456 HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER. 



tents amazed him when it was given him to read; but neither he, 

 nor King, Eronson, and the other officers at the post, could remain un- 

 moved by the refinement and amiability of their guest. His other arts 

 came in aid of his conversational powers, and with ready hand and easy 

 light-heartedness of manner, he sketched his own progress under the 

 rude escort of militia, to their quarters. ' This,' said he to Bronson, 

 ' will give you an idea of the style in which I have had the honor to be 

 conducted to my present abode.' With such pleasantries he passed 

 away the morning unconcernedly, as though he were in no danger 

 whatever."* 



A correspondent of the New York Times (signing himself N. O.,) 

 some years since, relates many of the foregoing particulars in a conver- 

 sation which he once had with the late General Joshua King of Ridge- 

 field, Conn., (the father of Rufus H. King, a well known merchant of 

 Albany, and also of Joshua Ingersoll King, Esq., who now occupies the 

 family mansion at Ridgefield,) and adds that " Andre eagerly inquired 

 whether Arnold had made his escape, seeming more solicitous for his 

 (Arnold's) safety than his own. They arrived, the same day, at head- 

 quarters. Andre, was, of course, closely confined, and he (King) was 

 constantly with him, as a guard, till his execution. He walked with 

 him to the gallows, and when he first saw the fatal gibbet he gave a 

 sudden start, and said " he was reconciled to death, but not to the 

 mode," and added, " it would be but a momentary pang." On arriving 

 at the spot he mounted the cart, and in doing so, soiled his white dimi- 

 ties, which he quickly wiped off with his pocket handkerchief, adjusted 

 the rope to his neck with his own hands, and in a few minutes the brave 

 and accomplished Andre had paid the penalty of his unsuccessful es- 

 pionage." 



The Hon. John Jay, of Bedford, made every effort to preserve this 

 interesting relic of the Revolutionary history ; and for this purpose pur- 

 chased the old quarters of Major Andre and a piece of land surrounding 

 it, and tendered a deed thereof to the New York Historical Society, 

 provided they would maintain and defray all necessary repairs and ex- 

 penses for the future. His praiseworthy act was not sustained, which 

 led to the property being resold, and finally to the tearing down of the 

 old house itself — a piece of vandalism unworthy of our enlightened age 

 and country. When we visited it in 1846, the ravages of time had then 

 made but little progress upon it ; the small room in which Andre was 

 confined, the second night after his arrest, was still perfect with its single 

 door and solitary window looking out upon the highway. On a stone 

 of the old house was rudely cut the initials of its former owner and date 



a Life of Major Andre by Winthrop Sargent. 



