Norfolk Gazette And Publick Ledger

CHILLICOTHE, (Ohio) September 16.

The celebrated Obadiah Williams, alias, without number, stands fair, at this time, to have nearly run his race. By the last accounts from Baltimore, he was confined under sentence of death. Were we not certain that an history of his life, from abler pens, and persons in the possession of more information respecting him, will appear, we should attempt a more lengthy sketch.

The citizens of Chillicothe will recollect, that he has been twice imprisoned in our jail, and escaped from justice each time. The character of Obadiah Williams surpasses, perhaps, that of any other, habituated to such odious practices, in the universe. In artifice and cunning, he has few equals; in sound judgment and address, few are his superiours; in villainy he holds the highest station. His age, at present, is not recollected; but for eight or nine years past, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland and Kentucky, have been the range of this notorious swindler. In Virginia there is scarcely a jail which has not, for a space, contained Obadiah Williams, nor a county from which he has not stolen a horse; the other states, though in less degree, have been subject to his ravages. A few days or hours residence in a place, were sufficient for Obadiah to select one or two of the best horses in the county; his flight was then directed one or two hundred miles, where with the address of a gentleman, he was soon received into the first circles. The purchase of lands were then his first theme, first representing the vast bodies of land which he held in some distant part. The ladies were not, in the mean time, neglected by Mr. Williams. He soon selected one distinguished for wealth, and with all the arts and declarations of the lover, laid the snare which proved too successful in many cases. Having made the conquest, got possession of the estate, some distant place soon received Obadiah, and left the fair innocent to bewail her folly and wretchedness. Or if pursued and taken, as was the case in many instances, sometimes, but a day or two before his marriage, with all the dignity of the gentleman or fortitude of innocence, he would first threaten his accusers, then the magistrate, and frequently by these means succeed so far as to be acquitted though notoriously guilty. When confined in jail, his attention was immediately directed to the weight of testimony against him; the character and disposition of the court and his accusers, in this investigation, were studied to the best advantage. When visited in prison, the walls were covered with poetry, descriptive of the horrours of his gloomy residence and the visitor compelled to sympathize with the unfortunate tenant. His innocence he would pourtray in so clear a manner as to leave not a shade of doubt on the mind of the visitant, and when brought to the bar of justice, evincing such firmness by pleading his own cause, striking at the passions, a jury could seldom assent to his guilt. He, however, generally found means, either by a silver key, or his own exertions, to extricate himself from the prison walls, before this period; and whenever convicted and sentenced to penetentiary imprisonment, the same means uniformly enabled him to escape the strongest guard. After having broke jail at Staunton, Virginia, he fled to Kentucky, and in a few days was arrived at this place, with two valuable horses; on being arrested, confined and brought to examination, his deportment was such as instantly to prepossess the judge in his favour. He produced letters written in the name of sundry persons, favoured by his assumed name, to citizens, in the very neighbourhood from whence he had fled, and whither he said he was then going, although an advertisement signed by the governour of Virginia, was produced completely descriptive of him. He was, however, remanded to prison, and in an hour after made his escape. Had the testimony, in Baltimore, been insufficient to convict him, we are informed, he would have been demanded by the executive of Virginia, as a fugitive from their court.