Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1876-09-08

a package of it. rryon sent package
of it to Mr., Gilbert Forbes, and Mr..
Forbes has dropped into Corbie's tavern,
close by Gen. Washington's headquar-
ters. He is a jovial man, and has treat.
ed the members of Washington's body
guard to sundry glasses of grog. He
has talked with fifer johnson and drum
mer Green, and Michael Lynch, and
Sergeant Barnes, about having better
times, about the tyranny of Congress,
and about the country being led by a
set Of psalm-singing New England fa-
natics. He has limited that there is an
association of good and true men who
are determined to bring about different
state of affairs, and Thomas Hickey has
joined the association.
A few days after joining it, Thomas
finds himself in jail for passing counter
felt money, and it is not difficult to see
how he came in possession of it. Down
at the Sergeant-at.Arms the associates
hold meeting, and one of their num-
Der, Thomas Clayford, brings forward a
plan to abduct Washington. The head
quarters of the commander-in-chiefa are
near North River. The guards have
been tampered with. If body of res
olute men were to land some dark night
and make bold push, Washington
might be seized, hurried to the boat, and
take to the Duchess of Gordon.
The guards are disafected. Several
of them have been seen" The project
can be accomplished 1t is discussed,
but is regarded as hazardous. Before
anything is positively decided upon,
Thomas Hickey is arrested for passing
counterfeit money. The arrest discon-
certs the conspirators, and the project
for the time is abandoned.
The waiter Of the Sergeant-at-Arms
has heard and seen so much that is mys.
terlous, that he is convinced that some
important movement is being made, and
confides his suspicious to Mr.. Joseph
Smith on the 10th of June. Mr.. Smith
hastens to the committee of the Provin-
cial Congress, and the committee dis
patch a captain and squad of soldiers to
the house of the gunsmith, arresting
him, and finding on his person letters
and papers of startling nature.
And now came Jacobus Lawrence
from Hampstead with his suspicious.
The revelations were astounding. 1t was
soon discovered that there was an asso-
citation with nearly one hundred men,
bers that upon the appearance Of Gen.
Howe, there was to be a general upris-
ing of the tories and the seizure of prom
inent Americans. The Mayor was ar
rested, tried, and condemned to be exc
cuted. More than eight hundred arrests
were made, and the jails Of New York
and Connecticut were filled with the
consplratOfs.
Gen. Howe appeared. The tories of
Poughkeepsie and Albany few. to arms,
but were quickly subdued. So far as is
known, Thomas Hickey was the only
one of the conspirators who was execut-
ed, though several were condemned
The stirring military events that followed
put an end to the examinations and exc
cutions.
But for the arrest of Hickey, which
disconnected the conspirators; but for
the discovery by the Sergeant.at- Arms !;
but for the Providence that guided
events, the current of history, in all
probability, would have been changed
by the plans of the conspirators-to
seize Washington, have him sent to En-
gland to be executed for high treason
But Divine hand guided the course of
events, and American history is as it is.
&C c. Coffin, IN Congregationalist.
SMALL BLESSINGS. one (says a
writer should give me dish of sand,