Part 15

Setton 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 shown signs of being dissatisfied with the treatment he received, declared he would denounce the whole family. Mrs. Mason, hearing this, immediately jumped up in a rage, knocked Barret’s hat off his head and shouted: “Monster, you are not going to denounce me or any of us!” She was about to plunge a long knife into Barret’s heart, when Thomas interfered, saying: “It is better to part as friends than to part after a fight,” and peace was restored.

After Setton’s testimony had been heard, the Commandant on the following day, January 20, ordered Samuel Mason to appear again. Mason admitted that he had, in a way, detained Setton, but did so in justice to himself and his sons. The Owsley boat, he swore in his explanation, had been robbed in April, 1802, and immediately thereafter the rumor had become current that the Masons were the guilty men. Mason declared that Owsley did not know by whom he and his five boatmen had been robbed, but in recounting the affair Owsley referred to two incidents which in themselves were sufficient to distinguish this robbery from any other. The first was that after the boat had been plundered, one of the three robbers returned five dollars to one of Owsley’s boatmen who had been seriously wounded during the short battle that took place before the boat was captured. The other incident was that after the robbery the outlaws placed a sign on a tree, reading, “Done by Samuel Mason of the Woods.” John and Thomas had heard this account a number of times and every version had it that Samuel Mason was accused of the work.

When his two sons first met Setton and Wiguens, who were strangers to them, Setton told them the details of the Owsley robbery, including these two incidents, and a few hours later, after the brothers had made a more favorable impression, Setton confided in them, saying he and Wiguens and also Gibson were among the perpetrators of the robbery. John and Thomas Mason, then recognizing in the two men the outlaws who had committed at least one of the robberies of which their father was being accused, decided to entice Setton and Wiguens to join them and in the meantime seek an opportunity to force them into a public declaration of their guilt and thus vindicate the Mason family. They succeeded in detaining Setton, admitted Samuel Mason, but Wiguens escaped.

Samuel Mason, in his comments on the Baker boat robbery, stated that a few days after the boat had been pillaged, Colonel Baker and a number of other men came to the Mason home near Natchez. The moment Baker saw John he ordered his arrest, saying, “I could pick him out of a thousand.” The father proceeded to explain to the Commandant that Baker’s mistake could be easily explained, as John Mason and Wiguens resembled each other very much, and added that shortly after Wiguens and Setton first met his two sons, Wiguens told John confidentially that he, Setton, Bassett, Gibson, Fulsom, Phillips, and others were in the Baker robbery.

Going into details, Mason explained that, according to Setton’s version, Bassett, Fulsom and Phillips were the men who bought for cash all the guns Baker had on hand and left the boatmen under the impression that these arms were to be used in a search for the Mason gang. Setton then told him confidentially that he and the other members of their band, by prearrangement, appeared shortly thereafter and robbed Baker of all his money and as much of the goods as they could carry. Fulsom, in order to inspire courage in the raiders, assured them they need not fear any pursuing party which Baker might organize, for he (Fulsom) could on very short notice, muster and command five hundred Chacquetaw Indians who would easily annihilate the revenge-seeking Baker. Setton, in concluding his account to the Masons, laughingly remarked that it was strange that two men looking so much alike should be “involved” in the same robbery, and that the guilty man should not be suspected and the innocent one be accused. Shortly after this Wiguens suddenly disappeared, very much to the disappointment of the Masons, who now realized the necessity of guarding Setton more closely.

Samuel Mason (digressing to another Baker robbery) asserted that after Baker had been robbed on the Natchez Trace, Baker and the officers came to arrest John. John submitted immediately, feeling confident that his innocence would be speedily proven. He could have vindicated himself had not some of Bassett’s friends refused to declare that they saw John many miles from the scene of the robbery when it occurred. After he had been in prison about two months “he was liberated by men who did not make themselves known to him.”

The Baker highway robbery having taken place on the American side and the Owsley robbery on the Spanish side, John, fearing he would be arrested on either side of the river, took his family and hid in the woods for a number of weeks. He hoped that in the meantime his innocence would become established by the guilty parties being brought to justice. But, instead, suspicion against him and against the entire Mason family grew stronger day by day.

Samuel Mason admitted that he had brought John Setton before a magistrate. He further stated that a number of things found in their possession the day of the arrest in Little Prairie were taken by them from Setton and held as evidence of his connection with some of the robberies of which the Masons were accused.

