Home / Bolton, Robert Jr. A History of the County of Westchester, from its First Settlement to the Present Time, Vol. I. New York: Alexander S. Gould, 1848. / Passage

A History of the County of Westchester, Vol. I

Bolton, Robert Jr. A History of the County of Westchester, from its First Settlement to the Present Time, Vol. I. New York: Alexander S. Gould, 1848. 287 words

Then he said '1 am a British officer out of the country on particular business, and I hope you will not detain me a minute;' and to show that he was a British officer he pulled out his watch, upon v/liich 1 told him to dismount. He then said, ' My God ! I must do any thing to get along,' and seemed to make a kind of laugh of it; and pulled out Gjueral Arnold's pass, which was to John Anderson to pass all the guards to Whiteplains and below ; upon that he dismounted. Said he, ' Gentlemen, you had best let

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me go, or you will bring yourselves into trouble, for yonr slopping me will detain the General's business, and said he was going to Dobb's Ferry to meet a person there, and get intelligence for General Arnold.'

" Upon that 1 told him I hoped he would not be offended, that we did not mean to take any thing from him. And 1 told him there were many bad people who were going along the road, and I did not know tut perhaps he might be one."' Mr. Paulding said further that he asked the unknown gentleman his name and he answered " John Anderson." That on seeing General Arnold's pass he should have let him go, if he had not previously said he was a British officer ; (there was yet another circumstance which tended greatly to increase their suspicions, viz. that his pass was for White Plains and not the Tarrytown road ;) and that when fie pulled out his watch, he understood it as a confirmation of that assertion, and not as offering it to him.