THE ENIGMA OF AUDUBON'S LIFE 265 



proved himself to be the son of Commodore Audubon. Before 

 this could be done the merchant died insolvent, and the legatee 

 never recovered a dollar of his money. 5 



A key to the origin of the fictitious seventeen thou- 

 sand dollars is probably to be found in the letters of 

 Jean Audubon to Francis Dacosta, written in 1805, 6 

 where he refers to certain unsettled business claims 

 against his former partners, Messrs. Formon and Ross, 

 who had been respectively interested with him in two 

 vessels, Le Comte d'Artois and the Annette, the history 

 of which has already been noticed. 7 They were also en- 

 gaged at a later time in certain iron-works above Rich- 

 mond, Virginia, but with these Lieutenant Audubon was 

 not directly concerned. Formon, his partner in Santo 

 Domingo trade, who was charged with having drawn 

 $1,650 in excess of his share, had died without making 

 any final settlement of their accounts; another asso- 

 ciate, Edward, had died in London leaving an unset- 

 tled claim of $300; while David Ross, who was owing 

 a certain sum, had also died without liquidating his debt. 

 The amount of the latter claim probably was not large, 

 since Dacosta was instructed to use this sum for his 

 needs in developing the mine at "Mill Grove" should 

 he be so fortunate as to collect it; "when you receive my 

 papers from Miers Fisher," said Lieutenant Audubon 

 in his letter of the 22d of June, 1805, "you will find a 

 promissory note of Mr. Samuel Plaisance of Richmond, 

 for the business of the widow Ross. If there were jus- 

 tice there this sum should be paid to me with the costs." 



Lieutenant Audubon was never able to collect these 



5 Lucy B. Audubon, ed., The Life of John James Audubon (Bibl. No. 

 73), p. 55. 



See Chapter VIII, p. 121. 

 7 See Chapter II, pp. 33 and 34. 