He asserted that after he had urgently requested Setton to declare his (Setton’s) crime before a magistrate, and thus, perhaps, receive clemency, “he consented to do so.” He and Setton then went “about twelve miles below Nogales” to the office of William Downs, a magistrate. Mason carried with him a pistol Setton told him he had procured as a part of his booty from the raid on the Owsley boat. William Downs “received Setton’s confession but was not able to take his oath, as he had no sheriff on guard with him.” Mason then, without informing Setton, went in search of Anthony Glass, who, it was rumored, was part owner of the Owsley boat, to have him serve as a witness to the affidavit. Mrs. Glass implored her husband not to act, for she feared his doing so might lead to the exposure of her brother, one Bassett, who had participated in various robberies. Glass, however, pacified his wife by telling her that since Setton was a deserter any sworn statement he might make would necessarily be ignored, and then insisted that he would go to Downs and there denounce Setton as a deserter and have him placed in the hands of the military authorities.

When the two men arrived at the magistrate’s house “they discovered that Setton, suspecting some trickery, had left.” A few weeks later, Mason swore, Setton again joined the Masons and had been with them ever since. After finishing his testimony Mason suggested that “If Setton told the truth in the testimony he gave in this trial, our statements must agree.”

The next morning, January 21, John Mason appeared before the Commandant. The prisoner evidently did not know the contents of his father’s and Setton’s testimony, but he undoubtedly had some idea of how his father intended to answer many questions should they be asked. Most of his testimony agreed, in the main, with his father’s. He tried to show the Commandant that he had long attempted to “vindicate” and “establish” himself and to live “a decent life.” He said he had escaped from prison because he realized that the defense of his name required his personal attention. He swore that practically all he knew about the various robberies regarding which he was questioned, was through reports he had heard from John Setton, alias John Taylor alias Wells, and from Druck Smith, alias Smith Gibson. He insisted he had never seen Phillips, Fulsom, and the other Gibson referred to.

The question of how the Masons came into possession of the eight horses had not been asked before. John Mason accounted for each by giving the details of a purchase or trade. He was asked why “he pursued the two Frenchmen in a boat until they had reached a safe harbor.” His explanation was that he, Thomas, and Setton were on the river and followed these men, suspecting them to be robbers involved in some of the acts of which the Masons were accused. He hoped that if they were he would succeed in having them verify Setton’s declaration of his own guilt. When the two men reached Nogales his boat was on the point of overtaking them. He then discovered that they were French officials and the pursuit was dropped without giving the men any reasons for the chase.

He swore that most of the notes and paper money found in their possession belonged to Setton, who claimed he had “found it in a bag hanging on a bush near the road,” and who on one occasion remarked that since then he had more money than he could use. John Mason added that this statement convinced him that Setton had stolen the money.

The record of this sworn statement made by John Mason is abruptly followed by “And the prisoner being asked by the interpreter whether he had anything further to say or anything to unsay, he answered ‘No,’ but requested, as his father had done before him, that we do not hand him over to the United States Government, and after his declaration was read to him, he persisted that it was true.”

Thomas Mason followed his brother John and, like him, gave evidence that agreed, in the main, with his father’s. He swore his occupation was “farming and harvesting” and “bringing down flour and whiskey” in boats. He admitted that he had heard of the Baker and Owsley robberies but claimed he knew none of the details except those told to him by Setton, and these he repeated.

When he was asked about Setton’s appearance before the magistrate, he answered that he had accompanied him to Downs’ but did not force him to make an affidavit. He added that John Mason had received a message from the Governor of Natchez to the effect that if he produced a witness who would turn state’s evidence it would “tend to clear him of his guilt;” hence, their anxiety to have Setton make a declaration.

After hearing Thomas Mason’s version of the subjects that had been discussed by the preceding witnesses, the Commandant, who evidently had been informed that day that the Masons had also maneuvered further north, asked him whether or not he knew a man named Mosique and the two Duff brothers while in Illinois. He answered he had heard of them and understood that one of the brothers had been killed by Indians. His answers to other questions were to the effect that he knew nothing of the robbing of a negro in St. Louis, of a man named Lecompte, and of a stolen negro woman who had been sold to a priest named Manuel. The officer then asked him whether or not he was aware that the Masons were accused of these crimes, “but the witness continued to profess he had never heard of them.”

The fifth prisoner was Marguerite Douglas, wife of John Mason. She swore she had been married eight years. She answered that to her “keen regret” she had heard of the robberies of which her husband and the other Masons were “so falsely accused.” Her knowledge of these acts, she swore, was based solely on hearsay. Among other things, she said Setton told her that robbing the Baker boat proved as easy “as robbing some old woman.” She also swore she knew nothing about the paper money found in their possession and could not account for the money and goods discovered among her personal belongings other than by suggesting that in packing up so hurriedly she may have placed some of Setton’s personal property in her bag.

