Partly-printed DS as president, signed “R. B. Hayes,” one page, 7.75 x 10, August 15, 1878. President Hayes directs the Secretary of State to affix the Seal of the United States to “the envelope of my letter to His Highness Prince Charles of Roumania (Timothy C. Smith’s credentials).” Signed at the conclusion by Rutherford B. Hayes. In fine condition.
Timothy Clark Smith was a diplomat and world traveler (1821–1893) who received a bachelor's degree from Middlebury College in 1842 and a medical degree from the University of the City of New York in 1855. During his career, he worked as a teacher, a clerk in the U.S. Treasury Department, and as a physician, notably as a staff surgeon for the Russian Army from 1856 to 1857. Smith was U.S. Consul in Odessa, Russia from 1861 to 1875, and in Galati, Romania from 1878 to 1883.
Interestingly, because Smith suffered from severe taphephobia (fear of being buried alive), he was interred in a specially designed grave. His face is positioned beneath a cement tube that leads from beneath the ground to the surface and ends at a 14 x 14-inch plate glass window. In addition to arranging Smith so he could see the surface if he was alive, he was buried with a bell in his hand so he could signal for help.
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