Orrin Skinner

Limited Information exists on the life of Orrin Skinner (unknown-1896). It appears, however, that he lived for some time in Springfield, Massachusetts, before moving to Chicago. In Chicago, Skinner would become a lawyer and was seemingly well respected in the community. In 1873, Skinner would move to New York, and it appears that he was admitted to the New York bar the same year. He would then establish the law firm Goudy, Chandler, & Skinner. It was also around this same time that Skinner married the daughter of the prominent Whig and Republican Politician, Orville Hickman Browning, who at one point served as the US Secretary of the Interior under Andrew Johnson. Skinner was more of a political scientist than an economist. His main treatise appeared in 1873 and was entitled The Issues of American Politics. As the name suggests, this work was not devoted specifically to the subject of political economy but was instead a general treatise on politics. Skinner does, however, devote a significant portion of his work to economic questions. His approach to economics is also distinctly along American Protectionist lines and is quite in-depth theoretically.

Skinner was, however, a man of extravagant tastes, and in 1778, he would cease his law practice to undertake ventures in mining. When this failed, he then resorted to various other schemes to fund his spendthrift lifestyle and would later be exposed as a conmen and swindler. Using a variety of different aliases, Skinner would defraud various banks both in the United States and internationally, and would eventually be arrested in London in 1886, attempting to use a forged letter of credit. It appears that he was then extradited to New York, where he would be sentenced to Auburn prison for grand larceny in the second degree. Skinner would later die in prison on September 19, 1896.