Traitors and Trials: Of André, Arnold and Penn Student
Revolutionary images showing crowd scenes are rare. This cartoon of a Philadelphia parade marks a crucial episode in September 1780, when Benedict Arnold was hanged in effigy after he was revealed as a British spy. The two-faced Arnold is on a cart as the devil behind him tempts him with money. The sign lists Arnold’s accomplices Joshua Smith and Major John André, the British officer who was captured, and who, after revealing the plot, was hanged.
The print suggests the role people of different ages and social classes could play. In addition to a gentleman on horseback leading the parade, figures of lower social rank surround the cart.[2] Also in the image are figures who may be adolescents, and it is tempting to imagine students taking part in this demonstration.
The scandal struck uncomfortably close to the institution. College graduate Francis W. Murray audaciously spoke sympathetically of André during his 1781 commencement address, leading Provost Ewing to withhold his diploma. Margaret “Peggy” Shippen, daughter of Penn Trustee Edward Shippen and cousin to William Shippen, Jr., MD, became infamous because of her marriage to Arnold. Arnold's son Benedict, Jr., attended the Academy of the College of Philadelphia in 1778-79, when Arnold was living in Philadelphia.[3]
Murray defended himself in the newpapers and printed the full text of the speech. Several later was granted his degree after apologizing to the Trustees and went on to a career in the law in addition to marrying Timothy Matlack's daughter.[4]
The image was reprinted, with explanatory text, in the nineteenth century, and a copy is also in the Hazard scrapbook: “A Representation of Figures exhibited and paraded through the Streets of Philadelphia, on Saturday, the 30th of September 1780.” Facsimile, attributed to E. Rogers, ca. 1855–60, after 1780 original by John Dunlap. Samuel Hazard scrapbook and ephemera, 1723–1876, Ms. Coll. 1257. ↑
Foner, Tom Paine, 55. ↑
"List of the Scholars ... from July 1778 to January 1st 1779," Tuition Money Book, July 17, 1769 t0 October 1, 1779, General Administration Records, Pre-1820, UPA3 Pre 1820, item 1560, University Archives and Records Center, Penn Libraries. ↑
Letter of William Murray, Jr., to Provost and Faculty, April 6, 1786, General Administration Records Pre-1820, UPA3 Pre 1820, item 722, University Archives & Records Center, Penn Libraries. Francis William Murray (later known as William Murray, Jr.) was the son of Scottish and later Pennsylvania merchant, William Murray, who had business ties to Moses Frank and the Gratz brothers Bernard and Michael and was involved with the land speculating Illinois Company in 1770s. F. William married Catharine Matlack in 1785 and the following year was granted an AM from the University of the State of Pennsylvania. He became a lawyer and moved to Kentucky in 1790s were he became active in politics and died in Natchez, Mississippi in 1805 (Kentucky Gazette, 3 September 1805). ↑