Chapter X: Part 10

More or less has been written by historians and novelists about John A. Murrell, but no writer connects him with Cave-in-Rock or Ford’s Ferry. _The History of Virgil A. Stewart_, a book on the life of Murrell, compiled by H. R. Howard and published in 1836, gives an incomplete list of Murrell’s associates. Among the four hundred and fifty names there recorded there is none familiar to persons now living near Cave-in-Rock. Tradition says that Shouse made a few trips between the Cave and Marked Tree, Arkansas, to meet Murrell or some of his representatives for the purpose of delivering and receiving messages pertaining to negro stealing and the disposition of counterfeit money. But whether or not the Ford’s Ferry band was ever part of the John A. Murrell clan will remain, in all probability, one of the Ford’s Ferry mysteries.«40»

On June 7, 1834, Judge Thomas C. Brown sent a writ to Joshua Howard, Sheriff of Pope County: “Whereas ... Judgment hath been given in our said court that the said Henry C. Shouse shall be hanged by the neck until he is dead and that execution of said judgment be made and done on Monday the ninth day of June A.D., 1834, between the hours of twelve of the clock at noon and four of the clock in the evening of the same day, at some convenient place in the vicinity, not more than one-half mile from the town of Golconda in said county, in the usual manner of inflicting punishment in such cases....” And on June 9 Shouse paid the extreme penalty.

Tradition has it that on the day of the hanging thousands of people came to Golconda from Gallatin and Pope counties, Illinois, and from Livingston County, Kentucky, and other sections, to see the first legal hanging in the county and to witness the death struggle of a Ford’s Ferry and Cave-in-Rock outlaw. Even to this day, a large crowd in that section of the country is measured as being “as big as the one when Shouse was hanged.” The execution took place in the creek bottom immediately north of the town limits, at a spot where the slopes of the hills converge to form a natural amphitheatre. About two o’clock in the afternoon Shouse was placed on an ox-cart and driven to the scaffold that had been built by erecting two heavy timbers with a cross beam over them. Between these two upright posts the cart was placed, and into it the condemned man’s coffin was then shoved, thus serving the purpose of a platform and trap. Shouse’s hands were tied behind his back; he was blindfolded and made to stand erect upon his coffin. The suspended rope was looped around his neck; the oxen pulled the cart forward and Shouse fell.

Thus terminated the career of one of the members of the mysterious Ford’s Ferry band, and with it passed away forever bloodshed and robbery at Cave-in-Rock.

The Cave in Fiction

Historical novels, with some exceptions, present the past in a more interesting manner than do the formal histories which are intended as chronicles of actual facts. It has been said, on the one hand, that “truth is stranger than fiction,” and on the other that “fiction is often more truthful than fact.” Fiction is undoubtedly more truthful in the presentation of the manners and social life of the period portrayed than is formal history. The history of Cave-in-Rock and the careers of the outlaws identified with the place is not only stranger than fiction, but is besprinkled with many tragic and melodramatic scenes which, although almost unimaginable, are actually true. For more than a century fiction writers have used the Cave as a background for stories. These authors by freely discarding the leading facts and drawing on their own imaginations wrote stories less original than might otherwise have been produced.

No effort has been made to compile a more or less complete collection of works of fiction pertaining to the Cave. The stories and poems commented on in the course of this chapter are only such as were incidentally found while in search of history. Although this fiction has very little of facts for a basis, and most of the scenes are far from probable, nevertheless it necessarily stands not only as Cave-in-Rock literature, but also as a contribution to the good, bad, or indifferent literature of America. The fact that more than one edition was published of the Cave-in-Rock novels here referred to indicates, to some extent that they represent some of the types of stories then in demand.

Stories dealing with mysterious murders and highway robberies have always found many enthusiastic readers. It seems that every decade of the nineteenth century produced at least one new tale of Cave-in-Rock. And in our own times the writings of some well-known living authors show that the Cave is still supplying material for fiction.

In Irvin S. Cobb’s story “The Dogged Under Dog,” (originally published in the _Saturday Evening Post_, August 3, 1912, and shortly thereafter printed in Cobb’s book entitled _Back Home_) one of the characters, recalling some of the rough men who lived near the Cave when that country was still new, says Big Harpe and Little Harpe were run down by dogs and killed and that “the men who killed them cut off their heads and salted them down and packed them both in a piggin of brine, and sent the piggin by a man on horseback up to Frankfort to collect the reward.”

