Mysterious Stranger;

OR

MEMOIRS

OF

HENRY MORE SMITH;

alias HENRY FREDERICK MOON;

alias WILLIAM NEWMAN:

WHO IS NOW CONFINED IN SIMSBURY MINES, IN
CONNECTICUT, FOR THE CRIME OF BURGLARY.

Containing

An account of his extraordinary conduct during
his confinement in the gaol of King's Coun-
ty, Province of New-Brunswick, where
he was under sentence of death:

With a statement of his succeeding conduct, be-
fore and since his confinement in Newgate.

BY WALTER BATES,
Sheriff of King's County.'

NEW-HAVEN:

Published by Maltby, Goldsmith & Cv

T. G. Woodward, Printer.

DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT, ss.

BE

E it remembered, That on the 27th day of December, in the fortieth year of the Independence of the United States of America, Thomas G. Woodward, of the said District, hath deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following, to wit:-" The Mysterious Stranger, or Memoirs of Henry More Smith, alias Henry Frederick Moon, alias William Newman, who is now confined in Simsbury lines, in Connecticut, for the crime of burglary; containing an account of his extraordinary con duct during his confinement in the Gaol of Kings County, Province of New-Brunswick, where he was under sentence of death; with a statement of his succeeding conduct, before and since his confinement in Newgate, by Walter Bates, Sheriff of King's County."

In conformity to the act of Congress of the United States, entitled, "An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned."

HENRY W. EDWARDS, Clerk of the District of Connecticut.

ENOX LIBRARY

NEW YORK

TO THE READER.

HAVING received repeated solicitations from Portland, New-York, Connecticut, and other parts of the U. States, as well as from many persons in the Provinces of New-Brunswick and Nova-Scotia, to publish the facts attending the conduct of Henry More Smith, while in my custody, I have complied with them, and now lay before the public the succeeding Narrative. The facts stated are not conjured up from memory, having been registered in a journal, kept from day to day, containing the most interesting particulars of his conduct. This journal was commenced from necessity; to enable the Sheriff and Gaoler to traverse the indictments found against them for suffering him to escape from prison. As it proceeded it grew interesting, and is now transformed into these memoirs.

Proposals were issued for publishing the work at Portland, and I left Kingston with the view of having it published there, but a fortuitous circumstance having brought me to New-York, and having connections in Connecticut, of which I am a native, I concluded, after identifying William Newman as the same person I had had in custody at Kingston, to collect the facts attending his conduct in this part of the country, and to publish the work here. This explanation will account for the address of the following letter to the Editor of the Portland Gazette.

Since my arrival here, I have been twice to Newgate to see him, and have found to my own satisfaction, that he is acting a farce there, perhaps not less astonishing than his preceding conduct; by which he has already relieved himself from labour, and I have no doubt still contemplates his liberation.

NEW-HAVEN, DEC. 1816.

W. B.