The Doctor’s Disappearing Act

Seattle readers will remember Dr. B. F. Pendery, the eclectic physician, who came here a few weeks ago, and set up in business at one of our leading hotels. He was accompanied by a dashing young woman. It was recently discovered that Dr. Pendery, whose office and residence was in Sacramento, had left that city under questionable circumstances, which savored strongly of desertion of his wife and flight with another woman. As it developed, his leaving the city was known to his wife at the time, and he claimed he had gone to Oregon to find a new location for settlement, when he would return and move there. But the case proved to be full and fresh with facts. The full exposure was completed by Mrs. Pendery receiving a dispatch from the Chief of Police at Seattle, stating that Dr. B. F. Pendery and wife were registered at the New England Hotel in that city. Inquiry now shows that his pretense of going to Oregon was but a ruse to prevent the suspicion of his wife. Upon receipt of the dispatch, Mrs. Pendery sent a telegram to the proprietor of the New England at Seattle, stating in effect that the woman with Dr. Pendery is not his wife, but that he has left his wife here sick and destitute. Furthermore, it appears from indisputable evidence that Dr. B. F. Pendery has never graduated from nor studied in a medical college, and that the diploma which he used belonged to his deceased brother, Dr. N. S. Pendery. He had erased the initials N. S. on the parchment and substituted his own, thus committing a shameful act by making it appear that the diploma had been originally issued to him.