Alexandria Gazette & Daily Advertiser

From the Hagerstown Torch-Light.

JOSEPH THOMPSON HARE,

The mail robber, who was hung in Baltimore, on Thursday last, was as notorious and successful a robber as has ever been brought to punishment in the United States. For fourteen years past his life presents a connected series of extraordinary and successful robberies, committed in Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New-York, and New-Jersey, and in Canada and the Spanish provinces, to the amount of about one hundred thousand dollars.

The first robbery in which he was concerned, was in New-Orleans, where he, in company with some others, robbed a sea captain of a watch worth 50 guineas—the second was also in New-Orleans, where they robbed a French officer of a large sum of money—the third and fourth were likewise in New-Orleans; one of which consisted of 250 dollars, which they took from a countryman, the other of a watch and 17 dollars—the fifth was in the wilderness between the Muscle Shoals and Choctaw nation, where Hare and two others robbed a company of four gentlemen of about 28,000 dollars, in gold—the sixth was in the Choctaw nation, where they robbed a gentleman from St. Augustine and one from Charleston, South Carolina, of 12 or 13,000 dollars in gold—the seventh was also in the Choctaw nation, where he himself robbed a traveller of 2,700 dollars in gold and a bag of silver, a watch, and a rifle—the eighth was between Pensacola and Baton Rouge, where they robbed a company of five travellers, of 40 weight of gold and some silver, amounting to upwards of 11,000 dollars—the ninth was also between Pensacola and Baton Rouge, where they robbed a gentleman of about 15,000 dollars, in gold—the tenth was near Nashville, Tennessee, where they robbed a traveller of 970 dollars—the eleventh was in Franklin County, Virginia, where he himself robbed a drover of 450 dollars and his horse, for which he was apprehended and sentenced to eight years confinement in the Penitentiary of Virginia, five of which he served, when he was liberated for his good conduct—the twelfth was between New-York and Boston, where they robbed two gentlemen from New-York of 14,700 dollars mostly in English guineas—in New-York, Hare stole a handsome pair of carriage Horses belonging to the Governor—In Washington city he attempted to sell a horse for a man who had stolen him, for which he was thrown into jail, where he lay for several months, when he was released on condition that he would join the army—while in the army he meditated delivering President Madison to Adm. Cockburn, whose fleet was then in the Patuxent, which he would have done if he could have communicated his scheme to the Admiral: becoming dissatisfied, however, with the army, he hired a horse and gig in Georgetown: deserted, and sold them—The thirteenth was in Chester county, Pa. where he entered a tavern room and robbed two Germans of 1000 dollars—the fourteenth was near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where they robbed a drover, of the name of Scott, of eighteen hundred dollars—the 15th was at a tavern about 3 miles from Boston, where he robbed a man of four hundred dollars—the sixteenth was at Princeton, New-Jersey, where he robbed a merchant's trunk of thirty thousand dollars, for which he was tried at Sommerset Court-house and sentenced to the state prison for five years, two of which he served, when he was again liberated for his good conduct—the seventeenth and last robbery in which he was concerned, was that of the United States' mail near Havre-de-Grace, of nineteen thousand nine hundred dollars, for which he was hung, together with John Alexander; it was their intention to have robbed both the northern and southern mails, as both mails had to pass the spot on which the robbery was committed within about an hour or two of the same time, but one of the company making way with the ropes intended to tie the driver and passengers, they permitted the mail to pass unmolested.

Hare was a man of great strength and courage, and possessed more generosity than is generally met with among robbers: he always acted as principal in the robberies in which he was concerned. The following is the concluding paragraph of his confession, written by himself while in Baltimore jail—

"The circumstances of our trial, and our sentence, are already known to the citizens of Baltimore. Since then I have been confined in a dreary dungeon, heavily ironed, without hopes of any mercy here, but looking forward for a crown of everlasting glory in the world to come, through the intercession of my blessed Saviour. My offences have been great and many. For the last fourteen years of my life, I have been a highway robber, and have robbed on a larger scale and been more successful than any robber either in Europe or in this country, that I have ever heard of: but I have the consolation of reflecting, that I never killed or wounded any man, and that no man's blood is upon my head. I have employed myself, in my confinement, in writing this confession, which, I solemnly declare to the world, and will repeat under the gallows, is a true and faithful history of my life and adventures, and I hope it may serve as a caution to other persons, how they follow the same course. May the God of Mercy pardon and receive my soul."