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The Story of the Lunar Rogue

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Though Henry More Smith remained in Kingston jail, he added more puppets to his show and his attachment to them grew more bizarre. Calling them his “family”, he cared for them, as if they were human. During one of Henry’s infrequent and short-lived periods of rationality, he claimed his real name was Henry Moon, son of a merchant in the south of England. Research has shown there was a Moon family in that area at about the right time and that they were merchants. Beyond that, there is no proof that this name was more credible than the others he had used.

Fortune telling was another talent that surfaced during this period. He read the past and predicted the future with such accuracy that the rumour Henry was in league with the devil circulated again.

One day Henry announced with great excitement that 3 papers would arrive at the jail by 4 o’clock the next day. He wasn’t sure what it all meant but he knew he would soon be “leaving this place” and advised Reid to get a box for his family. Reid dismissed the prediction as nonsense, but the next afternoon Sheriff Bates arrived at the jail, patted his coat pocket and said he had something Henry would welcome. “Not…not his pardon”, stammered Reid. The Sheriff confirmed that indeed it was a pardon, just arrived with 2 other documents from Fredericton. Seeing that Reid was visibly upset, he asked what was wrong and was told of Henry’s prediction. “We’ll not give him the satisfaction of knowing it came true, Reid,” said the Sheriff, “I’ll wait until tomorrow to tell him his pardon has come.”