went to sea. This was the Lord Sheffield, which came over the falls of the St. Jolyi in June, 1786. The cost of her construction had proved too large for the purse of her builder, who found himself unable to pur chase her rigging and outfit, and Arnold en tered into a contract to supply them. All the local annalists and raconteurs, so far as I have been able to learn, favor the statement that the transaction by which the ship be came the property of Arnold constituted a fraud. This person, however, maintained his business and social standing in the prov ince. It is known that he subsequently owned or chartered one or more other vessels sailing from that port in the West India trade. Previous to 1787, St. John had suffered severely from fires, and in that year the citi zens undertook to raise a sufficient sum to procure two fire engines, and to sink a num ber of wells; the name of Arnold appears on the subscription paper for ten pounds. Arnold's warehouse and its contents were insured in England for a large amount. In July, 1788, this warehouse was burned in the night. It was freely said about the streets that the insurance was larger than the value of the property, while some asserted that the fire was not accidental. In consequence of such reports the Lon don underwriters refused to pay over the in surance money. Arnold brought suit for •its recovery, and showed that he was himself in England at the time of the fire, and that, while two of his sons slept in the building, one was not only in great danger, but was somewhat burned. The court ordered the company to pay the full amount. At about the same time Arnold brought
suit in St. John for slander, singling out as his victim a man who had the means to pay large damages. The defendant was Monson Hoyt, a loyalist refugee, but not a traitor. This gentleman previously had been a part ner with Arnold in some enterprise; he might, therefore, be supposed to know the business methods of that peculiar person. The jury brought in a verdict of guilty, and then jocosely fixed the damages at two shil lings and sixpence. While Arnold was in business at this place his vessel sometimes loaded with timber at Campobello, the large island in near view in the bay eastward of Eastport, the owner meanwhile making his headquarters at Snug Harbor. It was probably in connection with, this business that Arnold had the dealings with Colonel Allan, that are recorded in the old account book. It appears to be a fact that Arnold came very near an ignominious death in this region at the hands, too, of a staunch loyalist from New York, Captain Alpheus Pine. He once sold to Arnold a quantity of wood, but as it was not paid for and taken away as agreed, Pine sold it to another party. Just as the last purchaser began hauling the wood away, Arnold appeared, and a quarrel ensued. In the affray. Captain Pine caught a stick from the wood pile, and in a moment more would have brought it down upon the traitor's head, had not a bystander, by a quick movement, prevented the blow. "Rut for this," Pine used to say. "I would not have left a whole bone in his skin." Arnold returned to England with his fami ly, in 1791, and lived in London until his death in 1801.
