Star.
London, England, 1802-12-08 00:00:00

. .
• yet at et **sot (fitted that the Alt was in Me-
gitimate one, for the proteaion of which fort of
children.the law had prefcribed particular forms,
this indiament mutt neceifarily fall to the ground.
Not Guilty.

An account of a perfon fond dead on Dartmoor appeared
in our Paper of the 26th ult.—From the siefcription, &c. Mr.
Thomas Harding, of Portfmouth, was led to apprehend th It
the unfortunate man might be his heoth,!r, Mr. Deli unin
Harding he therefore let off for Devonfllire, and by the daft-
ance r.f the Rector of Stourton (where the I,ot:y of the .nfor-
tunate itranger had betn interred), he re..dily obtained the
cloaths and other property found on the diceafed—documents
which akertained that his conjedtures were too well founded
Mr. B. Harding was formerly a filvetfmi,h in Broad. arca ,
Point, but had retired from bufinefs to another part of Purtf-
mouth, from whence he had determined to temove altogether
and had taken and retail:lied Trelawney farm-houfe, near Looe,
in Cornwall; he bail fent great part of his goods round by fca
and in his way acrofs the country to enter on his new refidence,
he bad (topped a fortnight at Amdbury, on a vifit with his
uncle, Mr. Jofeph Hayte , which occafioned the mention ,of
that Gentleman's name in one of his notes, with the dirt:along
for Cove, the Amefbury carrier, the publication of which mi-
nute cireumftances made known who he was. Mr. Harding
had chofen to travel by RufTel's waggon, from the opportuni-
ties it gave him of walking over and viewing part of the coun-
try, and from its agreeing better with his health than a more
rapid conveyance, he having had an apoplectic ftroke : the of-
fering his watch for fate to Tome perfon whom he became ac-
quainted with on the road, is accounted for by his having many
watches and other articles of his former Rock remaining on
hand i • and he might be much more alarmed by the infinuation
that he h d itolen it than a perfon in full health. The autious
enquiries of his brother have afcertained, that after bla quitting
Brideftowe, when he ent-red the little public-houfe near Stott a•
ton, he was in an agitated (fate, and corn lained that he was
fo extremely ill, ..he could not then endeavour to regain the
turnpike-road, and the waggon he was travelling by : he aikrd
for and procured refrefliment, related that he had been charged
with ftraling his own watch, that he was a man of a very diffe-
rent dekription, and 'offered much in his mind from the charge.
—He fat fill it was nearly dark, in the expcdation of accom-
modations there for that night; but neither the landlord nor
the rustic frequenters of hit kitchen could appreciate the truth
of Mr. H.'s artlefs relation; he was denied flicker, and, an-
noyed by the cries of " a thief! a thief!" he rulhed on the
dreary moor, and watt, loft to the world for ever! Nearly a
fortnight after, his body was difcovered Tome miles from the
cottage, on an unfrequented part of the moor, by a ibcpherd's
dog, as before related. It was then impoffible to afeertain the
immediate caufe of his death—whether, wearied with wander-
ing over the tracklefs moor, or dreading that he might fall into
fume of its chafms, he had lain down, and perifhed by the in-
clemency of the weather, or whether he had fallen In a fit, as
there was no marks of any external injury. Mr. Harding's
friends think the latter conjedture probable, and that the agita-
tion of his fpirits might have brought on another fit of apoplexy.
—lt is perhaps unneceffary to add, that it is this melancholy
affair ea Dartmoor which has Impaled on the Editors of the
London Papers, " the painful duty of recording a dreadful
warder on Salybuty Plait ;" for often as this latter ftory was told
in the courfe of the laR week, and varied as were the Rated
eireumftances of the murder, our Readers may reit allured
there is nwother foundation for it.