The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1933-10-19

might not nave STRUCK out those
words lis yet heartily welcome" for according
to some historians this fine Baby" was des-
tined to prove herself. In the judges strangely
prophetic, words. 'of the worst Sex" indeed and
1t is not unlikely that there came times when
the Judge wished she had never been born
For this baby, who was given her mothers
name OF Margaret. to become one of the
most giamorous figures In American history, was
to be belle OF colonial days. the toast OF both
British and Continental officers during the Revo-
luton, the young wife OF distinguished AmerI-
can general and a participant In the chain of
events which was to blacken his name with In
fanny among his conntrymen for all time and to
besmirch her name as WELL
Was Peggy Shipper Arnold an innocent victim
of the treason of her husband. Benedict Arnold
or was she the arch-conspirator who used her
wiles to lead him into the mire OF that unforgiv-
able crime7 Did she really love him for himself
and prove her devotion to him by voluntarily
sharing his disgrace and exile from his native
land or did she marry him while she was In love
with another man and because of her infatuation
aid that other man In carrying forward the plot
which was to ruin the man whose name she bore2
Those are the questions that have been brought
up by research into documents OF the Revolu-
tionary war period which have recently become
available to the historians and 1t seems impos-
sibe to give conclusive answers because the his
torians themselves do not agree. The traditional
view OF Peggy Shipper Arnold Is that she was
an innocent victim.
A recent biographer OF Arnold, Charles Cole
man Sellers, In his Benedict Arnold, the Proud
Warrior" declares: Il know Of no evidence suf-
ficient to implicate Peggy Shipper Arnold In the
Arnold treason plot. do not attach any impor-
lance to her correspondence with Major Andre,
for she writing to other British friends also.
Her letters to Andre seem harmless. 1t Is true
she was under suspicion after the plot was ex-
posed and had to leave Philadelphia. think 1t
is rather far-fetched though, to her Of be-
Ing traitor"
Just as positive on the other side Is e. Irvine
Halnes author of two articles on this subject in
the New York Times Magazine last year. He
says "A careful study of evidence heretofore
known or overlooked leads to the conviction that
she not only guilty but even more than her
husband one OF the archconsplrators. Recent
discoveries In the private correspondence OF Sir
Henry Clinton In an almost unknown diary OF
Aaron Burr. and In Peggy's own letters, some Of
them addressed In code to Major Andre himself
furnish testimony too damnng for Peggy to con-
trovert were she alive and on trial.
"If we re-read the story of the Revolutions
greatest personal tragedy in the light of what
we know now. 1t becomes drama of ambitious
feminnity unique In American annals. 1t was
not the game-legged. hot-tempered, disgruntled
hero of Quebec and Saratoga who was the real
mover In the plot the Continental side, but
the ambitious Tory girl. the spy and tool OF Clin-
ton who schemed so ceverly that she deceived
such astute politicians as John Hancock, John
Adams Alexander Hamilton and even Washing
ton himself. 1t was Clinton acting on the sug-
gestion Of Lord George German, the British
colonial secretary, who conceived the conspir-
acy, but 1t was Peggy Shipper, with a skill and
effrontery amazing In one SO young, who carried
1t out"
more moderate view-one which takes a
somewhat middle ground between these two ex-
tremes-is that OF Randolph G. Adams, custodian
of the william L. Clements library of American
History ut the University of Michigan, which nc
oured the military papers Of Sir Henry Clinton
few years ago From these papers Mr.. Adams
has pieced together the inside story" OF Ar
nold's treason and he says: Historians have
usually acquitted Peggy Shipper OF any com
plicity In her husbands treason, but the Clinton
papers give many Indications Of another story.
1t Is difficult now to avoid the conclusion that
Mrs Arnold certainly handled some Of the secret
dispatches and that the same spies who carried
the dispatches were also used to carry personal
messages to Andre and the other British officers
she had known In Philadelphia"
In telling the story OF the tragedy OF Peggy
Shipper Arnold only has available few
"a very few, albeit-known facts over which
there can be no dispute and larger number OF
other facts whlth are capable OF different Inter
pretations depending upon the writer's point Of
view towards the different actors In the drama