Lynchburg Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1829-185?, 1836-08-15


Great Failure at Bufcio.-Thc news of the
failure Of Benjamin Rathbun, at Buffalo, which
was received this morning, caused a very unusa SEN
saon in " all street. His affairs have for months
past been the subject of much speculation, and
his n ,tcs, endorsed by some ten or twelve of the
bcStnames in that city, have heencrowdcd upon the
market at the enormous discount of three or four
per cent month. They have served for the
quotations of some of onr neighhors in giving the
condition of the money market. The credit Of
every body in Buffalo of course became deeply
impca. ed, and was said repeatedly that if RatIl-
bun failed, ali Buffalo must fail.
Mr.. Rathbun's business was enormously extend
ed In addition to large operations in real estate,
in which he was constantly engaged, he was
n contractor for erecting the Great hotel, and many
other buildings. In this line he had shops and
adjustments of his own for making bricks, and
furnishing and working all sorts of materials for
building lie had no less than four stores kept in
his own uamc, three ofwhich were one hundred
and 6lty feet deep, filled with valuable mcrcIlan-
die. He owned the line of stages from Buffalo to
Batavia, and in fact almost all the lines running
| out ol Aat CITY, and for this and ether purposes.
owned six hundred horses. He employed twcn-
Is eight clerks, and two Thousand other peT>0n> in
the Nariou, departments Of his operations. His
skill and enterprise, sustained by LARGO number
vi well known fortunate speCnalouS, gave him a
reputation for talents and wealth, by which. until
now, he has been able to carry on these diversified
and almost lImltlcSS operations But he has failed
! at last From statements which are as good as can
be had in such case, we are led to hope that the
consequences will rot he iuin on 50 broad Il scale
as had been anticipated, if indeed there is any
rain at aIl.-A any rate, it does not appear that
the citizens OF Buffalo are likely to lose to any con-
! siderable extent Mr.. Rathbun, we understand
represented the whole amount of his debts at a
million and Il half Of dollars, and on more than a
million of his paper he acknowledged that he bad
! forged the names of rich ncighbors. On parc-
ular occasion he procured l.. +. Allen and elev-
en- others TO endorse three of his notes fer 5000
dollars each. The transaction was generally known
| IN Buffalo. These notes with the endorsements
thereon, he multiplied at his pleasure, and the
forgcrics passed unsupported, as whenever forged
note was mentioned, it was taken for one of the
, well known and genuine notes. This forged pa
per was sold in Wall street, in Canada, and
j wherever ii market could be found for it,
To pay the million and half of responsibilities,
Mr.. Rathbun exhibits list of property which he
has conveyed TO aSSigneaS, valued at two millions
and half. Other persons value the list at Two
millions, or something under. If these statements
near the truth, it is To be hoped that the affair
will not in the end prove seriously injurious to any
one. Rathbun and brother who is charged with
having executed tine iorgcries, have fled to Canada.