Nancy Huston Banks in _Oldfield_, 1902, devotes a few pages to Cave-in-Rock, the Harpes, and a character she calls “Alvarado,” a mysterious Spaniard who frequented the lower Ohio valley and who was suspected of having been a comrade of Jean Lafitte. Mrs. Banks, in her next historical novel, _’Round Anvil Rock_, 1903 (in which Philip Alston is one of the leading characters) refers to that section of Kentucky lying opposite the Cave as having been the “Rogues Harbor.”

The Harpes, Masons, and the Cave are introduced in _The Ark of 1803_, by C. A. Stephens. This book for boys, published in 1904, is intended as a picture of romances and tragedies incidental to early navigation on the Ohio and Mississippi. It serves that purpose fairly well, although practically no statement made by the author regarding the Harpes and the Masons is in accordance with history or tradition.

It shows a landscape interesting in itself but false to the actual scene

(Reproduced from Charles Bodmer’s drawing)]

Our earliest item relative to fiction pertaining to the Cave was found in a review published in _The Port Folio_, February, 1809, of Thomas Ashe’s _Travels in America Performed in 1806_, printed in London in 1808. The critics in Ashe’s day, and ever since, declared the writer of _Travels_ a literary thief, bone thief, and infamous prevaricator and ridiculed his work on the ground that it was filled with incredible stories grafted onto authentic incidents and actual facts. This general condemnation gave the new book a wide circulation for a few years. The editor of _The Port Folio_ devotes a dozen pages to his “entire contempt both of Mr. Ashe and his work.”

Most of the travelers who appeared after Ashe’s day and examined the Cave detected in his sketch a combination of facts and fiction that helped spread the name and history of this interesting and picturesque rendezvous of outlaws. Many a visitor still goes to the place expecting to explore the “upper cave” but soon discovers that its size has been wildly exaggerated by Ashe. His account of the Cave is one of the longest ever written and will always be of curious interest no matter from what standpoint it may be read, other than history. The reproach to Ashe is that he gave the hoax out as veritable facts encountered in his travels and never corrected this impression or acknowledged his purpose. About half of what he says concerning the Cave is at least highly probable; the remainder is wholly fictitious.

A casual investigation of the stories published after outlawry terminated at Ford’s Ferry, brought to light two novels and a long poem in which the Cave serves as a background. Viewed from the standpoint of today their plots have the consistency of a dime novel. Browsing in the field of fiction also led to the discovery of the one time celebrated romance of _Harpe’s Head_.

_Harpe’s Head_, by Judge James Hall, was first published in America in 1833, and the following year was printed in London under the title of _Kentucky, A Tale_. It was later republished in America in Judge Hall’s volume, _Legends of the West_. _Harpe’s Head_ is the only novel in which the notorious Harpes are introduced as characters. It is a story of a small emigrant family traveling from Virginia to western Kentucky over the route then endangered by the Harpes. All the characters are fictitious, except the two outlaws and their wives. No reference is made to their career at the Cave.

The romance is written in a dignified and graceful style. _Atkinson’s Casket_ for November, 1833, in its comments on the book says “it has some masterly scenes,” and quotes one in full--a Virginia barbecue. Among other interesting sketches of pioneer times woven into _Harpe’s Head_ is one of “Hercules Short” or “Hark Short, the Snake Killer,” a half-witted boy who performs extraordinary feats and who labors under the impression that he is a son of Big Harpe. On one occasion “Hark” remarks that his mother told him, “If anybody was to rake hell with a fine-comb they would not find sich a tarnal villain as Big Harpe.”

Edmund L. Starling, in his _History of Henderson County, Kentucky_, 1887, says: “The history of the Harpes in this portion of Kentucky, has long ago, and repeatedly found its way into the histories of Kentucky and other states, in pamphlets and the newspapers of the country, and at one time was even dramatized for the American stage. But it was so desperate and appalling to all rational sensibilities that it was abandoned by the drama.” I did not find any pamphlets or dramas regarding the Harpes.

