future of the tannery on the Brandywine was not bright. Cardon 

 had extended his resources and his credit to the breaking point. 

 Constant borrowing to buy bark, to purchase hides, or to expand 

 the business had pushed the concern deeply into debt. The cost 

 of bark and hides had never been higher and the price of leather 

 was low. In 1824, "embarrassment began to be evident .... 

 A. Cardon used the signature of the firm to accept some drafts of 

 his personal creditors to the amount of $4000 which he paid out 

 of the funds of the concern, or to speak more correctly by con- 

 tracting new debts in the name of the concern." '^^ 



Things went from bad to worse, and by the spring of 1825 Cardon 

 and Bidermann agreed "to finish tanning what was on hand in 

 order to bring the concern to a close." In the same year, Cardon 

 left Hagley and moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he 

 had "been offered great advantages" to manage a tannery for 

 Eldridge and Brick and Company — a concern to which Cardon 

 and Company owed well over three thousand dollars. "*^^ 



In November he wrote from Harrisburg that he had agreed to 

 give Eldridge and Brick the tan vats at Hagley in "partial payment 

 of our debt." This met with objection on the part of E. I. du Pont, 

 who apparently was to pay the cost of transportation for the equip- 

 ment from the Brandywine to Harrisburg. The vats were ready 

 for shipment when du Pont balked. Such stubbornness was inter- 

 preted by Cardon only "as Mr. Victor says . . . when one loses 

 one is in bad humor." Realizing this, Cardon desired "to finish 

 as soon as possible the business on the Brandywine." "'^'^ 



The situation was so confused in the next several months that 

 in Cardon's absence no one was competent to judge when leather 

 was to be taken from the tan vats. In January of 1826, a Phila- 

 delphia concern was informed: 



Our Mr. Cardon is not here at present. We understand from him that some 

 of the leather tanned is yours, but we think that he meant to wait to send it 

 till the whole of what belongs to you should be ready in order to settle at the 

 same time for the exp[ens]es of tanning. Any how in his absence we do not 

 know your leather and we shall have to wait his return which is to take place 

 in a couple of weeks. ~°^ 



-"- "Statement written by Bidermann," B. G. du Font, vol. 11, p. 254. 

 203 Ibid. 



20* A. Cardon to A. Bidermann, November 13, 24, 1825, Cardon Correspondence, (OSOR, box 56). 

 -"5 Letter book, January 7, 1826, Cardon and Company to William and James Pritchett. See also 

 letter dated March 11, 1826, to Eldridge and Brick. 



69 



