BF returned to Philadelphia in the early 1760's. He was nearly 60 years old, and believed he was probably retiring soon. He built his own home, something he had never had, for Deborah, his wife, and their children and returned to the assembly. The battle between him and the rulers of Pennsylvania, the Penn family, only grew more vicious. The pamphlets written were vicious, calling each bastard, and their wives' whores was the dirtiest I had ever seen. Of course, business was business, and the more they wrote pamphlets, the more money I made.
During my time back home from London, I watched over the printing business. However, that wasn't the interesting part of my life. Red had become essential to Dr. Wilson, and they had many of the prominent women of Philadelphia now depending on them for their womanly needs. Dr. Wilson quietly performed many abortions for wealthy socialites who were unwilling to continue to have nine or ten children because they couldn't keep their husbands off them during their risky times of the month. This endeared them to these women, and the price they were willing to pay enabled Red and Dr. Wilson to assist the poorer women that were being raped or forced by the wealthy to satisfy their various sexual appetites for money. This led to a couple of interesting situations.
Red came home one afternoon with a story. She was excited. "Abner, you will never guess who I saw today."
"So why would I play guessing games when you want to tell me?"
"You're right, but you are no fun. Angela came to see me. She has a very good friend that is in desperate trouble, and she needs us to help her."
"And what is the problem?"
"The friend is the wife of John Penn, the governor of Pennsylvania."
"Oh boy. I'll bet BF would love to know this."
"You can't tell him. I told Angela we would come privately and meet them." We went the next evening to a quiet house not associated with either side. Angela was there with Mary Rose Penn.
Angela started. "Thanks for meeting us. I don't want Mary Rose to get caught in the nasty political mess by this. You must help her. Mary Rose, please tell Abner and Betsy your problem."
"My daughter, Elizabeth, is in love with the son of the present head of the assembly. However, my husband, wants her to marry his adjacent, Robert Woods. Robert Woods is a horrible person. He is widowed, and the story about his first wife is he beat her to death because she angered him. John covered it up, and no one knew. There is no way I will allow my daughter to marry this bastard. I just don't know how to stop it." She began crying. Red and Angela tried to console her while I thought about the problem. The simplest way would be to discredit him, but in this climate of name calling and mudslinging, even the murder of your wife might not garner the pressure you would need.
The best solution would be to have Woods decide he didn't want to marry her. He is more interested in the political power associated with the governor than the girl. It would have to be something so horrible he would forgo the prestige of the union.
"As I see it." I began after Mary Rose had settled down. "The best course of action would be for Woods to decide he didn't want to marry her. In fact, he refuses to marry her. We just must find a reason strong enough for him to withdraw." The ladies nodded. We bounced around various reasons, but there was only one that would be almost certain to succeed. However, it came with a serious price.