Edward Gurney was a Republican U.S. Senator from Florida in the Seventies, the first of his party to win that office since reconstruction. I had a friend in the Public Defender’s Office who idolized Gurney. It just so happened that my wife had a cousin who worked for Gurney in Washington, D.C., though my friend was not aware of this fact. We took a brief vacation and visited the capitol. Cousin George gave us a tour which included a visit to the senator’s private office. In his bathroom I found Gurney's hairbrush with some of his thick white hair in the bristles. Pulling the hair out, I put it carefully into a small manila envelope and sealed it. Then we went to the handwriting machine, called an autopen, and programmed it to sign Gurney’s name to a personal note from Gurney which I had written and typed. The note, along with the hair sample, went into an envelope and I hand-carried it back to my friend in Florida.
I thought the poor guy would wet his pants when he opened it, he got so ecstatic. This was political hero-worship of the first caliber. It became one of his most treasured possessions. I never had the heart to tell him it was a fraud. Some practical jokes aren’t meant to be revealed.