He had at this time got into debt about eighteen thousand dollars.

One day he went to Hartford and bought seven thousand dollars worth of cotton cloth from a shrewd house in that city, telling them a very fine story that he had a vessel which would sail for South America the next day, and that the cloth must go down immediately on the boat.

He told them who his father was, and promised to bring his endorsement in a few days, which was satisfactory to them, and they let him have the goods.

But the paper did not come.

One of the firm went to New York and there found some of the goods in an Auction store, and a part of them sold.