THE TOWN OF GREENBURGH. 307 



nearly thirty miles from north to south, and embracing Westchester 

 county, was populous and highly cultivated. A person living within 

 that space, who took the oath of fidelity, was sure to be plundered by 

 the Cow-boys; and if he did not take it, the Skinners would come down 

 upon him, call him a tory, and seize his property as confiscated by the 

 State. Thus the execution of the laws was assumed by robbers, and 

 the innocent and guilty were involved in a common ruin. 



"It is true the civil authority endeavored to guard against these out- 

 rages, so far as it could, by legislative enactments and executive procla- 

 mations; but, from the nature of the case, this formidable conspiracy 

 against the rights and claims of humanity could be crushed only by a 

 military arm. The detachments of Continental troops and militia, 

 stationed near the lines, did something to lessen the evil, yet they were 

 not adequate to- its suppression, and frequently this force was so feeble 

 as not to afford any barrier to the inroads of the banditti. 



" The Ski?iners and Cow-boys often leagued together. The former 

 would sell their plunder to the latter, taking in exchange contraband 

 articles brought from New York. It was not uncommon for the farce 

 of a skirmish to be acted near the American lines, in which the Skin- 

 ners never failed to come off victorious; and then they would go boldly 

 to the interior with their booty, pretending it had been captured from 

 the enemy while attempting to smuggle it across the lines. 



" Such was the social condition of that part of the country through 

 which Andre was now to pass alone, for nearly thirty miles, before he 

 could be perfectly secure from danger ; for, although every step dimin- 

 ished the chances of untoward accidents, yet there was no absolute 

 safety till he was beyond the limits of this ill-fated neutral ground."* 



"But Andre had the American general's pass to produce to the one, 

 and his true character to protect him from the other. Still he could 

 not but feel that his situation was one of peril. The remarks he had 

 heard from the captain of the patrol on the preceding night, seems to 

 have induced the adjutant-general to take the Tarrytown road, as the 

 one most frequented by the Cow-boys ; for it was understood by Smith 

 that he would proceed toward White Plains. Upon what apparently 

 chance circumstances the fate of individuals, and armies, and States, ap- 

 pears to depend ! Had this bearer of ruin to thousands proceeded on the 

 road at first intended, he probably would have accomplished the treason 

 in safety to himself; but a few words uttered at random by the American 

 officer, to Smith, respecting the danger of the road nearest the Hudson, 



a Sparks' Life of Arnold, 218, 19, 20, 21. 



