Pennsylvania Gazette 1780
Evil Major Andre and Mad Arnold
By Harrison
Benedict Arnold has gone mad! He is selling secret American plans of West Point to the British spy, Major John Andre! He used to be an important American officer, but he has become a traitor to the American army. Joshua Hett Smith, a loyalist, agreed to vacate his family from his house so Andre and Arnold could meet in private. So when Andre went out to take the plans back to the British, some American militiamen wanted to check him and in his boots they found the coded plans to West Point. The code was written in numbers not letters. So Joshua Hett Smith and Major John Andre were put on trial. Andre was held prisoner in the 1776 House in Tappan. The trial was held in the Old Dutch Church in 1780. Smith was found innocent but Andre was sentenced to death as a spy. Andre was hung on October 2, 1780. So we are very lucky that Major John Andre did not make it or the British could have attacked the fort at West Point. They could have won the war! Oh, you ask about Benedict Arnold! He escaped but it remains a mystery until we find him. That is if we find him. So that just shows you that you can't trust anybody not even your own famous American officers!!!