
| Inc reason l suggest the doctors degree
Is because it is looked upon more as an hon.
orary degree. although the word honorary
| does not appear upon the face of your d.
| ploma comforting your degree. and no one
in Oregon would ever know but what YOU
attended the full three years in residence
| for this degree unless you choose to tell 1t
yourself.
In regard to RENTING all your fee In
advance. wish to advise you that am d.
| rected so to do. not only in your particular
| case. as II has not yet been mentioned. but
| In case of all applications. from the simple
| fact when one Is recommended by the fac
ulty and elected by the Board of Trustees
and when the party is duly notified that
! they have been duly elected the degree has
already been conferred: even without the
| diploma itself, which. of course. always fol-
| lows soon after one is elected to any de-
| gree. and the sending Of the diploma is a
| mere matter of form.
Therefore. Mr.. Fellows. II you remit the
remaining s145 and mail the above recon-
| mendations to this Office not later than
next week: will see you through absolute
| ~ for the Doctor Of Civil Law degree or re-
| fund $50 to you. However. If you send me
| the above-named strong testimonials. / do
| not anticipate any trouble whatever on this
line. You should send application. test!-
monials and the remaining sl4o at the very
earliest moment possible"
| In the face of this and similar letters. the
! president was forced to resign and begin
| elsewhere. He evidently did not wish to
| leave the State. for by an ancient statute in
| Tennessee a law school was empowered to
| grant licenses to practice law in the State.
Leaving Chattanooga. therefore. in March,
the late summer found him in Nashville or
| connection with which. however. he did not
| then allow his name to be mentioned. With
| him was the woman. designated as L B..
| Armstrong, said to have been secretary in
| more than one of his schools. Keeping his
| name and identity in the BACKGROUND and
| benefit OF those working in the daytime.
| Farr got some lawyers of standing TO lee
| ture. and matters went on undisturbed for
| some time. But trouble soon came. In the
! great parade in honor of the return of the
! First Tennessee Regiment from the Philip
pines there were students of the Nashville
| College of Law. with Dean Farr vociferous-
| " leading the college yell. He was recog-
nized by Chattanooga newspaper report
| er, who revealed his record. Then there
| was trouble in the school. FAR sued a
| Nashville paper for defamation or charac-
| ter but let the suit go by default. and sub
| sequently some of the students sued Farr