Note 986 — Chapter V · (continued 3)

These aides were Colonel Richard Varick and Major David S. Franks. Henry P. Johnston, in a paper, "Colonel Varick and Arnold's Treason", printed in the Mag. of Amer. Hist., Nov., 1882 (viii. p. 717), has thrown some new light, from papers of Colonel Varick, on the life at Robinson's house previous to the flight of Arnold, and on the evidence, both of Varick, Franks, and Dr. Eustis, brought out before a board of inquiry, Nov. 2, which acquitted these officers of any complicity in the plot. On the night when Smith had been dragged from his bed and put in confinement, Arnold's aides had been put under arrest. This paper also shows, from a deposition of General Knox, that Varick had found in one of Arnold's trunks, after his desertion, some plans and profiles of the West Point works.