Elizabeth-Town gazette. [volume] (Elizabeth-Town, N.J.) 1818-1821, 1818-10-06
From the Washington City Gazette.
Dying CONFESSION JOSEPH
HARE,

Alias, Joseph thompson dafe, one OF tne
mail robbers, who was executed at
Baltimore, on the 10th of September,
1878. Written by himself. Balti
more, published by Joseph Darling,
1918.
'5E I was born in Chester county, in the
state of Pennsylvania, and when about
sz21, went TO Philadelphia, aud sailed
With an old friend of my fathers, sea
captain, TO New Orleans, and worked my
passage there.
# In New-O orleans | suffered good deal
of trouble, for had no money but what
q made by dangerous thieving and gamb-
ling. At last / enlisted in the Governors
guard, and at this time l associated my
self with some desperate fellows who
lRwere in the habit of knocking people
down in the streets, and robhing them.
The first person we robbed in this manner
was the capt. of the ship Ocean, in com
pany with a gentleman of the city of
New Orleans took the captains watch,
4 for which he must have paid fifty guineas
in France. AS l was playing at cards
sometime after, having staked his watch
against three others, in came a French
gentleman dressed iG uniform. and asked
me if was not an officer belonging to
the Governors guard as he had seen me
at the governors dressed in uniform:
told him | was; he said he had occasion
{ for proper officers to get back some money
he had been robbed of last night. 1t was
II and my companions that had robbed
him, and had got great deal of money
from him. What made us stop him was
our hearing his money eingle in his peck
ets, and seeing SO much powder 10 his
hair. This was good encouragement to
us; and as for me, should have been
10th to change my place for colonePs
commission.
But now, as we feared we should get
notorious in New Orleans, and saw every
few days company start from New Or
leans on horses, and were told they car
ried a great deal of money with them
through the Choctaw and Chickesaw ma
lions to get TO Kentucky, Tennessee, and
Pittsburg; we thought we should do bet
ter on the highway. But before we went,
we made two other robberies. One of
my men took 257 dollars from country
man: he told me, when came up, it was
oil that he had; gave him up 40 dollars
IN silver. The same evening went and
stopped Spaniard, and he gave me his
watch and l6 dollars. He seemed poor,
and left his watch and part Of the money
where he got it again. Now | saw it was
slow and dangerous work too, to make
money in the city of Newt Orleans. So
we all agreed to get some good rifles, and
three first rate horses, that were swift and
genteel. We left the town and went as
far us Nashville in the state Of Tennessee,
without meeting with any thing. We
raked the wilderness from the Muscle
Shoals to the Choctaw nation. One day
when we were much fatigued with hunt
ing, eve depended on this for our eating)
we came across company of four men.
had hard work to save their lives. We
stopped them; we had hid all the horses
from the sight of the road: stepped up
to one that had holsters before him, and
told him that had twelve highway rob
bers under my command, and the first
man that moved should be blown to hell.
The dry cane made great cracking it
was SO thick on that spot that man could
not be seen ten feet from the road. 1t was
a cloudy day, and every thing looked
very black and gloomy, and the sound of
the cane, though it did not brighten me,
made ME feel very strange and out Of the
way my two men said We had not
painted our faces, which we ought to have
done, and that we should be known, and
Il was better TO murder rascals, than let
them live and tell tales Oh us.--An oldish
man spoke and said, "For Gods sake