The Bloomfield times. [volume] (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1867-187?, 1872-04-02
Gbe Gimes, Menu Bloonrlslo, 11a.

his country, but TO betray that country.
A year passed away. He was in CON-
mand at West Point, in correspondence
with the enemy. Whether she shared her
husbands secret during those months of
preparation, will perhaps never be known
with certainty. Just before the explosion
of the treason at West Point, Arnold sent
for his wife and child to join him; and
have seen the letter which he wrote to her
on that occasion, telling her the best way of
reaching him, and at what houses she should
sleep on the road. She had not been many
days at West Point when the treason was
discovered. Arnold and his wife were
seated at the breakfast table, with Hamil-
ton, Lafayette and an aid. In the midst
of the meal, a horseman alighted at the
door and, moment after, letter was
placed in Arpsld's hands, which informed
him of his ruin. He controlled his coun-
tenance, rose quietly from the table, and
beckoned his wife to follow him. They
went up stairs to their room, where lay
their infant child; and there he told her
that he was ruined man, and must flee,
that instant for his life. She fell senseless
to the floor. Leaving her there, he rushed
from the room, hurried down stairs, sent
some one to her assistance, and then re-
turned to the breakfast room. He told his
guests that General Washington was
coming and he must make haste to pre-
pare for his reception. He mounted the
horse of the messenger who had brought
the letter, and galloped away.
Colonel Hamilton has left us an interest
ing account of Mr.. Arnolds demeanor af-
ter her husbands departure. He says she
remained frantic all day, and accused every
one who approached her of an intention to
murder her child. She continued, he says,
to rave until she was utterly exhausted.
But Colonel Burr, in his old age, was ac-
customed to give very different account
of the matter He had known Mrs. Arm
old from her infancy, and he always de-
clared that she knew all abouther husbands
treason from thebeginning, and he used
to relate a scene which he said he Witness
ed at the house of Mrs. Provost, whom he
afterwards married. which somewhat con-
firms his opinion. Mrs. Arnold, it will be
remembered, was sent home to her father,
escorted by party of horse, and re-
mained for night at the house of Mrs.
Provost, where Colonel Burr was. Mrs.
Arnold, he said, burst into the room dress
ed in riding habit, and was about to
speak to the lady of the house, when, seek
ing him in the dim light Of the apartment,
and not recognizing him, she asked anxious
| ly:
Gam safe? Is the gentleman friend P"
Upon discovering who he was, she told
them how she had deceived General Wash
ington, Col. Hamilton, and the other Amer
ican officers by her frantic outcries; and she
declared that she not only knew of the
treason, but that it was she who had in
duced her husband to commit it.
This was Colonel Burr's story, to which
the reader may attach the credit which he
thinks it deserves. Arnold himself does
not say that she was ignorant of his inten-
.tion to surrender the fortress. In the we'll
known letter which he sent back to Gener-
al Washington from the Vulture, he says:
"From the known humanity of your ex-
cellency, am induced to ask your protec-
tion for Mrs. Arnold, from every insult and
injury that q mistaken vengeance of my
country may expose her to. 1t ought to
fall only on me; she is as good and as inno-
cent as an angel, and is incapable of doing
wrong.
The authorities of Pennsylvania believed
with Burr, that she was traitor. Her
papers were seized, and although nothing
was found in them to criminate her, she
was not permitted to remain at her fathers
house, which she said she desired to do.
Her father offered to give security that,
during the war she would write no letters
to her husband, and send to the govern
ment, unopened, any letters she might re-
ceive from him. His offer was refused,
and they ordered her to depart, and not re-
turn doing the war. Being then obliged to
join her husband in New York, she soon
recovered her spirits, and shone in society,
to use the language of the time, as ga star
of the first magnitude" In England, too
whittier she accompanied her husband, she
attracted much attention for her beauty,
and was much fattered in tory circles.
The British government gave Arnold, in
compensation for his American losses,
something less than seven thousand pounds
and settled upon his family pension Of a
thousand pounds year; which was to be
continued as long as either the husband or