Monday, June 4, 2012

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

I don't think I've ever seen a message quite like this one. Is it vindictive or is it an insider joke? I couldn't find any information on Adam Faque, M.D., who charges $10.00 for chloroform, but only 30 cents for a politician or $1.50 for a Wall Street Banker. I'm definitely missing some sort of historical or political reference here. Any ideas?

Here's the message on the card:

take this how do you like it. ha ha ha  how do you like it. ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha etc.


The card was sent to Jesse Rinkenburg of Martinsburg, New York in 1907. It turns out that Jesse Rinkenburg was born in 1883. He then married Seraphena Rose Beron in 1916--long after this card was sent, so it can't be a joke about any immediate wedding plans. The caption on the card says: Do it now. Take a wife before forty. Take chloroform at sixty. _____ I'm just not sure what it means, and the card is not signed.

In any case, census records show that Jesse worked as a laborer at a box factory. Seraphena worked at the same factory as an accountant, although by 1930 she was employed as a school teacher at the local elementary school. Records don't indicate that they had any children.


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8 comments:

  1. Lisa BJune 4, 2012 at 8:09 AM

    It seems politicians and bankers were about as popular then as now ;)
    I had a look at chloroform on wiki for its use as an anaesthetic, interesting. I read the caption as advocating marriage later rather than sooner, marry early and you will be wanting some form of euthanasia at 60!
    To me then it would have been sent by a male, maybe in 1907 marriage was on the cards for Jess Rinkenburg.

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  2. Cappuccinoandartjournal.blogspot.comJune 4, 2012 at 9:51 AM

    I have no idea -- but it is great to have you and the postcards back!

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  3. PostcardyJune 4, 2012 at 2:33 PM

    I'm not sure what this means, but it appears that the doctor is "a damn fake."

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  4. AnnJune 4, 2012 at 6:02 PM

    :)
    !!!!

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  5. LindaJune 4, 2012 at 9:24 PM

    I also think the price is lower for the people you really want to knock out. Pols and bankers.

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  6. dosankodebbieJune 4, 2012 at 9:45 PM

    Ha ha. I like Linda's interpretation. I didn't know how much fun postcards could be until I "met" your blog. Thanks so much. :)

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  7. K.S. ChambersJune 4, 2012 at 11:21 PM

    Ha, ha, ha . . . uh . . . weirdly bizarre. Gotta love it, it makes little to no sense; but as you indicate, perhaps we're missing something that was unique to that time.

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  8. Archie TechtJune 5, 2012 at 8:36 PM

    Looks like Postcardy nailed the play on words of the doctor's name, good job! I had thought that chloroform was always inhaled, but it was apparently originally given orally, according to a display we saw recently at the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow (which had alot of other cool/gross medical related displays...).

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