Samuel Mason Jr., in his testimony stated that he was eighteen years old and that he had lived with his parents all the time until about three months previous. He said his father and brothers had left his mother at Bayou Pierre--between Natchez and Vicksburg--and were away for the purpose of establishing a new home, and that she was now ill and living with her daughter, Mrs. Philip Briscoe. The Commandant remarked to him: “You ought to speak the truth for you have a mother, who, it is reported, is a good and honorable woman, and you ought not to be mixed up in the wickedness of your father and brothers, who, it is said, are guilty of many thefts and robberies.” The answers he gave to the few questions asked him agreed with those given by his father.

Magnus Mason, the last of the prisoners, was called upon January 24. He stated he was about sixteen years old and was born “in Kentucky on the south side of Green River.” (The others had claimed Pennsylvania as their native state.) In answer to questions he stated that he had lived “part of his time with his father in Kentucky and part with his mother in Bayou Pierre near Natchez.” He declared his father had spent practically all of the past two years away from home trying “to discover men who were committing the robberies.”«28»

The next witness was Dr. Richard Jones Waters, the man on whose recommendation the passport had been granted to Samuel Mason. Dr. Waters said he first met Mason in 1791 or 1792 at “Red Banks on the Ohio,” (now Henderson, Kentucky) which was after he (Dr. Waters) had settled in New Madrid. He had been traveling in America and on his return, coming to the Ohio River, engaged Charles Lafond, a merchant, and two other men who were on their way to New Orleans, to take him down as far as New Madrid. When the boat reached the Falls of the Ohio (Louisville) Lafond, hearing that he intended to remain there a few days, asked permission to let the boat proceed to Red Banks, where Lafond expected to dispose of some of the goods on board. The permission was granted on condition that Lafond, without fail, wait for him there. In due time he (Dr. Waters) reached Red Banks and then met Samuel Mason for the first time. Mason claimed that Lafond had gone fishing a few days before and, in the meantime, started his boat south. He (Dr. Waters) did not know whether or not Lafond and his boat ever reached New Orleans, and not until recently, had he suspected foul play.

A year after this, continued Dr. Waters, he was traveling down the Ohio River, stopped at Red Banks and, to his surprise, met Samuel Mason again. Mason asked him to come to the house to prescribe for Mrs. Mason who was sick in bed. The doctor complied and the result was a trade in which Mason bought seventy dollars worth of medicine and merchandise, paying forty dollars in meat and giving him a demand note for thirty dollars on Felic Concer, of New Madrid. But when he arrived at New Madrid he learned that Concer had left for parts unknown. In 1798, however, Mason paid the note. He then saw nothing more of Mason until March, 1800, when he met him and his son Thomas and a man by the name of Smith who said they had come to New Madrid for drugs. They purchased some medicine from him for Mrs. John Mason and other members of the family and paid for it with merchandise which they claimed they had bought from a store boat. A few days later Samuel Mason called again, not to buy medicine but to ask his assistance in procuring a passport for land on Spanish territory. This he was, at first, unwilling to give, for, although he knew nothing unfavorable concerning the family, he was not assured of their character. After the old man had pleaded with him and declared that although rumor had done all the Masons great injustice he would never regret the endorsement of his character, he procured a passport, giving to the clerk at the time a history of his acquaintance with Mason. A few days afterward Thomas Mason informed him that he was obliged to go to Kentucky to straighten out some business affairs before he settled on the land that would be granted them. He entrusted Thomas Mason with “some valuable papers for delivery at the Falls of the Ohio.” These papers reached their destination but much later than Thomas had promised. No explanation of the delay was offered or demanded.

The record of the proceedings shows that January 26 was devoted by the officials to inspecting the belongings of the Masons and approximating their value. The saddles and pistols referred to by Setton were found as described by him. There was also discovered some “twenty twists of human hair of different shades which do not seem to have been cut off voluntarily by those to whom the hair belonged.” These and a number of other evidences were laid aside by the inspectors. The belongings were estimated at about six hundred dollars in value. The silver and paper money amounted to seven thousand dollars, much of which, however, “appears to be counterfeit.”

The next day Francois Derousser, a citizen of New Madrid, came forward, stating that he had an important declaration to make concerning the prisoners. He explained that he was a native of Illinois and that in 1791, when he and his family were coming down the Ohio River and had reached a point near Red Banks, where they happened to make a landing, a man--the one he now recognized among the prisoners as Samuel Mason--stepped up to him and, pushing a gun against his stomach, threatened to shoot him if he did not follow. He was led into a hut, where several persons were sitting. Immediately after entering, Samuel Mason shouted: “This is the man who stole my horses and slaves and sold them to the Indians,” and, looking around for a rope, Mason seemed to be making preparations to hang him at once. He finally convinced Mason that he could not possibly have been guilty of the thefts.

