to his berth,
HENRY MORE SMITH
The Mysterious Stranger
By WALTER BATES, Esquire
Sheriff of Kings County
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
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PRINTED AT THE STRATHMORE PRESS SAINT JOHN, N. B., FOR JOHN A. BOWES
PUBLISHER, NINETEEN HUNDRED AND TEN
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
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 Gaol. 9
CHAPTER II.
Examination Before Justices 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. 18
CHAPTER III.
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 38
CHAPTER IV.
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 48
CHAPTER V.
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. 61
CHAPTER VI.
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 79
CHAPTER VII.
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 94
CHAPTER VIII.
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. 110
CHAPTER IX.
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. 127
CHAPTER X.
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 a Preacher in the Southern States—Is Arrested
in Maryland for Theft—Possibly Finished His Career in Toronto 144
BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION
Sometime in the month of July, 1812, nearly a hundred years ago now, a
well dressed, smooth spoken man, less than thirty years of age, made his
appearance at Windsor, Nova Scotia. He was looking for employment, but
gave those who enquired about his antecedents but little satisfaction,
further than he had recently come from England, and could do almost
anything in a mechanical way, and was familiar also with farm work. He
was engaged under the name of Frederick Henry More by a farmer named
Bond, who resided in the village of Rawden, and remained there about a
year without attracting unusual attention, except for his piety.
Elizabeth, the daughter of his employer, became enamored with the
stranger More and on March 12, 1813, they were married, much against the
will of her parents and friends.
After his marriage More took up the occupations of pedlar and tailor,
which gave him an opportunity to travel about the country and to make
frequent excursions to Halifax, where he appears first to have turned
his remarkable talent as a thief and burglar to profitable account for
upwards of a year before he was detected. He escaped the clutches of the
law in Nova Scotia and reached St. John in July, 1814. Less fortunate in
his operations in New Brunswick than he had been in Nova Scotia, he was
arrested and lodged in Kingston gaol on July 24, 1814 on a charge of
horse stealing, which in those days was punishable by death. Here he
gave the name of Henry More Smith. Walter Bates was then Sheriff of
Kings county, and it is to him that the public is indebted for the story
of this many-sided man, who was beyond all question the most remarkable
person ever confined in a New Brunswick prison.
Before he could be placed on trial Smith effected his escape by an
assumed illness, which deceived even the doctor in attendance. Supposed
to be dying, he was left alone for a short while, jumped from his
supposed death bed and ran from the prison, eluding his captors for
nearly two months before he was again landed in prison. On his return to
gaol he broke the chains, with which he was secured, removed an iron
collar which had been rivetted about his neck and while loaded with
chains almost escaped by sawing the iron gratings on the windows of his
cell. All these performances are vouched for by Sheriff Bates and Gaoler
Dibble, in whose custody he was, and attested by many of the most
prominent residents of Kingston a century ago.
The marionettes he made while feigning insanity, after he had been
sentenced to death, were the wonder of hundreds who not only saw them,
but were present in his cell when he made them perform. It was not so
much the puppet show, which caused astonishment, as that the puppets
could be made by a man whose only materials at hand were the straw in
his bed and strips torn from his clothing; all made while he was
handcuffed and chained to the floor of his cell by heavy ox-chains.
Although convicted and sentenced to death Smith was pardoned and
escorted to St. John by Sheriff Bates and placed on a schooner bound for
Windsor, his former home. This was on August 30, 1815, more than a year
after his arrest. Although he was within a few miles of the residence of
his wife it does not appear that he even visited her, but after a short
stay in Nova Scotia left the province and made his appearance in Maine.
Occasional glimpses of his life in the United States are given by
Sheriff Bates in his narrative, the most interesting of which occurred
in Connecticut, where he gave the authorities about as much trouble as
he did those of New Brunswick. During his career he was heard of at
points so widely divergent as the Southern States and Upper Canada. The
last information of him was in what is now the Province of Ontario
nearly twenty years after he had quitted Kingston, where he was still
plying his trade of theft.
The story as told in subsequent pages by Sheriff Bates is unique in
criminal annals and is worthy of careful perusal.
THE PUBLISHER.
HENRY MORE SMITH
THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER
CHAPTER I.
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 year, he appeared at Windsor, in Nova Scotia, looking
for employment, and pretended to have emigrated lately from England. On
being asked what his occupation was, he stated that he was a tailor; but
could turn his hand to any kind of mechanical business or country
employment. He was decently clothed, genteel in his appearance, and
prepossessing in his manner, and seemed to understand himself very well.
