Several publicans of the city were pointed out, as having aided or abetted the plot. One was landlord of the Highlander, at the corner of Beaver Street and Broadway. Another dispensed liquor under the sign of Robin Hood. Another named Lowry, described as a “fat man in a blue coat,” kept tavern in a low house opposite the Oswego market. Another, James Houlding, kept a beer house in Tryon Row, opposite the gates of the upper barracks. It would seem as if a network of corruption and treachery had been woven throughout the city by means of these liquor dealers. One of the most noted, however, was Corbie, whose tavern was said to be “to the south-east of General Washington’s house, to the westward of Bayard’s Woods, and north of Lispenard’s Meadows,” from which it would appear that, at that time, the general was quartered at what was formerly called Richmond Hill; a mansion surrounded by trees, at a short distance from the city, in rather an isolated situation. A committee of the New York Congress, of which John Jay was chairman, traced the plot up to Governor Tryon, who, from his safe retreat on shipboard, acted through agents on shore. The most important of these was David Matthews, the tory mayor of the city. He was accused of disbursing money to enlist men, purchase arms, and corrupt the soldiery. Washington was authorized and requested by the committee, to cause the mayor to be apprehended, and all his papers secured. Matthews was at that time residing at Flatbush on Long Island, at no great distance from General Greene’s encampment. Washington transmitted the warrant of the committee to the general on the 21st, with directions that it should “be executed with precision, and exactly by one o’clock of the ensuing morning, by a careful officer.” Precisely at the hour of one, a detachment from Greene’s brigade surrounded the house of the mayor, and secured his person; but no papers were found, though diligent search was made. Numerous other arrests took place, and among the number, some of Washington’s body-guard. A great dismay fell upon the tories. Some of those on Long Island who had proceeded to arm themselves, finding the plot discovered, sought refuge in woods and morasses. Washington directed that those arrested, who belonged to the army, should be tried by a court-martial, and the rest handed over to the secular power. According to statements made before the committee, five guineas bounty was offered by Governor Tryon to each man who should enter the king’s service; with a promise of two hundred acres of land for himself, one hundred for his wife, and fifty for each child. The men thus recruited were to act on shore, in co-operation with the king’s troops when they came.