Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1856-11-21
THE sPLENDOR OF CRIME.

We find in New York paper the following
sketch of the fashionable life of HUNTINGDON, be.
fore his arrest
"And now Huntingdon is in the Toombs. His
trial will make work for the lawyer, and attract q
good deal of public attention. 1t will be a nice
legal point whether the lodging these notes as col
lateral security IL tsntamount to uttering them.
The penalty for each offence may be seven years in
the State prison, and if convicted on all be would
require to live long as old Parr to serve out his
term. In the meantime he seems to be quite in
different to his situation. When officer Bower
informed him that he came to arrest him, he eoolIy
walked up to the mantle-piece, took up watch,
lit the segsr which he had in his mouth and walk
ed out with the officer in apparent unconcern. His
cell at the Toombs is richly csrpeted and ,urnish-
ed. His wifes carriage drives down daily, and her
care supplies him with sumptuous fare He has
his champagne and his Hsvsnas and doesn't seem
to let the degradation of his position weigh down
his spirits. As an instance of his extraVaRsnce
even now it is said that after dining day or two
ago, he sent up to Thompson's for fruit, and paid
as high as s. for FIVE pears.
1t will be asked what has become of the pro-
cesds of those extensive forgeries2 We have gwen
an inkling of the extravaganza of this man. which
sufficiently indicates his character in that respect
and we have no doubt that within the last two
years he has been able to squsuder all the money
that he1rsised by the means we have described.
He owned two houses In Twenty-second street,
costing probably some $25 900 These were fur.
nished regardless of expense. Ia one of these be
resided with his family; in the other, not a block
distant, he maintained, in grand style, q lady of
beauty and accomplishments, who was not his
welded wife. He was fond of snowy equioaees
and foe horses and outshone all his competitors in
that line.
1t was usual to see his lady driving two in hand,
and himself driving similar team, side by side
He kept open house for all his friends, and gave
them the use of his whole establishment. He
ra.ely dined at hone, but generally at some of the
fashionable restaurants, with fashionable Ia
dies. At the watering places, his lady outshoae
ali others in the splendor of her diamonds. 1t is
said that on the very dsV of his arrest she had
sent to his Office, from Niagara or Saratoga, q box
containing $4,000 worth of jewelry. Her BROTH
or took it in charge and the officers have not since
been able to get at it. We received, the other
day a communication that he had recently bought
at Tiffany & Co g, piece of jewery, price ST.
800, for presentation to a lady. Mr.. Tiffany, how
ever saws that this and other similar statements
are exaggerated.
With such lavish expenditure as these extrsva-
CANT tastes and habits imply it need not be won
dered what became of the proceeds of the FORGE
ries. Huntingdon, like many other people in New
matter who should eventually have to foot the BILL
Even now, when the crash that was to be expect
ed has come, and when he can reasonably look for
no other fate than that of feon, be does not lose
his recklessness his iudiffere nce He eats his fine
dinners and drinks his costly W ines in his little cell
in the Toombs with apparently as much gusto ss
when he played the part of grand SeigneHr 10
Twenty-second street. And even there the calsm.
ity that has befsllen the household does not seem
to press heavily upon them. There ia the same
Sound of reVelry by night" as in the times when
he was hourishing in Wall street. But the re &C.
ton cannot fail to come after the gddy excitement
of such life 1t is sad to contemplate the end Of
such brief career of dissipation. The wealth
which his wife supposed, perhaps, to be inexhsus
tible, will not save him from the degradation of
convict's life. A young man, of good address and
pleasing manners, be might have lived life of USE
fulness, and honestly become wealthy, as he dssir
ed; but he could not resist the temptation of
getting rich in hurry, and the end will be mis-.
cradle existence in Sing Sing Prison. There is a
moral in Huntngdons career for all classes of our
citizens"