Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1856-11-06

CalxixAIs Is HraH LlrE.

80 y
CuxiSAts IL HIeH LlrE.
Ono Of the most remarkable and Character
tic symptoms Of the mania for display, and for
an extraSagast style Of living, which pervadcs
this community, il the ease with which extern
sise frauds are perpetrated, and the little at
teation they exc:ee.. W. may Be Scl.uy! rzed
to the amount of couple Of millions and the
operation is not even q nine days woader In
this age of fast 1iyir-, there is no time TO re-
gard social morality. or to look beneath the
surface to find out whether our reputed mil,
iionaires and famous fnanciers have any solid
foundation for their pretcnsions, or whether the
bright bubbles Of their reputation are not in
danger Of being il moment collapsed by the
unlncky discovery of an oyer-issue of stock or
Of widely extended system of forgery
yes Since the arrest of Ghas b. Huntington,
some two weeks since, BY reason Of one of these
unlueky discoveries, we have from time to time
presented to the public view sketches of the
lax mode in which commercial and financial
transactions are carried on in Wall-strcet of
the ease with which, taking advantage of that
state Of things, Huntington was enabled to ut
ter forged paper to the amount of over half a
million of dollars, and Of the sumptuous and
extravagant style in which he played the role
of millionaire in his house in Twenty second
street, and in town generally.
If those Developments do not open the eyes
Of our citizens to the impure state of the So
cal atmosphere in the neighborhood of Wall
street and of the fashionable quarters where
mushroom capitalists reside, then they are viii
fully blind, and deserve to be periodically made
the victims OF Jeremy Diddlers of every grade.
Take this case of Huntington alone. See
him, within the last four years, arrested, COM
mitted, and indicted for an ingenious swindle,
carried into execution by the connivancc of
note-shavers, in the issuance Of bills of bank
which never had existence. All due publicity
was given to the facts in that case. The swim
die yrs fully exposed in our columns, and one
would suppose that the name of Chas. b. Hun
tington would not, within decade ut least,
command any credit in financial circles in this
city. But as the bankrupt trader who re-
sumcs business, can always obtain as much
credit as he pleases, on the assumption. that he
has made money by the operation, so Mr.. Hun
tngton, having by some unexplained contri-
vance escaped prosecution and punishment,
sets up his shngle anew in Wall-street, and
having given satisfactory evidence of his quail
ilications for that locality is taken into full fell
IowShip and obtains the unlimited confidence
Of his brother sharpcrs.
Being thus once more on the full tide of i'm
aginary prosperity, he launches out into that
course of extravaganza aud dissipation which
distinguishes, par excellence, our Goldfish aris-
tocracy. He rides in the most superb carria-
ges, drives the finest span Of snowy horses,
gives the most recherche dinners and parties,
and squanders money as if he were an incarna-
ton Of the tabled Plutus. His wife tries to
outshine Ill her rivals in the costliness of her
silks, the splcndor of her diamonds, and the
magaifcence Of her drawing rooms. The ho-
tel keepers at Saratoga, Newport and Nigga
ra reverence her, for she is most profuse in
her Expenditures, as the wife of the millionaire
Huntington ought to be and all this time
the broker Huntington is calmly and coolly,
as it appears, raising money on forged accept
auces Of firms with which he had never, in
any other way, the slightest business transac-
ton. And thus, with the combination!of note
slavers, who care for nothing but their usu-
surious discounts the credit of our city is sa-
criiced, and the morality Of the respectable
portion of our citizens shocked, that Ahis gen
teman may indulge his tastes for tiuc living aud
dashy jewelry.
We have said that this is an indication of q
lax condition us we'll in financial dealings as in
the tone of public morals
This affair of Huntington's is not by any
means an isolated case We have had, within
the last day or two reports of another forgery
by note broker in this city of forgcricS, in
Albany, said to have been committed by one of
that famous gang of swindlers who were con-
cerned in the burning Of the steamer Martha
Washington on the Western waters, (at the
very period when Huntington was last under
arrest, and of other lorger.es and frauds in one
Of the New England States.
These unfavorable symptoms in the body So
cial are directly traccable, in the first place, to
that morbid desire for show and parade, the
prevalence Of which among all classes of socic-
ty, none can fail to notice and, in the second
place, to the lax administration of the laws,
which allows rogues to 60 at large "unwhipt
of Justice" Every body wants to get rich in
hurry, and is not very particular as to the
means Of doing SO. g Put money in your
purse-honestly, if you can if not, put mo-
ney in your purse" seems to be the motto Oh
which far too many are acting. The female
taste for costly dress, fine iewelry and extrava-
giant living, has much to do in stimulating men
to the wild hunt for gold. And until these ex-
travagancies give place to simpler and more
moderates tastes, We may reasonably look for
many snch deneuements as that which bids fair
to close the career Of Chas. b. Huntington.
We translate the following from the Augs-