256 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



supply of logs, it was found that they had decamped 

 and fled down the river towards the Mississippi, taking 

 on their flatboat Audubon's draft oxen and in fact all 

 the plunder that they could lift. Nothing was ever 

 recovered and but one of the fugitives was ever seen 

 again ; this man boarded a river boat on which the nat- 

 uralist happened to be traveling, and it is said that upon 

 being recognized he jumped into the river and swam 

 to the shore like a frightened deer. 



When Bakewell finally withdrew, Audubon appears 

 to have been left stranded, and the business was taken 

 over by a new set of men, including another brother-in- 

 law, Nicholas Berthoud, and Benjamin Page of Pitts- 

 burgh, who continued it under the name of J. J. Audu- 

 bon & Company. 13 Agents were also secured at various 

 points on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Excepting, 

 as we must assuredly do, his ever staunch friend, Nicho- 

 las Berthoud, Audubon believed that he was "gulled by 

 all of these men." 



In 1818 a new era of building and general prosperity 

 seemed to dawn in the valley of the Ohio. A new bank 

 was chartered at Henderson, and the woodwork of its 

 brick structure was furnished by Audubon's mill. 14 



13 In his journal of 1820 Audubon said that after the withdrawal of 

 Bakewell, "men with whom I had long been associated offered me a 

 partnership. I accepted, and a small ray of light appeared in my busi- 

 ness, but a revolution occasioned by a numberless quantity of failures put 

 all to an end." 



"One of J. J. Audubon & Company's bills is here reproduced from 

 Starling, op. cit. 



"To the President and Directors of the Bank of Henderson 

 to Henderson steam mill: 



"To three pieces of scantling, 56 feet, 4y 2 c $ 2.52 



"To ten pieces of scantling, 34 feet , 



"To sixty rafters, 714 feet, at 4 c 28.56 



"To five pieces scantling, 40 feet, at 3 c 1.20 



"To fifteen joists [ ?], 278% feet, at 6 c 16.71 



"J. J. Audubon & Co." $48.99 