Although an entire stranger, he seemed to be acquainted with every part
of the Province, but studiously avoided to enter into close intimacy
with any person, associated with few, and carefully concealed all
knowledge of the means by which he came to this country, and also of his
origin and connections, keeping his previous life and history in entire
obscurity.
Finding no better employment he engaged in the service of Mr. Bond, a
respectable farmer in the village of Rawden, who agreed with him for a
month on trial, during which time he conducted himself with propriety
and honesty; was industrious, careful, and useful, to the entire
satisfaction of Mr. Bond, his employer, and even beyond his
expectations. He was perfectly inoffensive, gentle, and obliging; using
no intoxicating liquors, refrained from idle conversation and all
improper language, and was apparently free from every evil habit. Being
engaged for some time in working on a new road with a company of men,
whose lodging was in a camp, rather than subject himself to the pain of
their loose conversation in the camp he chose to retire to some
neighboring barn, as he pretended, to sleep in quiet, and was always
early at work in the morning; but as the sequel will discover, he was
very differently engaged.
A ready conformity to Mr. Bond’s religious principles, who was a very
religious man of the Baptist persuasion, formed an easy yet successful
means for further ingratiating himself into the favor of Mr. Bond and
his family; his attendance on morning and evening prayers was always
marked with regularity and seriousness; and in the absence of Mr. Bond,
he would himself officiate in the most solemn and devout manner. This
well directed aim of his hypocrisy secured for him almost all he could
wish or expect from this family; he not only obtained the full
confidence of Mr. Bond himself, but gained most effectually the
affections of his favourite daughter, who was unable to conceal the
strength of her attachment to him, and formed a resolution to give her
hand to him in marriage. Application was made to Mr. Bond for his
concurrence, and, although a refusal was the consequence, yet so strong
was the attachment, and so firmly were they determined to consummate
their wishes, that neither the advice, the entreaties, nor the
remonstrances of her friends, were of any avail. She went with him from
her father’s house to Windsor, and under the name of Frederick Henry
More, he there married her on the 12th of March, 1813, her name having
been Elizabeth P.
While he remained at Rawden, although he professed to be a tailor, he
did not pursue his business; but was chiefly engaged in farming or
country occupations. After his removal to Windsor, and his marriage to
Miss Bond, he entered on a new line of business, uniting that of the
tailor and pedlar together. In this character he made frequent visits to
Halifax, always bringing with him a quantity of goods of various
descriptions. At one time he was known to bring home a considerable sum
of money, and upon being asked how he procured it and all those articles
and goods he brought home, he replied that a friend by the name of
Wilson supplied him with anything he wanted as a tailor. It is
remarkable, however, that in all his trips to Halifax, he uniformly set
out in the forenoon and returned next morning. A certain gentleman,
speaking of him as a tailor, remarked that he could cut very well and
make up an article of clothing in a superior manner. In fact, his genius
was extraordinary, and he could execute anything well that he turned his
attention to. A young man having applied to him for a new coat, he
accordingly took his measure, and promised to bring the cloth with him
the first time he went to Halifax. Very soon after he made his journey
to Halifax, and, on his return, happening to meet with the young man, he
showed him from his portmanteau, the cloth, which was of a superior
quality, and promised to have it made up on a certain day, which he
punctually performed to the entire satisfaction of his employer, who
paid him his price and carried off the coat.
About this time a number of unaccountable and mysterious thefts were
committed in Halifax. Articles of plate were missing from gentlemen’s
houses; silver watches and many other valuable articles were taken from
silversmith’s shops, and all done in so mysterious a manner, that no
marks of the robber’s hands were to be seen. Three volumes of late Acts
of Parliament, relating to the Court of Admiralty, were missing from the
office of Chief Justice Strange about the same time; he offered a reward
of three guineas to any person who would restore them, with an assurance
that no questions would be asked. In a few days after, Mr. More produced
the volumes, which he said he had purchased from a stranger, and
received the three guineas reward without having to answer any
enquiries. This affair laid the foundation for strong suspicions that
Mr. More must have been the individual who committed those secret and
mysterious thefts which produced so much astonishment in various
quarters; and, just at this crisis, these suspicions received not only
strong corroboration, but were decidedly confirmed by the following
fact. While the young man whom he had furnished with the new coat, as
was previously noticed, was passing through the streets of Halifax with
the coat on his back, he was arrested by a gentleman who claimed the
coat as his own, affirming that it had been stolen from him some time
since. This singular affair, which to the young man was extremely
mortifying and afflictive, threw immediate light upon all those secret
and unaccountable robberies. A special warrant was immediately issued
for the apprehension of More; however before the warrant reached Rawden,
he had made his escape, and was next heard of as travelling on
horseback, with a portmanteau well filled with articles which he offered
for sale, as he proceeded on his way by the River Philip; and early in
the month of July, 1814, he made his appearance in Saint John, New
Brunswick, by the name of Henry More Smith. He did not, however, enter
the City with his horse, but put him up, and took lodgings at the house
of one Mr. Stackhouse, who resided in a bye-place within a mile of the
City, and came into the town upon foot. He found means to become
acquainted with the officers of the 99th Regiment, who, finding him
something of a military character, and well acquainted with
horsemanship, showed him the stud of horses belonging to the regiment.