The earliest novel found using Cave-in-Rock for a background is _Mike Fink, A Legend of the Ohio_, by Emerson Bennett, who for a time was a well-known writer of thrilling romances. This melodrama was first published in Cincinnati in 1848, and although now a somewhat rare book, it ranked, judging from the number of editions issued, among widely-read stories of the middle of the last century. Its popularity was not due to any high literary merit, but to its wild and extravagant plot. The greater part of the story deals with bloody battles between a band of outlaws and the flatboat crew and passengers led by Mike Fink. Practically all the action takes place in or near the Cave, and for that reason “A Legend of Cave-in-Rock” would have been a more appropriate subtitle.

Shortly after _Mike Fink_ was put into circulation there appeared in the _Alton_ (Illinois) _Courier_, 1852, a prize serial entitled _Virginia Rose_, by Dr. Edward Reynolds Roe. Having gone through a pamphlet edition, this Cave-in-Rock story was published in book form in 1882 under the title of _Brought to Bay_, and in 1892 the same story was republished and its title changed back to _Virginia Rose_. Dr. E. R. Roe--not E. P. Roe with whom he is sometimes confused--was a citizen of Illinois, practiced medicine and wrote a number of books. He died in Chicago in 1893 at the age of eighty. He lived in Shawneetown a few years, beginning in 1843, and it is said he prepared the greater part of this manuscript while residing there.

The book has no preface and the presumption is that all the characters are fictitious. The story deals with the career of a girl, Virginia Rose, who was kidnapped in Shawneetown by her father, the leader of the Cave-in-Rock outlaws. He takes her to the Cave, and it so happened that shortly thereafter the New Madrid earthquake of 1811 occurs. The citizens of Shawneetown, suspecting that the stolen Virginia Rose may have been taken to the Cave, so runs the story, organize a rescuing party. Upon their arrival at the Cave, they, to their great surprise, find the place abandoned. Boxes and barrels were scattered around, their contents undisturbed, and the general appearance indicated that the place had been abandoned suddenly.

In the words of the author: “Remnants of a feast which had never been eaten were lying upon a table; lamps were hanging around burnt out for want of oil.... The hatchway overhead, which communicated with the room above was not closed ... but the avenues which led from it to the inner cave had disappeared. The rock had fallen from above in vast masses and closed all connection between the upper cave and the outer world forever.... What was a hill back of the cave bluff now appeared to be a hollow or depression, as compared to the ground around it.... The outlaws had met their fate--they had perished in the earthquake [except the leader and his daughter who were on the Mississippi at the time] perhaps in the midst of gay festivities, perhaps in the hour of music and dancing! Who could say? Not a soul was left to tell the tale. The men who had come to execute vengeance could not now avoid sympathy for the dead.”

Thus did the author of _Virginia Rose_ make the New Madrid earthquake wipe out the Cave-in-Rock’s “inner cave” or “upper cave” that had been “discovered” and is so extravagantly described by Thomas Ashe!

Between recorded history on the one hand and stories of fiction on the other stands the book _Chronicles of a Kentucky Settlement_, 1897, by William Courtney Watts. It is a historical romance based solely on local tradition. Although this work is somewhat faulty in its general construction, and may be, at times, somewhat crude in its literary style, it is, nevertheless, one of the most faithful historical sketches of early Kentucky.

The leading characters are Joseph Watts and Lucinda Haynes, who were first thrown together in 1805 when children on their way from North Carolina to the West, Joseph going to Tennessee and Lucinda moving with her parents to Kentucky. A few years later Joseph Watts began a search for Miss Haynes and found her near Salem, Kentucky. After a courtship such as none but lovers in a new country could experience, they were married and became the parents of the author who tells their story. Among other characters is Charles H. Webb, who gave Watts an account of his capture at Cave-in-Rock and escape from the outlaws and who later married the daughter of James Ford.

The gloomiest tragedy in the book concerns the unfortunate Lucy Jefferson Lewis, sister of Thomas Jefferson, whose two sons killed a slave on their farm near Smithland, Kentucky, and cut up the body in an attempt to conceal their crime. One of the Lewis brothers committed suicide on his mother’s grave and the other escaped after he had been arrested for murder and placed in jail. All the characters in _Chronicles_ are presented under fictitious names.«41»

It is probable that every person who saw the landscape of which the opening of the Cave forms a part had his sense of romance and poetry stirred by the sight. To what extent attempts were made to express this emotion in the form of poetry or verse is not known. Only one poem has been found--“The Outlaw,” by Charles H. Jones, of Cincinnati. It comprises about one thousand two hundred lines, published in 1835 in a neatly bound booklet called _The Outlaw and Other Poems_. In the October, 1835, issue of the _Western Monthly Magazine_, of Cincinnati, Judge James Hall devotes two pages to a eulogistic review of the book, encouraging the young poet in his work. A more enthusiastic reviewer might have called this an epic of Cave-in-Rock.

