Catch the Rogue

A young man calling himself Turner, and professing to belong to the army, apparently about twenty or twenty-one years of age, about five foot nine or ten inches in height, with hair a little inclined to be light, with a scar on his face, (the side not remembered) has been roaming through the country stealing horses, and other things, under a pretense of impressing them for public uses. The said Turner, whose real name seems to be Board, was arrested at Mt. Airy, Surry county, N. C., on a charge for forcibly taking a horse belong[ing] to one Eli Jessup; and although the offence was clearly proved upon him, he was on account of a technical legal exception, and on account of his youth and positive and oft-repeated promises to rejoin his company in service, permitted to go, on his own recognizance to appear at our next Superior Court. This occurred in May or June. Since that time, we have been reliably informed that he has stolen another horse from Eli Jessup, and other property from other persons. The horse which he stole from Mr. Jessup was recovered by a party who pursued him, but the “rogue” escaped. We are also informed that the said Turner endeavors to excite sympathy by reporting himself to be a refugee from North western Virginia, and circulating unfounded and lying reports on various citizens of the county, pretending to implicate them as untrue to our cause. The public are cautioned against him as a most unmitigated scoundrel, and are warned not to put any reliance in his statements; and good citizens are requested to arrest and confine him, so that he may be punished as he deserves.

J. F. GRAVES

W. R. HOLLINSWORTH

H. V. ALLRED

WILLIAM RAWLEY

W. A. MOORE

T. F. PRATHER

ROBT. S. GILMER

Mt. Airy, N. C.., Aug. 12. 1862

[Transcribed by Sharon Strout]