Category: Crime, Thrillers and Mystery
This book is intended to give the authentic story of the famous Cave-in-Rock of the lower Ohio River, as collected from historic and romantic sources, and to present verified accounts of the most notorious of those highwaymen and river pirates who in the early days of the midd...
“The long night finally passed, but the heavens were still overcast. I peered along both banks--looked, hoping to see smoke curling above some cabin chimney--but there was no si...
11. Part 11We next hear of him in western Kentucky. It is likely that one of his purposes in going to that section of the country was to take up the land granted to him for services render...
9. Part 9An examination of the minute book of the old District Court preserved in Russellville, shows that on Monday, October 28, 1799, a grand jury having been empaneled, “made the foll...
15. Part 15Setton cited another instance of Mrs. John Mason’s nature. He related that one day in his presence and in the presence of two or three of the Masons, Barret, who had lately show...
16. Part 16In 1803 New Madrid was a frontier settlement about fourteen years old. It was a military post occupied by a small force of soldiers and a town with a population of about eight h...
5. Part 5John Farris Sr. swore that on Tuesday night, December 12, 1798: “a man came to his house on the Wilderness Road who called himself Thomas Langford and who, after he had told him...
20. Part 20It is said that the inscription placed on the grave of William was dictated by James Ford. Beginning a short time before the death of his two sons, many accusations against Will...
23. Part 23«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...
14. Part 14At six o’clock in the morning George Ruddell informed Captain McCoy that the Masons had their horses saddled and loaded with baggage and were on the point of leaving for New Mad...
4. Part 4About the year 1840 Colonel G. W. Sevier, son of Governor John Sevier, in an interview with Lyman C. Draper, the historian, stated that Big Harpe, when asked shortly before he w...
10. Part 10It is a vivid, splendid sketch full-length; a portraiture in full keeping with the idea of a super-criminal and his crimes. In all points except one it is sustained as to its fa...
7. Part 7This account, because it lacks verification, is not here presented as one true in its details. It is known, however, that as a result of this tragedy or because of some other at...
18. Part 18On another occasion when sorely pressed he took refuge with a Mrs. Hammack, who was an old-time Methodist living in that part of the country. She treated him so kindly that he d...
12. Part 12It is more than likely that Mason had committed a number of crimes along the Natchez Trace before he appeared in New Madrid in March, 1800. Many pioneers traveling over this rou...
6. Part 6How many men, women, and children these two brothers killed and what course they followed while rushing through the lower Green River country and the Ohio Valley between Henders...
3. Part 3The outlaws at Cave-in-Rock turned to their advantage the suggestion published in _The Navigator_. About ten miles above the Cave, near Battery Rock, or on what has long since b...
2. Part 2The mounds are additional evidence to this effect. These were opened many years ago and have since been plowed over often. Each contained, it is said, from five to ten human ske...
8. Part 8“After they broke and ran, the outlaws were instantly out of sight. A little search enabled the pursuers to discover the camp, which proved to be a natural room perhaps fifteen...
17. Part 17How Little Harpe and May escaped is not known. While at Natchez they may have been indicted for Mason’s murder. If so, having killed Mason in compliance with the governor’s proc...
1. Part 1This book is intended to give the authentic story of the famous Cave-in-Rock of the lower Ohio River, as collected from historic and romantic sources, and to present verified ac...
13. Part 13To this the Governor General replied on February 28, saying among other things that “It is truly impossible to determine whether the delinquents are Spaniards or Americans” and...
24. Part 24“An old feud existed between him and the father-in-law of a man named Simpson, and Ford killed his enemy. Simpson gathered a crowd of friends and went armed to Ford’s house for...
21. Part 21Nancy 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 Ohi...
22. Part 22JAMES, EDWIN. Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, from Notes of Major Stephen H. Long (Philadelphia, 1823); in Thwaites, Early Western Travels, vol....
25. Part 25Mason, Samuel: 14, 25, 29, 37, 46–48, 52; ancestry of, 157, 158, 217, 218; personal appearance of, 244, 245; Revolutionary soldier, 158–163, 165, 226;... In Va. and Tenn., 163–1...