In his introductory note Mr. Jones briefly refers to the then well-known fact that the Cave had been for many years the resort of a band of outlaws all of whom were finally either killed or driven out by the Rangers. As to his authorities he states that “the ravages of the robbers are still fresh in the recollection of many of the inhabitants of the lower Ohio valley.”

About one-half of the poem is an “effervescence of poetic fancy,” with here and there a real gem. The plot is dramatic. The story begins in Virginia. Our hero shoots his successful rival in love immediately after the wedding ceremony. Believing he has killed the groom and that the shock has proven fatal to the bride, he flees to the wilds of the West. He drifts down the Ohio, joins the band of outlaws at the Cave and soon becomes their leader--The Outlaw.

One “dark tempestuous night” a flatboat passing the Cave is attacked by the robbers; a fierce and bloody combat follows. The Outlaw discovers among the passengers the very girl who had discarded him for another--and still alive. He stabs her in the heart and then--

“He raised her body from the floor,
And hurled it to the foaming wave,
Her white robe red with streaming gore,
A fitting shroud for such a grave.”

The battle continues. The Outlaw kills man after man, when to his surprise he finds himself facing the very man he thought he had killed in Virginia. The two recognize each other instantly. They draw daggers and The Outlaw is slain. And the boatmen, so runs the story, exterminate the band of robbers at the Cave.

“The morning breaks, the fight is o’er,
Peace smiles again upon the shore ...
Yon arching cave is lonely now,
The tenants of its holds have fled,
Or on the hill-top’s rocky brow
Are sleeping with the dead....

No more those cavern’s walls will ring
With sounds of mirth and rioting,
And peacefully along the tide,
The laden barks will slowly glide;
Their crews no more will deem they see
A robber’s form in every tree,
And grasp their rifles and prepare
For deeds of blood and carnage there;
But as they pass along the shore,
Will pause and rest upon the oar,
And tell of many a bloody tale,
The legends of yon gloomy vale;
And travelers, with curious eyes,
Will view its chambers in surprise,
And scarce believe that where they stand,
Was heard the clash of brand on brand,
And yonder yawning cavern’s gloom
The Outlaw’s dwelling--and his tomb;
But rather all they hear they’ll deem
A fable, or a fairy dream.”

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FOOTNOTES

«1» Charles Alexander Lesueur (1778–1857) French naturalist and artist, was a member of Robert Dale Owen’s communal colony at New Harmony, Indiana, forty miles northeast of the cave. His drawing of Cave-in-Rock has never been published except in a doctoral thesis by Mme. Adrien Loir entitled, _Charles Alexandre Lesueur, artiste et savant Français en Amérique de 1816 a 1839_; issued in 1920 by Museum d’Histoire Naturelle, Le Havre. In this thesis are reproduced forty of Lesueur’s drawings.

«2» The first, and in a sense the only standard guide book of this kind ever published, was Zadok Cramer’s _The Ohio and Mississippi Navigator_. It made its appearance about 1801 and was followed by a number of revised and enlarged editions until 1824, when the last edition was printed. It was practically the only printed guide for flatboats.

«3» Conflict with pirates, cut-throats, and counterfeiters was only one of the perils to which the boatmen were exposed on their long and trying trips into the western wilds. Floating ice, heavy winds and rains, treacherous currents, hidden bars, and large snags were among the natural dangers that constantly engaged the attention of the steersman. Many boats, managed by careless or inexperienced men, were overturned, the craft and cargo damaged or lost, and, as was frequently the case, some or all on board drowned. Poorly constructed boats were put out of commission after meeting with only a few minor obstacles.

«4» Prior to about 1824 Harpe was spelled Harp.

