Tuesday, March 4, 1919

Bright. Mild. To College 9 to 4 P.M. Very muddy when not on solid foundation. Received Red + [Cross] Chain letter anonymous. Down town in evening. Bowled at Y. Around town. Home. To bed 10:30 P.M. Thank God for health, strength & education.

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Interesting reference to Red Cross Chain Letter, which was something people were doing back in Stanford's time. It was a solicitation for donations, apparently, but it was not a practice sanctioned by the Red Cross. Here is a piece that appeared in a Red Cross Bulletin published in 1917:

What makes this a particularly interesting bit of trivia is that people are still doing this kind of thing, except now on the internet. One website (hoax-slayer.com) that debunks this kind of scam talks about a recent solicitation of this type:

This email message claims that 11 year old Jasmin lost her father in the September 11 2001 World Trade Center attack and has a mother who is in desperate need of expensive surgery. The message claims that the Red Cross will donate 10 cents to help Jasmin and her mother every time the email is forwarded to others. 

However, the information in the message is untrue. The message is a heartless hoax designed solely to fool recipients into forwarding it. Neither the Red Cross, nor any other organization is ever likely to participate in an absurd fund-raising scheme based on how many times a particular email is forwarded.

This hoax is particularly heinous and reprehensible because it attempts to capitalize on the tragedy of 9/ll. The original email has spawned other versions that differ in names and details. But all claim that the American Red Cross will donate money for each forwarded email. The Red Cross has denied any such arrangement and previously published the following statement on its website: 

The American Red Cross is aware that false e-mail hoaxes purportedly involving or benefiting the Red Cross are circulating, particularly in the form of "chain letter" e-mails. Typically, the authors of such e-mails claim to be victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks and promise that the American Red Cross will make a financial contribution on the recipient's behalf each time the e-mail is forwarded. These e-mails are fraudulent. The American Red Cross does not use, authorize or condone such chain letter e-mails for fundraising or for any other purpose. The American Red Cross works very hard to stop such fraudulent activity.