Description:

PT Barnum Legal Doc. Signed - The Swindler Had Himself Been Swindled!

3pp, measuring 8" x 13", New York, dated January 11, 1856. A legal document signed "P.T. Barnum" for a case between P.T. Barnum vs. The Jerome Manufacturing Company. Barnum, the plaintiff, claimed that he was owed $16,342.00 for various Bills of Exchange that had been made out to the order of Terry & Barnum Manufacturing Company in 1855. The affidavit reads in part: "That said defendants have wholly neglected and failed so to do and this plaintiff hath been compelled to pay and hath paid for the use and accommodation of said defendants in taking up said notes and acceptances aforesaid the sum of sixteen thousand two hundred and fifty dollars which said defendants have not repaid but still remain indebted…" With docketing on verso. The document has flattened folds, with separations and small tears at the edges and folds. Uneven toning and light soiling throughout. Boldly signed.

After just over a decade of success in the world of menagerie and “freak” shows, Phineas T. Barnum (1810-1891) decided to try his hand at a different business - clock making. In 1852, Barnum founded the Terry and Barnum Manufacturing Company and moved the Litchfield Clock Company to East Bridgeport, Connecticut. In 1855, he sought to join forces with Chauncey Jerome, of the Jerome Clock Company, who was seeking to expand his company and thought Barnum and the town of East Bridgeport to be the perfect candidate for a proposed migration. Barnum lent his credit-worthy name to Jerome, but the Jerome Clock Company had overextended itself and was caught peddling bait and switch promissory notes with banks and independent financiers. The famed swindler Barnum had been swindled himself, and his fortune was soon swallowed up. With his clock company in shambles, Barnum left manufacturing for good and returned to the world of showmanship, and it only took a few years to clear his name and regain his fortune.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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