«5» After killing Langford the Harpes probably continued to travel along the Wilderness Road until they reached Crab Orchard, from which place radiated, besides the Wilderness Road to Cumberland Gap, at least four other routes: the Louisville route, the Frankfort and Cincinnati route, passing Logan’s Fort (or Stanford) Danville, and Harrodsburg, the Maysville route, and the Tennessee route. Crab Orchard, being a converging point of roads, many travelers going east waited there until a crowd of a dozen or more was organized, thus assuring each a greater safety in making the trip through the Wilderness. Settlers passing through the Wilderness going west usually left home in a crowd sufficiently large to protect itself. [123] Langford, as is shown later, met the five Harpes in the Wilderness and, notwithstanding their appearance, he doubtless felt that they would at least serve as protection in the event of danger. The Harpes, after killing Langford, probably passed through Crab Orchard and continued northwest via the Frankfort road, toward Stanford and in or near Stanford turned west for the purpose of misleading anyone who might pursue them as that course threw them toward both Tennessee and western Kentucky.

«6» In 1799 Stanford was a frontier settlement of less than 200 persons, including slaves. In 1780, when Lincoln County was formed, Logan’s Fort or St. Asaph’s became the seat of justice. In 1787 (on land presented by Colonel Benjamin Logan, a site about half a mile east of the fort, where the brick court house now stands) the county erected a log court house thirty feet long and twenty feet wide, with a small jury room on each side, the structure forming a T. Near it stood a log jail of two rooms, each twelve feet square.[28] In these log buildings the Harpes were tried and confined.

«7» A perusal of the accounts kept by Joseph Welsh, the sheriff of Lincoln County, reveals many interesting facts. John Gower against the Commonwealth of Kentucky runs: “For making a pair of handcuffs for Wiley Roberts 9s. And putting on and taking off when committed and before trial 2s. 6d. To putting on and taking off the handcuffs after trial and before removal to the District jail 2s. 6d.,” making a total of 14s. For this same service on Micajah Roberts, Gower received, respectively 2s. 6d., 1s. 3d., and 1s. 3d., a total of only 5s.

The sheriff received the following sums: “For summoning a court for the examination” of the five prisoners, £1. 5s. “For summoning twelve witnesses vs. Micajah Roberts and others, at 1s. 3d. each, 15s.” “For imprisoning, 2s. 6d., keeping in jail 10 days at 1s. a day, 10s., Removing to District jail, 7s. 6d., total 20s.,” making a total of £5.

Another bill presented by the sheriff was for eight men guarding the five prisoners in the Lincoln County jail for fourteen days at 4s. 6d. each per day, making a total of £25. 4s. The last bill shows he paid seven of the guards “for one day and traveling twenty miles in removing the above prisoners to the District jail and returning at 2d. per mile, 6s. 4d. [sic]” making a total of £2. 4s. 4d.

The total of all these accounts is a little more than £35. or what would today be about $175.00.

«8» Danville, in 1799, with a population of a little over 200, was one of the most important towns in Kentucky. In 1784 the court authorized the building of “a log house large enough for a court room in one end, and two jury rooms in the other end on the same floor ... and a prison of hewed or sawed logs at least nine inches thick.” [82] The buildings were still in use when the Harpes were taken there to await trial.

«9» The account of the Danville jailer shows that the two men had been confined 71 days, Sally and Betsey 102 days, and Susanna 103 days, for which a charge of 1s. per day for each was made; 449 days £22. 9s. In the same record is a memorandum to the effect that the three infants had been in jail 69, 43, and 9 days, or a total of 121 days. The jailer evidently intended to make a charge for this item, but there are no figures to indicate the contemplated amount. Four men for guarding the jail 103 days received a total of £6. 6s. An item shows: “April 12, 21¾ cords wood from the 5th of January until this day for the use of guards, court, and prisoners @ 6 [sic] cutting the wood for the above, 2s. 6d., £2. 14s. 4d.” The total of the three items is £31. 9s. 4d. The seven Danville items previously noted amount to £5. 7s. 11d. This makes the Danville expense a grand total of £36. 17s. 3d., or what would today be about $185.00. This, with the $175.00 Stanford account makes a grand total of the now known expense items a sum that would today be about $360.00.

«10» A special act of the Kentucky legislature was passed and approved December 18, 1800, for the relief of the widow of John Tully, extending the statutory time of payment for lands taken up by him on the south side of Green River under a settlement act and exempting her in the interval from paying interest. The extension was given until December 1, 1810. The preamble of the act recites its enactment because “Tully ... having obtained a certificate for a settlement of two hundred acres of land ... having settled on said land, was assassinated by the murderers called Harpes, and consequently left his wife, Christiana Tully, a desolate widow with eight small children.” This is a notable instance of pioneer liberality and sympathy for a widow in distress, particularly in spite of the fact that, according to Colonel Trabue, Tully not only knew the Harpes, but also, less than a year before they murdered him, had carried messages to them from the Harpe women when the outlaws were making for Cave-in-Rock.

