The College faced bankruptcy, and discontinued operations. The philanthropist and abolitionist Gerrit Smith, who lived nearby, in Peterboro, became the proprietor of the insolvent college. He assumed its debts, which exceeded its assets; as a newspaper put it, "he became the owner of the property when the college was abandoned." A modern scholar has suggested that Smith's breakdown and hospitalization after public discovery of his connection with John Brown's failed raid on Harpers Ferry, of late 1859, contributed to the college's closure.(Under Smith.)