After keeping him in chains all night, continued Derousser, Mason permitted him to leave, but while he was making some repairs on his boat to resume his trip, Mason came to him and persuaded him to remain two months and work with the Mason boys. Mason promised him a certain quantity of linen, calico, and bed covers for his services and, needing these badly for his family, he accepted the proposition. At the end of the specified time the promised goods were given to him; but three hours after he had received them and while on his way to his boat, Samuel Mason and a Captain Bradley overtook him and robbed him of all the goods. That night he managed to return to his boat and with the aid of Eustache Peltier succeeded in cutting the ice from around it. He started down the river, and after much suffering from cold and hunger he and his family finally landed at New Madrid, where they had lived ever since.

Eustache Peltier appeared before the Commandant, confirmed the declaration made by Derousser, and added that he had heard that a certain Lafond, “an European merchant with an emporium of goods in New Orleans,” had stopped at the Mason’s house near Red Banks one night about the time he and Derousser made their escape, but neither the merchant nor the boat in which he traveled had been heard from since.

Pierre Billeth, another citizen of New Madrid, declared that he knew some facts bearing on the Masons and felt it his duty to report them. He related to the Commandant that during an excursion in August, 1798, on the Cumberland River, near the mouth, he heard a negro woman belonging to Samuel Mason tell Rees Jones and James Downs that her master had forced her to help dispose of the body of one of his victims. She declared that Mason after stabbing and robbing the man had commanded her to help tie a rope around his neck and drag the body to the Ohio, where they threw it in to the water. This same woman had been stolen by Mason and later sold at public auction by Sheriff James Downs, then of Kaskaskia, to Father Manuel, a priest, who lived near St. Genevieve.

All the witnesses having been examined, and the declarations and proclamations heard, the Commandant January 29, 1803, ordered an itemized account of the cost of the trial, including the expenses incurred in making the arrest at Little Prairie. The account rendered shows that the largest single item was for “the sergeant and nineteen militiamen for seventeen days’ guard and sentinel watch of prisoners, at one piaster per day, three hundred and forty piasters.” Twenty-two men, besides the officers, were employed in making the arrest and bringing the prisoners to New Madrid, for which they received one hundred and seventy-six piasters. Another item reads, “irons and cuffs made for prisoners, eight piasters.” The total expense is given as one thousand fifty-three piasters, or about one thousand dollars.

The last entry is dated January 31, 1803, and, like all the others, is presented in monotonous legal phraseology. It ends with the statement that: “We [the Commandant] hereby direct that the proceedings of this trial, originally set down in writing on ninety-one sheets of paper written on both sides, as well as the pieces of evidence tending to conviction, together with seven thousand piasters in U. S. banknotes, be forwarded to the Honorable Governor General by Don Robert McCoy, Captain of the Militia, whom we have charged to conduct the prisoners, Mason and consorts, to New Orleans with the view of their trial being continued and finished, if it so please the Honorable Governor General.”

And here ends the record of the preliminary trial of the Masons. Captain McCoy, having been appointed to conduct the prisoners to a higher court, made his preparations and in due time started for New Orleans.

Mason and Harpe--Double-Cross and Double Death

Out of the mass of perjury and counter-accusations brought out at this examination only one thing was clear--that is that Mason and his gang, as far as testimony and confession went, were not guilty of any crime on the Spanish side of the Mississippi. Whatever crimes they may have committed it was essential to their present safety to locate them on the American or eastern side of the river. The Spanish authorities had no power to punish them for violations of law on American territory, but the Spanish Intendant Salcedo at New Orleans had the power under the comity existing between the Spanish and American governments to deliver them up to the American authorities. The New Madrid court, therefore, ordered the prisoners to be transferred to New Orleans and brought before the intendant.

At that point in the march of events fate took relentless grip on Samuel Mason and Little Harpe, alias Setton, for their crimes. The way of atonement was as swift as its end was to be terrible. It might be quickly summarized, but there is the better way of pursuing the astonishing and dramatic story through the faded records and old scraps of publications of those times, thus getting into actual touch with the persons and with the primitive conditions under which this strange duel of two master criminals was fought out. Each feared the other; Mason, perhaps, not knowing his antagonist. The grim headsman was silently stalking both. In the language of crime fate was double-crossing both.

From New Madrid to New Orleans was a distance of about nine hundred miles and to travel it by boat in those days required more than two weeks. It was as if it had been decreed that Mason should make a farewell tour through a part of the country in which he had become so execrated. New Orleans was then the capital of the Spanish province of Louisiana, the seat of the highest court, and had been for more than three-quarters of a century the most important town on the Mississippi.