1915. 
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l'HE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
493 
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:: Various Tricks of Fakers :: 
“The Midnight Marriage” 
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A LOCAL paper iu Western New York 
tells how an intelligent farmer fell 
a victim to the old marriage certificate 
fraud. This is such an old fraud, and 
we have told about it so many times, 
that it seems hard to understand how a 
man could be caught in this way. The 
little book “Hindsights” has a full state¬ 
ment of the scheme. Yet we know how 
willing the average farmer and his wife 
are to help out anyone who seems to 
be in genuine trouble. The fraud fol¬ 
lowed the usual course. After supper 
there came a knock at the door and a 
fine-looking man entered. He was travel¬ 
ling through the country and had lost his 
way and would take it as a great accom¬ 
modation if they could put him up for the 
night. This man was a pleasant talker, 
and after some investigation they found 
that he was a prominent worker in their 
church denomination, and finally dis¬ 
closed himself as a preacher well known 
and greatly loved by the members of his 
parish some distance away. The farm¬ 
er and his wife were good church people, 
and particularly interested in Sunday 
school work, which turned out to be a 
strong feature of the work which the 
stranger had been doing. In fact with¬ 
in an hour this farmer and his wife came 
to feel that they had known this noble 
gentleman all their lives, and they had 
rarely met a clergyman so intelligent and 
sympathetic as this man was. 
People go to bed early in the country, 
and at about the proper time this sym¬ 
pathetic stranger suggested that they 
should hold family worship, and he of¬ 
fered to conduct the services, which he 
did with great effect. After the last 
hymn was sung, there came another 
knock upon the door. The farmer went 
and upon opening it he found a young man 
of large bulk in the doorway, and shrink¬ 
ing and hiding behind him a young girl, 
evidently greatly embarrassed and in 
trouble. The bashful young man after 
hesitating a while told his story. These 
young people wanted to be married. The 
father of the bride had opposed their 
marriage for very selfish reasons, and 
finding it impossible to carry out that 
plan otherwise, the young man imitated 
young Loeliinvar, substituting a buggy 
for a black charger. At any rate here 
lie was, and by the merest accident he 
had learned that a clergyman of great 
reputation was visiting in the neighbor¬ 
hood. Was he there? The stranger 
bowed and acknowledged that he was the 
man. Both the young man and his 
would-be bride held up their hands in 
thankfulness to think how fortunate they 
had been to find this minister. It was 
really a providential thing. 
But now the minister hung back. He 
put on a very wise and stern look and 
said that his sense of duty would hardly 
permit him to marry these young people. 
Marriage was such a solemn obligation 
that it never should be entered upon 
lightly, and he made it a rule of his life 
to enquire into the strictest details of 
the lives of persons who applied to him 
for marriage before he performed the 
ceremony, therefore he felt that it would 
not be right for him to aid in this elope¬ 
ment. He would prefer to wait until 
the next day and counsel the parents of 
this young lady. Thereupon the woman 
began to cry and the young man himself, 
who was a giant in stature, had a sus¬ 
picious moisture about his eyes. The 
farmer and his wife were tender-hearted 
people. They had no children at home, 
their only daughter had married and was 
living some distance away. The farmer’s 
wife in particular was greatly affected, 
especially when this young woman ap¬ 
proached her and wept on her bosom, 
pleading with her to use her influence 
with the minister to perform the mar¬ 
riage. This was too much for the farm¬ 
er and his wife, and they felt that their 
friend, the church worker, ought for 
"nee to take a liberal view of the mnt- 
1,1 and perform the ceremony. After 
much hesitation and strong protest the 
minister finally said that if the farmer 
•'ini his wife would share the moral re¬ 
sponsibility with him, that he would per¬ 
form the ceremony. So he pulled from 
his pocket among other papers a marriage 
certificate, borrowed a pen, made it out, 
and then performed the ceremony with 
beautiful effect, not forgetting to kiss the 
bride. The farmer and his wife were re¬ 
quested to sign their names on the back 
of the marriage certificate, so that it 
might become more legal. This they glad¬ 
ly did without looking at the certificate 
at all. The farmer in fact did not put 
on his glasses when he signed his name. 
The young couple went away with many 
blessings, and thanks, promising to write 
promptly, to tell the farmer and his wife 
how they succeeded in squaring matters 
with the old folks. The farmer and his 
wife went to bed that night well satis¬ 
fied that they had done something for 
humanity. A noble deed that would be 
to their credit later on. 
