I was not long in procuring bail, and I then
set myself, to work to find out what this meant. I was shown a
handbill describing my person, giving my name, giving a description
of my horse, and offering a reward of fifty dollars for my arrest.
This was signed by a certain Benson, of Kingston, Sullivan County,
N.Y. I then remembered that while I was traveling with my insane
patient from Montgomery through Sullivan County, I fell in with a
Benson who was a very plausible fellow, and who scraped acquaintance
with me, and while I was at Kingston he rode about with me on one or
two occasions. One day he told me that he knew a girl just out of
the place who was subject to fits, and wanted to know if I could do
anything for her; that her father was rich and would pay a good
price to have her cured. I went to see the girl and did at least
enough to earn a fee of one hundred dollars, which her father gladly
paid me. Benson also introduced me to some other people whom I found
profitable patients. I thought he was a very good friend to me, but
he was a cool, calculating rascal. He meant to rob me of my horse
and buggy, and went deliberately to work about it. First, he issued
the handbill which caused my arrest in Troy, where he knew I was
going. Next, as appeared when he came up to Troy to prosecute the
suit against me, he forged a bill of sale. The case was tried and
decided in my favor. Benson appealed, and again it was decided that
the horse belonged to me. I then had him indicted for perjury and
forgery, and he was put under bonds of fourteen hundred dollars in
each case to appear for trial.
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