Thomas’ father, Hartman Horn,
was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, in 1794 and was
a descendant of German immigrants who had settled in that part
of Pennsylvania.
Years after Thomas and Mary had secretly left Ohio for Scotland
County, Missouri in 1852, a former partner of Thomas found and
continued legal action against him. On November 21, 1867 John
Thompson filed suit against him at the Scotland County Circuit
Court for $1,650. He had entered a bill in chancery in 1851 in
the Knox County Court of Common Pleas in Mt. Vernon against Horn
and others, requesting settlement of a dispute that dated to
a transaction in October 1849, when Horn was still living there.
Thompson’s suit alleged that Horn and he had been partners
in a deal to buy cattle in Knox County and drive them to Baltimore,
sell them, and split the proceeds. Hartman Horn, Elijah Patterson
and Harris Thompson, John’s brother were part of the arrangement.
Thomas Horn was to buy cattle but had to borrow a thousand dollars
from the Knox County Bank in Mt. Vernon in order to finance the
deal. He had proposed that Thompson borrow a similar amount and
that each provide a guarantor. The arrangement proceeded; Thompson’s
guarantor was Harris, while Horn’s was Hartman. The idea
was that Thompson’s experience in the cattle business would
be of major importance, “to some extent offsetting skill
capital”, but that both would give equal attention to the
project. The loan, a “Bill of Exchange,” was procured
at the Bank of Baltimore, Maryland. The entire cost of the cattle
plus expenses of the drive to Baltimore was $1,927.93 plus a
few small expenses paid in Baltimore by Horn.
Horn left the cattle with a man “by the name of Gregory,” according
to the Knox County court records. Gregory was to sell the cattle,
and deposit the money to an account Horn had set up in his own
name at the Bank of Baltimore. The cattle were sold for $2,110.72,
and Gregory deposited the amount to Horn’s account.
Horn, together with his father and Elijah Patterson, then withdrew
the money, the bank having failed to encumber it. Thompson claimed
that Horn next purchased a drove of hogs that Hartman and Patterson
were already feeding; Thomas drove them to the East, sold them
and loaned the proceeds to his father and Patterson. Apparently
Thomas Horn’s plot was to shield the money from John Thompson
by having Hartman and Patterson become indebted to him – a
plot that implies that the three had together set it up in advance…. |
