Being an Authentic Account of the Numerous Arrests, Remarkable Doings and Wonderful Escapes of the Most Noted Road Agent who ever Pestered the Authorities of New Brunswick...

The “Mysterious Stranger” Arrives at Windsor, N. S.—Obtains Employment, Professes Religion and Marries—Suspected of Theft he Leaves Nova Scotia, Comes to St. John, Returns to Nova Scotia and is Arrested there by the New Brunswick Authorities and Lodged in Kingston Jail. Henry More Smith, the noted individual who forms the subject of this narrative, made his first appearance among us in the year 1812. Previous to this, we have no information concerning him. Some time in the month of July, in that

Examination Before Justice Pickett and Ketchum and Commitment for Trial —Would not Join the 112th Regiment to Secure Freedom—Before the Trial Smith was Attacked by a Strange Disease which Baffled Physicians—Supposed to be Dying He Escapes from the Gaol. The prisoner had rode all day in the rain, and having had no opportunity of changing his clothes, which by this time had become very wet, it was thought necessary, lest he should sustain injury, to put him into the debtors’ room, handcuffed, wher

Pursued by Officers of the Law His Whereabouts are Frequently Discovered but he Eludes his Pursuers—Commits a Number of Thefts—Taken Before a Magistrate he makes Satisfactory Explanation—He Goes on his Way—The Court Convenes at Kingston Before he is Apprehended. But before we pursue his history in his succeeding adventures, it may be necessary, for those who are unacquainted with the local situation of the gaol, from which the prisoner made his escape, to give a short description of it. Kingston

Smith’s Wanderings Through the Province—Leaves a Trail of Larcenies—Arrested and Brought Before the Court at Fredericton He Admits Escaping from Kingston Gaol and is Sent Back by Judge Saunders—Escapes on the Way—Burglarizes the Home of the Attorney General and is Re-arrested, and After a Month of Liberty is Again Placed in Kingston Gaol. Nothing was heard of our adventurer till after the return of Mr. Knox with his party from a fruitless search of ten days in the Province of Nova Scotia, and as

Chained to the Floor of His Dungeon He Contrived to Cut the Chain and Had also Sawn the Bars of the Grated Window—Makes a Second Attempt at Escape—Breaks Chains, Padlocks and Handcuffs and an Iron Collar About His Neck—Tries Suicide by Hanging. Having by this time, from painful experience become a little acquainted with the depth of his genius, we thought it not impossible nor unlikely, that he might still have the saw concealed about his person, although Mr. Berton, the sheriff of York County,

Second Trial Ordered—Smith Continues to Break Chains and Relieved Himself of Fetters Rivetted on by a Blacksmith—Reads Bible and Makes Straw Figures—Feigns Insanity when Placed on Trial—Refused to Plead—Found Guilty and Sentenced to Death. The term of the Court of Common Pleas was now coming on, which required much of my attention for the necessary preparations; and Mr. Dibble, the jailer, being about to remove to Sussex Vale, to take charge of the Academy there, my situation began to look rathe

After Sentence Smith Assumes Indifference to His Fate—Breaks Fastenings Again—His Marionette Family Described by Sheriff Bates—Tells Something of His Past History—His Case Considered by Supreme Court at Fredericton. The business being ended, the prisoner was returned to his cell where he received his chains with willingness and apparent satisfaction; and the court adjourned without delay. The Attorney General, however, gave me to understand that the prisoner would not be executed immediately; an

Smith Becomes a Fortune Teller and Startles the Gaoler—Foretells His Own Release—Pardoned by the Court he Refuses to Leave the Gaol which He Sets on Fire in a Mysterious Way—Finally Shipped on a Schooner to Nova Scotia with his Marionettes. The next morning, when the gaoler went in to see him, Smith said he had been fishing, and had caught a large fish. The gaoler, on looking, perceived the chain which Smith had formerly worn about his neck, and had been missing a long time, but never could find

Did Not Go to His Wife in Nova Scotia but Made a Tour Committing Various Depredations—Is Seen in Portland, Maine—Is Heard of at Boston and New York and Then at New Haven Where He Robbed a Hotel—Arrest and Escape, Recapture and Conviction. After having made his appearance in different parts of Nova Scotia, he called at a certain house one morning, on a bye-road, and ordered breakfast, and asked for a towel also, and a piece of soap that he might wash at a small brook that was near the house. The

Seen in the Connecticut Prison by Sheriff Bates He Denies That He is Henry More Smith—After His Release from Prison He Robbed a Passenger in the Boston Coach—Visits Upper Canada as a Smuggler—Turns up as a Preacher in the Southern States—Is Arrested in Maryland for Theft—Possibly Finished His Career in Toronto. After I arrived in New Haven, where I was put in possession of these particulars concerning him, no person was known in the United States who could identify him to be the noted Henry More