William Hooper document signed ("Will Hooper"). One page, 7.25" x 10.25", Salisbury, North Carolina; March 5, 1768. Docketed. William Hooper, signer of the Declaration of Independence, signs an indictment for assault as an attorney in the colony of North Carolina. Manuscript document, written in a secretarial hand and signed by Hooper, then working as an attorney in North Carolina representing the British Crown, is an indictment of one John Blanton for an assault on one John Hamat. The document reads, in part: "At a Superior Court of Justice begun and held at the Court House in the town of Salisbury within and for the district of Salisbury on the fifth day of March...The jurors for our Sovereign Lord the King upon their oath present that John Blanton...on the thirteenth day of February in the year of our Lord One thousand and seven hundred and sixty eight...with force and arms...did beat and attack...the said John Hamat...so that his Life was greatly despaired of..." Signed, "Will Hooper Atty D Rex". William Hooper (1742-1790) served as a North Carolina delegate at Continental Congress from 1774 through 1777. He signed the Declaration of Independence on August 2, 1776. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Hooper attended Harvard University, graduating in 1760. He moved to North Carolina in 1764, where he was eventually appointed deputy Attorney General of North Carolina. Less than a year after signing the Declaration, he resigned from Congress and returned home to Wilmington, continuing his law practice and attending the General Assembly. His home was destroyed by British Major James H. Craig in January 1781 when the 82nd Regiment occupied the city. After the Revolutionary War, Hooper returned to his career in law and aligned himself with the Federalist Party. Hooper autographs are among the rarest of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Kenneth Rendell ranked Hooper's autograph as the fifth scarcest in his article, "Degree of Rarity of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence." Condition: Previous separation along horizontal fold repaired on verso with archival tape. Light toning. HID03101062020 © 2022 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved

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