In the morning the clergyman departed 
after again leading in prayer. The 
farmer did not accept any money for the 
entertainment, although the clergyman 
told them that he was very scrupulous 
about such matters, and much preferred 
to pay, yet however, they insisted. lie 
did not press the matter, but he was go¬ 
ing to send them a little later a family 
Bible containing his autograph and a 
favorite quotation. The farmer remem¬ 
bered that visit with great pleasure until 
about three weeks later he was notified 
that the cashier of his local bank wanted 
to see him at once about a note. So the 
next time he went to town the farmer 
called at the bank and was confronted 
with a promise to pay $250. It was a 
promissory note, on demand, signed by 
A Gonckete Rural Fence Post. 
himself and endorsed by his wife. The 
farmer had never heard of any such thing 
before, but he had to admit his signature 
was genuine. Of course this turned out 
to be that marriage certificate. It was 
not a bond of matrimony, but rather a 
bond not of marriage but one which di¬ 
vorced that farmer from 250 good dol¬ 
lars. The farmer was obliged to pay the 
note, as it was genuine, and he had to 
admit that ho signed it, and under the 
law the holder of such a note can collect 
it. That farmer is now hunting for his 
clerical friend, and when he once gets 
him, it is safe to say that no family pray* 
«rs will be offered. 
This is a genuine case which actually 
happened, and it is probable that these 
three people have worked this trick from 
50 to 75 times, and will keep on doing it 
for years to come, until they strike some 
home where the people understand the 
game. And even in such homes it will be 
hard for farmers to believe that such kind 
and appreciative people can possibly be 
guilty of such a fraud. Yet. this is an 
actual case, and there is only one possi¬ 
ble way to be free from such work, and 
that is never under any circumstances 
whatever, to sign your name upon any 
paper presented to you by a stranger. 
We have known of people who went 
through the country pretending to obtain 
signatures to a petition against the use 
of liquor and tobacco. It looked like a 
perfectly sure thing, and yet some of the 
signers found that petition to turn up 
later as an endorsement upon a note 
which (hey were called upon to pay. The 
moral is never under any circumstances 
have financial dealings or sign your name 
for the benefit of any stranger. 
“ Dr. Morris,” (he Eye Expert. 
I N November, 101”. we were visited at 
at our home in New Jersey by a man 
claiming to be an optician and giving his 
name as Dr. Wm. Morris, residence, New¬ 
foundland, N. J. lie examined father’s 
eyes and gave such an alarming report 
we were very much frightened, but also 
doubtful. lie claimed to be a “Mason, 
Odd Fellow and a Christian gentleman,” 
and as father belonged to the Masonic 
order and “ Dr. Will” gave all the re¬ 
quired signs, etc., we bit to the tune of 
$28.50. After the recovery of the scare 
concerning father’s eyes we realized that 
we were, no doubt, the victims of a fake. 
Writing to Newfoundland brought “Un¬ 
known” written across my letter. 
A few weeks afterwards we moved to 
Orangeburg, N. J., and strange to say 
who should visit us again but “Dr. Mor¬ 
ris” (?) and again the same story of 
giving his services free, but his residence 
this time was a town nearby as was the 
case when we lived in Jersey. I told 
him how the glasses were useless, etc., 
producing his note stating he would re¬ 
fund tin' money if anything was unsatis¬ 
factory and. of course, he would not yield 
up any cash, but gave me a note when 
I refused to let him leave the house, on 
the Ilaverstraw National Bank, which 
note sent to the bank for collection, was 
returned as worthless. It is quite need¬ 
less to state that Dr. Morris did not know 
that he was going to come across us the 
Second time, and his surprise and chagrin 
were quite evident as soon as he entered 
the house. 
The glasses examined by an optician 
was stated to be worth $4.50. The talk 
I gave “Dr. Morris” was worth at least 
$10 so there is still a deficit of $14 that 
has been put down to the dear school of 
experience. I have let the matter drift, 
but feel it is unfair, there are so many 
confessors, iu your noble little paper, of 
schemers who have made them part with 
their hard-earned cash that I, too, will 
join hands with those, who believe ex¬ 
posure in larger circulated papers will 
help to keep down the host of those who 
are looking for easy money. 
JANE WORTHINGTON. 
Rockland Co., N. Y. 
R. N.-Y.—This is a sad old fake fully 
exposed with hundreds of others in our 
little book “Hindsights.” These rascals 
are so plausible that we can hardly 
blame wives and daughters for believing 
them when they solemnly assert that 
father is surely going blind. Jane 
Worthington gave him what he deserved 
at least. If we could have heard the 
lecture she gave this rascal and had a 
picture of “Dr.” Morris as he took it we 
would gladly pay the balance of that bill. 
Who says such women as Jane Worth¬ 
ington should not be permitted to vote? 
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THE GASOLINE ENGINE ON THE 
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Tho Rural New Yorker, 333 West 30th St„ N. Y. 
waiting for you 
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Canada^orterature and Particulars as to reduced railway rates to Superintendent Immigration, Ottawa, 
J. S. CRAWFORD 
, 301 E. Genesee St. Syracuse N. Y. 
^_ Canadian Government Agent. 
