Page:Journey to Pennsylvania.djvu/39

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a certain Daser of Nagold arrived with his wife and 8 children in a wretched and unfortunate situation at Philadelphia in Pennsylvania. For not only was he robbed at sea of goods worth 1800 florins, but he had on that account a long law-suit with the English captain of the ship at Philadelphia, which suit, however, he did not win, but had even to pay the cost of the litigation. Mr. Daser had to pay 600 florins for his own passage and that of his family. But as he had been robbed of his money, all his goods and chattels together with the boxes were sold at public auction or vendue for a trifling sum, so that he became more and more distressed with his family. Then, as he proceeded to borrow money to purchase a plantation, he was shamefully cheated by his creditor. He had agreed with him to repay the borrowed money in two years; but the person who made out the obligation or bond, as they call it there, wrote at the instigation of the unscrupulous creditor in two days, instead of in two years. Mr. Daser signed this, never suspecting that he signed his own ruin, because he did not understand English. The result was that, as he did not repay the money in two days (N.B. He had not ever received the money, the time having expired in consequence of his own negligence and various idle pretenses of the creditor), all that he still