«11» Tradition says Major William Love’s charred corpse was buried near the site of the Stegall house. His widow survived him many years and is buried at Piney Fork Camp Ground, about six miles east of Marion, Kentucky. On the marble slab at the head of her grave is the inscription: “My name was Esther Love, daughter of Wm. & Nancy Calhoun of Abbeville, South Carolina, born Sept. 30, 1765, died Mar. 2, 1844. My husband Wm. Love was killed by the Harpes Aug. 1799. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.”

«12» Draper in his “Sketch of the Harpes” places Big Harpe’s head “in the forks of a tree,” but in a later note [12G] he has it “placed or rather stuck on the sharpened end of the limb of a tree.” Breazeale has it “upon the top of a lofty pole, or in the fork of a tree.” Collins, in one version, says the men “stuck it upon a pole where the road crosses the creek,” and in another, that “a tall young tree, growing by the side of the trail or road, was selected and trimmed of its lateral branches to its top, and then made sharp. On this point the head was fastened. The skull and jaw-bones remained there for many years--after all else had been decomposed and mingled with the dust.” In his sketch on Webster County, Kentucky, Collins states that “Big Harpe’s head was stuck upon a pole” near an oak tree which was still standing, and that the letters H.H. for Harpe’s Head, carved upon it in 1799, were still legible in 1874.

Robert Triplett, in his anonymous autobiography, _Roland Trevor_, publishes an absurd story to the effect that the two Harpes had stolen the daughter of a pioneer living near Henderson. The father pursued Big Harpe, wounded him, and shortly thereafter captured him. This confused and confusing writer says: “Harpe lay near a tree. The father lifted him, and set him up against it, and then went a little way to a branch, from which, in the brim of his hat, he carried Harpe some water, and while he was drinking reloaded his rifle, and shot him. Then with his knife he cut off his head and stuck it on a pole at the fork of the road between Henderson and Madisonville, which place, from that circumstance, was called, and is to this day, ‘Harpe’s Head.’”

Another absurd story of the Harpes appears in _History of Great American Crimes_, by Frank Triplett who with a few facts and a vivid imagination succeeds in covering some twenty pages on the Harpes. According to his account, Leiper and Stegall organized a pursuing party, and when the wounded outlaw was overtaken one end of a rope was adjusted around Big Harpe’s neck and the other thrown over a limb of a large tree under which the wounded man lay. “Appalled by the blasphemies of Harpe, the word was given, and, with a strong pull, his body was run up some six or eight feet from the ground, and whirling round and round in the rapidly gathering twilight, it quivered convulsively for some moments; there was a fierce death struggle and the soul of the most demoniac murderer that ever cursed our continent had gone out into the limitless realms of eternity. When satisfied that Harpe was dead, the corpse was lowered to the ground, the head cut off and fixed in the fork of the tree which had served his executioners as a gallows.”

«13» Samuel Hopkins was a Revolutionary general. He was born in Virginia and, in 1797 went to Henderson and there represented Richard Henderson & Co., owners of a large tract of land lying in that section, granted them by the legislature of Virginia. He continued to make Henderson his home until 1819, the time of his death. He served several terms in the Kentucky legislature and from 1813 to 1815 represented his district in Congress. During the war of 1812 he was commissioned a major-general. [124]

«14» The recorded expense items show six men were allowed $7.50 each for guarding the Henderson jail during the ten days the Harpe women were imprisoned. One man was given $4.32 “for victualling Susannah Harp, et al. in the jail for eight days.” Andrew Rowan, the sheriff, was allowed $71.25 “for removing prisoners from Henderson to Logan jail, 190 miles--95 miles one way--and also $4.54 for cash advanced for diet for said prisoners from Henderson to Logan jail.” Five men were allowed $5.70 each for guarding the prisoners en route to Russellville. William B. Blackburn, “attorney for the Commonwealth in this county,” received $60.00 and John D. Haussmann, the county clerk, and the sheriff, each $30.00 “for his ex-officio services.” These items, with $4.17 paid the sheriff “for summoning and attending the court,” make a total of $281.78.

