Word reached Franklin in Paris that General Howe had captured Philadelphia. He would not find this out for a while but there was also news which would be bitter
fruit for Franklin. A British captain named John André commandeered his Market Street house and supposedly at the orders of a
staid superior stole many of Franklin's prizes possessions like his electrical equipment, books
authored by hundreds of writers, musical instruments and a 1759 beloved painting of Franklin by Benjamin Wilson which would not return to America until 1906 from the descendants of André's superior. You can now often find this portrait of Ben Franklin
crouching in the White House. (John André would later play a big part in the treason of Benedict Arnold for which the colonialists would hang him.)
https://www.cia.gov/library/center-f...3a07p_0001.htm