258 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



had been surrendered to another claimant. This was 

 probably in May, 1819, for in his journal of the follow- 

 ing year, under date of November 23, when he was again 

 moving down the rivers but in more leisurely fashion, 

 he speaks of two large eagle's nests, one of which he 

 remembered having seen as he "went to New Orleans 

 eighteen months" before. 



Through the researches of a later historian I am now 

 able to give a more exact account of this affair. The 

 purchasers of the steamboat were William R. Bo wen, 

 Samuel Adams Bowen, Robert Speed, Edmund 

 Townes, Obediah Smith, George Brent and Bennett 

 Marshall, who immediately sued Audubon in the sum of 

 $10,000, on the plea that he had maliciously taken out 

 an attachment upon the vessel in New Orleans, where it 

 had been detained. They represented to the judge of 

 the circuit court, Henry P. Broadnax, that Audubon 

 was about to leave Kentucky, and a warrant was issued 

 to arrest him ; he was taken into custody, said the narra- 

 tor whom I am following, "but executed a bail bond in 

 the sum of $10,000 with Fayette Posey as surety, and 

 was released." Convinced that a trial at Henderson 

 would lead only to a defeat of justice, Audubon now 

 served notice that he would apply for a change of venue 

 to another county. "That notice together with the other 

 papers in the action, is among the records of the Daviess 

 circuit court, at Owensboro, Kentucky. It was written 

 and signed by Audubon. Application for a change of 

 venue was made at Hardinsburg and the case was trans- 

 ferred to the Daviess circuit court." When the case was 

 called, the plaintiffs asked for a continuance, and it was 

 granted them, but when the case was called again at the 

 next term of court, the plaintiffs failed to appear, and 

 the action was finally dismissed. 