«15» Maj. William Stewart was one of the most eccentric characters in early Kentucky history. His life is full of suggestions for romance and song. He was born in South Carolina about 1772, and, at the age of eighteen, “getting into some difficulties, he left his native state.” He went to Nashville, says Finley, and from there started for Henderson--possibly with the intention of continuing to Cave-in-Rock. On his way north he joined a man and wife going to the Green River country. To what extent they influenced him is not known. However, when the three travelers reached the place that later became Russellville, they decided to settle there. In 1791 he left Logan County and “after years of toil, hunting, and nobody knows what else, he finally settled in Stanford and, in 1795, became a dry goods clerk for one Ballenger”--the same man who, a few years later, went in pursuit of the Harpes. In 1796 he returned to Logan County and died there in 1852. He was the first sheriff of Logan County. Collins says: “He was one of the celebrities of the place ... faithful to his friends, and dangerous to his foes.”

Smith in a chapter devoted to Stewart calls him William Stout: “Always eccentric in his material and style of dress--often he appeared attired in an entire suit made of various colored ‘lists,’ taken from the finest broadcloths sewed together, fantastically cut and fitted to his person, while the buttons on his coat and pantaloons were quarter dollars, United States coin, with eyes attached by his own ingenuity (for he was a worker in metals) and his vest buttoned with genuine United States dimes. This dress, however, was rather for high days and holidays.... On the morning of the day on which he died, he, with but little aid, drew on his curiously constituted, many colored suit of clothes, and in that attire he died and was buried.” [121]

«16» When, in 1860, the town of Dixon was laid out to be the seat of justice for the newly established county of Webster, one of the principal streets forming the court house square was named after John Leiper and another after Moses Stegall. These pioneers were thus honored, not to show that “the evil men do lives after them,” but to reward two men whose names were “linked with one virtue” at least--that of being responsible for the capture and death of Big Harpe.

«17» Whether or not the Harpes were brothers and Big Harpe’s two “wives” were sisters is a question that can never be decided definitely by history, but it is one over which psychologists may long argue. If the two men actually were brothers and the two women actually were sisters, it is an anomaly in nature. The Harpes were not ordinary criminals. They were abnormalities in a type that is itself abnormal. It is well recognized that abnormal products of all kinds in nature are exceptions or variations and are not the rule, and that genius in creation, in destruction, in crime, in art, etc. is very seldom duplicated by the same parentage. Abnormal criminals are extremes of a type opposed to abnormal geniuses of the creative or imaginative type. Brothers or sisters in either class occur seldom, if ever. For these reasons, a parental connection between the two Harpes and between the two women may properly be doubted. It is true that Big Harpe was the heartless leader and that Little Harpe might have been an ordinary weakling, obedient to Big Harpe because he feared him or because he failed to recognize the inhumanity of the crimes he was called upon to commit. No other record is now recalled showing such a horrible partnership between blood brothers.

«18» Lewis Collins prints this description of Big Harpe in his edition of 1847, and his son and successor, Richard H. Collins, likewise republished it in his _History of Kentucky_ in 1874. By both it is credited to Colonel James Davidson. The elder Collins says Colonel Davidson was “personally cognizant of most of the circumstances.” Judge Hall’s _Harpe’s Head_ had been published in 1833 and there can be no doubt that Colonel Davidson copied his description of Big Harpe, word for word, from the book, relying upon Judge Hall’s opportunities for and good character in accuracy.

«19» It is probable that in the early days many an outlaw was “said to be” a kinsman of the Harpes. The case of Mrs. George Heatherly, referred to in the _History of Caldwell and Livingston Counties, Missouri_, 1886, is one instance discovered. The Heatherly Gang, according to this account, operated in the Upper Grand River country of northern Missouri in 1836 and a few years preceding. They robbed many white settlers and often stole horses from the Indians. “Old George Heatherly was regarded as a thief in Kentucky and Mrs. Heatherly (his wife) was a sister of the notorious Kentucky murderers and freebooters, Big and Little Harpe.... Old Mrs. Heatherly is said to have been the leading spirit of the gang, prompting and planning many a dark deed, and often assisting in its execution.” There is no proof advanced, however, that this woman was a sister of the Harpes.