Washington sentinel., 1854-03-11
NlisteIIang.
Mercantile Biography.

Mercantile Biography.
! Hunts Merchants Magazine for March, in
continuation Of its Mercantile Biography
has sketch of the late Samuel Appleton,
esq.,, one Of the "sold men, Of Boston. We
make an extract which we are sure will be read
with interest:
"A stranger on seeing him, we think, would
have been first struck by his apparent SIM
plicity and open-hearted honesty. 1t was his
manner, in his look, and in the tones OF his
voice There was no mistaking it. de was
an honest man. Without subterfugc or dis
guise, incapable Of anything indirect or under
handed, he had no concealments of his own,
and anything in the form of secret was to him
trouble and burden. He knew of but one
way of speaking, and that was, to say straight
on the truth. It was principle grown into
necessity of his moral life. He did not know
what else to say. 1t might be difficult to utter
it.; he really could not help it. And SO, out of
the simplicity of his nature, his yea was yea,
and his nay, nay. This was allied with the
kindest and tenderest feelings. No one felt
more pain in giving pain to another. But
though he might be kind, and gentle, and
tender, he could not help being honest. He
was himself so thoroughly upright that it was
hard for him to doubt the honesty of other
men, and, as is often the case, men were to
him what he expected them to be. Said the
writer of this notice to hinl-and the answer
threw light alike on his own character and on
the character Of merchants generally: You
have been long engaged in business, under
great variety of circumstances, and in different
countries; what is your opinion in regard to
the honesty of mankind?' Very favorable
he replied very generally I think they mean
to be honest. have never in my life met with
more than three or four cases in which |
thought man intended to be dishonestin deal
ing with me. =
the way in which he himself was regarded,
occurred on the only occasion during his life
when he was sued. About the year 1920,
merchant tailor, named Endicott, died, leaving
residue of his estate to a Baptist society.
Among his papers was a note signed by Samuel
Appleton, and endorsed by Ducoster Mar
shall for few hundred dollars. The commit
tee Of the society called on Mr. Appleton for
payment. The handwriting was SO very like
his that it was impossible to distinguish one
from the other; but he refused to pay it, de-
claring it to be, in spite of the resemblance,
forgery A suit was brought on the note,
which was in fact outlawed He would not
however, allow any plea of this kind to be
made, but steadily denied the signature. As
the endorsement was evidently genuine, and no
other person of the same name was known, the
whole matter was developed in mystery. This
was increased by the fact that he had dealings
with the house Of Ducoster Il Marshall, as ap-
peared by his books, though nothing was found
in them to confirm this note. On the trial, his
brother was called as one of the witnesses.
| He testified that he could not distinguish the
signature from Mr.. Appletons handwriting ;
but that, as he himself had kept the books at
the time and his brothers notes were always
paid when due, and there was no traces OF
such note, it could not be genuine. Notwith-
standing this admitted resemblance of the hand
writing, and notwithstanding the charge OF the
Judge was rather against the defendant, the
Jury found q virdict in his favor. Mr.. D. Ellis
was foreman, and he stated the verdict was
| founded on the fact that the jnry was quite
sure that Mr.. Appleton would not dispute the
the payment of the note, except on the certain
ty that he did not owe it.
"Mr Appleton, however, was not satisfied to
leave the matter here, if it was possible to un-
| ravel the mystery. Some years after, he was
in Italy, and went to- Naples, where Mr.. Degan
at that time resided-the gentleman who was
| assignee of Ducoster and Marshall, and had
| made the endorsement in their behalf. His
first step on landing was, not to visit any OF
| the wonders Of nature or art, but to search out
Mr.. Degan, who, in answer to his inquiries,
stated he perfectly we'll recolected the circum-
stance of there being such a note, but that the
signer of the note was ship-master of the
same name, who resided in Portland, and who
had been dead for some years. Besides his
memory of the event, he had at his country
house the books of the firm, and on examining
them they we're found to confirm entirely Mr..
Appleton's convictions, and to show the rea-
sonabeness of the confidence placed by his
neighbors and fellow-citizens in his accuracy
and integ rity."