Litchfield enquirer., 1872-05-23
Form the New York Star. A STARTLING STORY OF WALL
 STREET LgFEs sAa

Since the days of young Aeke1Nn frands-by the way, wheEe Is y2ans Ketchum now?--Wal atnsek hos Aa4 no FSaIlv flrat. .olass sensation, with the ex- sea1tion Of the ssBIack Friday. panic. A few days since, however, t tranapared that youno man named J. Fillmore Davis, a junior partner of the firm of Davis Gum. one door from the corner of Wall street and Broad, had been regularly en- gagged during several months past m ra1s- ing money on securities which did not be- long to him. As has been said. young Davis held a small proprietary interest m the firm of which his father was the sen for partner. MT. Davis, senior, IS gen tleman well known on the street ana m New York social circles, living in hand- some style in Twenty-seventh street. ana keeping his horses and carriage. His family consisted of himself, wife, two daughters, one of whom was to have been married next week-and one son, the young man spoken of. @ esa s a
 For the past two years young Davis has led very fast life, having, besides two fast horses and the ct cetera of fashiona- ble frivolity, share in a private theatre situated up town. In these ways his money-iberally supplied him by his father-has gone, and the money of oth- CTS with it. -.-.
 The first intimation had of the crash was some six days ago, when prominent Wall street man residing in Brooklyn, who held some $35, ,O00 worth of securi- ties from young Davis, drew upon the firm in the ordinary course of business for the money. It so happened that the real securities, in the possession of another broker, had that same day been present ed to Mir. Gum, the second member of the firm.
 An eclaircissment ensued, and it was speedily discovered that the securities had been forged.
 "Who did you get them of P asked old MT. Davis.
 "Your son, sir, replied the broker
 ''My son Johnl Impossible l"
 But it was not only possible, but true. John Elmore Davis was on that morning engaged with friend out of the city. He had not the remotest idea that his crime was discovered, and did not return home to Twenty-seventh street till late. Ar rived there, however, he found his poor old father, who had borne an honorable reputation in Wall street for forty years, sitting up for him. The young man was slightly intoxicated, but the bitter re- breaches of his father brought him to his senses.
 But the worst was not yet known. Thir- ty-fve thousand dollars was small drop in the financial bucket. The next day fresh frauds were discovered, amounting, including the forged securities, to over a quarter of million of dollars The bro- ker who held the original $35, 900 worth of securities had friends who also held se- curities obtained from. young Davis, and when the whisper went round that they were "not good" the office of Davis & Gum was beseiged. It is stated that no fewer than thirteen prominent houses in Wall street were bitten, and every one de- clares that it was the reputation of the houses, and not of young Davis himself, that led to it. The firm, of course, be- came responsible for the whole amount of the frauds, and to the credit of human nature be it said that Mr. Gum, the sec ond partner, expressed his willingness that the whole of the losses shall fall upon the house, the partners to share alike in supplying the deficit. Old Mir. Davis, however, would not hear of it. It is said that when MT. Gum made his proposi- tion he declared that so long as his pri- vate fortune would hold him out, he would pony up himself"
 Already over $1OO, ,OOO of the debt has been wiped out, and Mr. Davis expresses his willingness to redeem the whole of the forged securities within three months. The young man has made full confession, and has, it is reported, departed for Bra gil. At all events, he has left New York, leaving behind him legacy of fraudulent debts and ruined home