Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-03-06
ANDRE, ARNOLD AND AST0R.
VERSION OF THE ANDRE AFFAIR AS
PUBLISHED BY MIR. ASTOR.
Warrington, According to This Au-
thority, Was a Lfar-He Was,
Moreover, Neither nm Onicer
Nor a Gentleman.

lam Waldorf Aston, an American who pre-
fers to spend his time e~ndeavoring to edge
TITO society in England, owns. is an article
entitled 1.-The Story of Major Andre"
h intention Of the article is to prove
that Andre was not a spy but that he was
led into the American lines by Benedict Ar
mold against his will.
IS the magazine Is intended primarily
ior English consumption, this attempt to
has permitted his magazine to go beyond
the permissible limit and to descend to
what can be described only as malicious
and deliberate insults to the memory Of the
man whom Americans revere above AL
others.
In telling of Andres trial. the article
says:
Eventually a board Of fifteen officers,
who. according to the Proceedings published
by congress, were not guided by passion or
ton to meet at Tappan, and found that the
prisoner ought to be convicted as a spy
from the enemy and suffer death They
called no witnesses. Washington af:erward
declared to Clinton that Andre confessed
with the greatest candor in the course of
his examination that it was impossible for
sanction of a flag Andre never said any
thing of the kind. His own letter to Wash
ington from West Salem is proof direct Of
lIhe letter in question was written after
Andre had been captured. It does not re-
Ter to the thing which this remarkable arti-
Gle tries to prove.)
The writer continues:
The nine days and nights of anxiety and
suspense may have told SO on him as to
Tended as he was. that taken alone would
pear two constructions. Washington,
t Inc he profeSSed to agree with the
from Lafayette. and secretly proposed to
Clinton that Andre and Arnold should be
exchanged. Clinton was neither a Hannibal
nor a Wellington. but he was an officer
and a gentleman, and would not hear Of it."
Washington. OF course. other vicious fiings
1t is interesting to know that Mr.. Astor's
Columns portray Lafayette as that no.
torlety-seeking actor in the French Revo-
lution that the Revolution was ''our (En-
slands) miserable war with our American
colonies; that Westminster county was
infested nnd d., by SINNERS; cowboys. volunteers
captured Andre were thieves who seized
him only to rob him, and that Washington
ordered Andre to be hanged out Of ~
venge for the hanging of Hale.
He are a few extracts:
"Tallmadge and his prisoner struck up
river he told Andre to expect the worst.
Washington harbored ill-feeling against
Clinton for the hanging of a certain Cap:
very truly. that the circumstances were
quite different. Washington had induced
Hale to penetrate in disguise the English
erately; Andre wa entrapped by the com
manding officer. Hale disguised himself
deliberately; Andre again, by order Of the
scant justice the poor man obtained.
Three young men-John Paulding, Da-
via M w .SdT,,n and Isaac Van WartIwers
twice in an English prison of war and had
escaped four days before. 1t would seem
that nat OUT during this second Incarceration his
ragged refugee uniform (whatever that
means) substituted. Andre came to a mar
row part OF the bride path; and there were
these three sitting on the ground. beguiling
their leisure time by playing at cards. It
was a sudden bend. and the encounter was
s spnanly up pa asd saaid,n by sei hal; his Mhe pein ahf lie
ought at once to have produced his pass
port, but Paulding's ragged. coat misled
He jumped to the Conclusion that he was
among English adherents. He asked them
TO where do o belong?' In order to
them Answered hs@ d ne sro Uf belo "a f %ye!mi. CO. one New Sf
York. He answered in his turn: so do L.
Release me and allow me to proceed. / am
a prize. they dragged him from his horse
into a neighboring bush SO as to plumber
him without disturbance. Andre showed
George Anderson -. to 60 to the lines
of White Plains. or lower if he thought
proper. he being on public business, 1t
that if they did not at once release him
they would have to take the consequences
They only laughed.
ION the lookout for the common practice
of concealed purses. they striped him of
his boots. and so made a find that altered
the complexion of matters altogether. EST.
Washington had laid before a council of
war three weeks previously, and other par
ticulars. all afterward identified as being
in Arnold's handwriting. repaid them for
their plans instead of prospective hidden
moneys. Andre. in desperation, offered his
purse, his watch. and then their own sum
-ytt fuyn urhflo tho fhSfN
went to and returned from New York. II
was useless to offer brides. They thought
they had a prisoner of war and were deal
to all offers. fNay were going to take him
to Colonel jameson. who was In command
of 800 militia, and the nearest officer In au'
thority. Whatever their motives, they were
wise in rejecting brides, as they eventually
received pensions and u~nbounded praise.
"In spite of his high command; he (Ar
nold) seems to have considered himself
W viihht his SUPERIOR snp ass officer. Washington. whe
had neither suffered nor bled so much fol
the colonies" 49,
shocked and startled. He had asked Wash
ington that he might be shot. but mad re
ceived no answer
possibly through oversight. no direct slur
great pains rave been taken to avoid tell
i aesD, the W%a 9Thhn; h and other ier American nreMs Of
ficers felt for Andre and what kindnesse
were done to him. as far as duty woul'
| permit. 1t Is true tnat washington Nat
sent no reply to Andres last request tina
he be shot instead of hanged. but that wa
only because he had already caused Andr
to be ni info wns H. g cbnise ana sorr0"iui'
OF course the point Of interest in tn
matter, says the New York Press. Is tn
fact that Mr.. Astor has permitted his pub
LEGATION to throw mud at one of the fines
figures in history. The ofrense is made
perhaps, more gross by the fact that tn
man who wrote the article is not only a
obscure person. but one who makes sue
reckless Measurements Throughout hi
treatment of the subject that it Is hard I
understand why the thing was printed a
all. Absolutely no shred of new evidenc
is presented. The writer does not eve
pretend that he has new evidence. Fact
Of history are SO carefully ignored an
the article. from a literary point Of view
is so illogical. stupid and faulty that