Smith, perceiving that the pair of horses which the Colonel drove in his
carriage did not match, they being of different colors, and one of them
black, observed to the Colonel, that he knew of an excellent black horse
in Cumberland, that would match his black one perfectly. The Colonel
replied, that if he were as good as his own, he would give fifty pounds
for him. Smith then proposed, that if he, the Colonel, would advance him
fifteen pounds, he would leave his own horse in pledge, and take his
passage in a sloop bound for Cumberland, and bring him the black horse.
To this the Colonel readily consented, and paid him down the fifteen
pounds. This opened the way to Smith for a most flattering speculation;
he had observed a valuable mare feeding on the marsh contiguous to the
place where he had taken his lodgings, and cast his eye upon a fine
saddle and bridle belonging to Major King, which he could put his hand
on in the night. With these facilities in view, Smith entered on his
scheme; he put himself in possession of the saddle and bridle,
determined to steal the mare he saw feeding on the marsh, ride her to
Nova Scotia, and there sell her; then steal the black horse from
Cumberland, bring him to the Colonel, receive his two hundred dollars,
and without loss of time transport himself within the boundaries of the
United States.
This scheme, so deeply laid, and so well concerted, failed, however, of
execution, and proved the means of his future apprehension. Already in
possession of saddle and bridle, he spent most of the night in fruitless
efforts to take the mare, which was running at large in the pasture.
Abandoning this part of his plan as hopeless, and turning his
horse-stealing genius in another direction, he recollected to have seen
a fine horse feeding in a field near the highway as he passed through
the Parish of Norton, about thirty miles on, on his journey. Upon this
fresh scheme, he set off on foot, with the bridle and saddle in the form
of a pack on his back, passing along all the succeeding day in the
character of a pedlar. Night came on, and put him in possession of a
fine black horse, which he mounted and rode on in prosecution of his
design, which he looked upon now as already accomplished. But with all
the certainty of success, his object proved a failure, and that through
means which all his vigilance could neither foresee nor prevent. From
the want of sleep the preceding night, and the fatigue of travelling in
the day, he became drowsy and exhausted, and stopped in a barn belonging
to William Fairweather, at the bridge that crosses the Millstream, to
take a short sleep, and start again in the night, so as to pass the
village before daylight. But, as fate would have it, he overslept; and
his horse was discovered on the barn floor in the morning, and he was
seen crossing the bridge by daylight. Had he succeeded in crossing in
the night, he would in all probability have carried out his design; for
it was not till the afternoon of the same day, that Mr. Knox the owner
of the horse, missed him from the pasture. Pursuit was immediately made
in quest of the horse, and the circumstance of the robber having put him
up at the barn proved the means of restoring the horse to his owner, and
committing the robber to custody; for there, at Mr. Fairweather’s,
information was given which directed the pursuit in the direct track.
Mr. Knox, through means of obtaining fresh horses on the way, pursued
him, without loss of time, through the Province of Nova Scotia, as far
as Pictou, a distance of one hundred and seventy miles, which the thief
had performed with the stolen horse in the space of three days. There,
on the 24th July, the horse having been stolen on the 20th, Mr. Knox had
him apprehended by the Deputy Sheriff, John Parsons, Esq., and taken
before the County Justices in Court then sitting. Besides the horse,
there were a watch and fifteen guineas found with the prisoner; and a
warrant was issued by the Court for his conveyance through the several
Counties to the gaol of Kings County, Province of New Brunswick, there
to take his trial. Mr. Knox states that he, the prisoner, assumed
different names, and committed several robberies by the way; that a
watch and a piece of Indian cotton were found with him and returned to
the owners; that on the way to Kingston gaol he made several attempts to
escape from the Sheriff, and that but for his own vigilance he never
would have been able to reach the prison with hint, observing at the
same time, that unless he were well taken care of and secured, he would
certainly make his escape. He was received into prison for examination
on the warrant of conveyance without a regular commitment.
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