Evening star., 1931-02-22

him messages for Townsend and receiving from
him messages he had been given by Townsend.
BY this means Tallmadge able to get dis
patches from Townsend TO Washington's head
quarters at White Plains in IL hours, not bad
speed, even if it had been peace time.
BY far the most inter- sting part of Mr.. Pen
nypacker's discoveries deal with the way in
which Townsend's path crossed the path of Maj
Andre, the famous British spy who was executed
when he fell into the hands of American SOL
ciers while carrying on the negotiations between
the British authorities and Benedict Arnold
The two most famous spies of the Revolution
were Nathan Hale, the American and Maj.
Andre, the Engishman. Townsend, strangely
enough, has place in the story of each. He
was Hale's successor in New York; and Mr..
Pennypacker's evidence makes it seem probable
that Townsend helped to uncover the work of
Andre. To tell the story of his connection with
Andre, it is necessary to detail some of his fam
ily's history.
Townsend's father Samuel Townsend, a
well-to-do merchant living in a house known as
Raynham Hail. at Oyster Bay. Townsend, sr,
was patriotic in his sympathies, but seems not
to have been bothered by the British-probably
as Mr.. Pennypacker points out, because there
was another Samuel Townsend in Oyster Bay
who was pronounced tory, and whose identity
got mixed with his.
Oddly, this tory Samuel Townsend renounced
his toryism and joined the American Army,
captured by the British and was severely
punished; and the confusion of identity seems
to have persisted, as the father of the spy ap-
parently inherited the formerly good reputation
of the tory Townsend and to the close of the
treated with consideration by the
British. British officers quartered in
Raynham Hall, and they all professed respect
for the old merchant
Young Robert Townsend, the spy, had three
sisters Sarah Phebe and Audrey and one
gathers that they were attractive young women.
At any rate, they to have been highly
popular with the British officers who frequented
Raynham Hall. and enjoyed the friendship of
Maj Andre, who often visited in their home.
And it was Sarah who to play a part in
Andres urdOing.
Sarah knew that her brother Robert was act
ing as a spy for Washington; and she frequently
gave him valuable information that she had
picked up by overhearing conversations of the
British officers in Raynham Hall. 1t was in the
Spring of 1880, just when the British negotia-
tions with Benedict Arnold were under way,
that she was to help her brother foil this trea-
sonable plot.
A certain stranger in the neighborhood one
day entered Raynham Hall and in furtive
manner had carefully concealed letter in a
cupboard.
Sarah Townsend saw him do it, and after he
left she went and looked at the letter 1t
seemed to be only a business letter, addressed
to one James Anderson, but the way in which
it had been put in the cupboard aroused her
curiosity and she determined to keep an eye
on it.
MOT long after, Maj. Andre came in. He
began idly to search the cupboards, and
when he came upon the letter hurredly hid
it in his pocket, after which he picked up
dish of doughnuts that had just been taken
off the stove-ths cupboard, by the way,
in the kitchen-as an excuse for entering the
room, and strolled out.
A little after that Maj. Andre closeted
with Col. Simcoe, British officer, in another
room in the Townsends home. Sarah, thor
oughly suspicious by now, listened at the door.
She heard them mention the words West
Point" several times and although she had
no notion what it was all about, she felt that