Additional details of his life are known from correspondence which he exchanged with Herman Strecker, a fellow entomologist and a dealer in insect collections.
They became acquainted around 1866 and Reakirt hired Strecker to mount a large shipment of Philippine butterflies he had purchased from Pierre Joseph Michel Lorquin.
In August 1868, Reakirt tried to sell his collection via Strecker to the New York Lyceum (today American Museum of Natural History) for $1800.
At the beginning of 1871, he left the United States for Lima, Peru to avoid a charge that he had forged documents and stolen $110,000 from pharmaceutical companies.
In them he inquires about a passport application under an assumed name; he asks for information about countries without an extradition agreement with the United States; and he sets up a system that enables Strecker to invest in the stock market on Reakirt's behalf.