merchant living in central Kentucky. In his day he made a number
of trips south, going down in flatboats and returning by way of
the old Natchez Trace. Colonel Baker had the misfortune to come in
contact with Mason at least once on land and once on water, and,
as is later shown, played an important part in the activities that
resulted in ending Mason’s career.
In the spring or summer of 1801, Colonel Baker took several
flatboats filled with produce and horses to New Orleans. After
disposing of his cargo, he set out on his return home, accompanied
by four men, each of whom rode a horse. Besides the five riding
horses there were five pack-mules in the cavalcade loaded down with
provisions, and, among other things, the proceeds of the sales made
in New Orleans. Colonel Baker and his men experienced no unusual
trouble until they reached the ford across what was then called
Twelve Mile Creek, but since known as Baker’s Creek. The place is
in Hindes County, Mississippi, about twenty miles west of Jackson
and near where the Battle of Baker’s Creek was fought on January
16, 1863. There, August 14, 1801, the Baker party was surprised
by Samuel Mason and three of his men. A paragraph relative to the
robbery that followed was published in _The Kentucky Gazette_,
September 14, 1801. It is the earliest printed record so far found
of Mason’s activities on the Natchez Trace:
“We are informed that on the 14th of August, about sixty miles
on this side of the Big Biopiere [Bayou Pierre] River, Colonel
Joshua Baker, a Mr. William Baker and a Mr. Rogers of Natchez,
were robbed of their horses, traveling utensils, and about two
thousand three hundred dollars cash. It seems the company had
halted in the morning at a small, clear stream of water in order
to wash. As soon as they had dismounted and gone to the water
four men appeared, blacked, between them and their horses and
demanded the surrender of their money and property, which they
were obliged to comply with. Mr. W. Baker was more fortunate than
his companions. A pack-horse, on which was a considerable sum of
money, being frightened at the appearance of the robbers, ran
away, and they being in haste to escape could not pursue. Mr. W.
Baker recovered his horse [pack-mule] and money. He, however, lost
his riding horse, etc. Colonel Baker and Mr. Rogers came to the
first settlement, where they procured assistance and immediately
went in pursuit of the villains. It is to be hoped they will be
apprehended. One of them who was described by Colonel Baker,
formerly resided at Red Banks. A brother of Colonel Baker, our
informant, obtained this information from Mr. W. Baker, who lodged
at his house [in Lexington, Kentucky] on Thursday night last.”
John L. Swaney, the mail-carrier, whose reminiscences have been
drawn upon, gives some different details of this incident. The
banks at Baker’s Creek are high and steep and at this crossing
there was then nothing more than a deep-cut bridle path on either
bank leading into or out of the stream. The Baker party, after more
or less difficulty, rode down to the creek. While their horses and
mules were drinking, says Swaney, Mason and his men jumped up from
where they had concealed themselves. The victims, realizing they
had been trapped and were at the mercy of the outlaws, surrendered.
Mason made them drive the pack-mules over to his side of the creek,
where two of his men took charge of them but permitted Baker and
his companions to keep their riding horses and side arms. Colonel
Baker then rode to Grindstone Ford, a distance of about forty
miles, and there raised a company to pursue the outlaws.
They followed the trail of the robbers to Pearl River, near
Jackson, Mississippi, and there learned that Mason had crossed
the stream only a few hours before. In the pursuing party was a
man named Brokus, a quadroon Indian. Brokus, according to Swaney,
stripped and swam down the river to ascertain, if possible, what
route Mason’s men had taken. While he was climbing up the bank one
of the robbers punched him in the breast with a gun. Brokus thought
he was shot and, losing his grip on the sapling to which he was
holding, fell back into the river. After considerable swimming and
diving he reached the opposite shore. Swaney ends his story of
this chase by saying: “Mason then made his appearance and notified
Colonel Baker that he would never recover his money. This seemed
to be accepted as the final arbitrament, for the pursuit of the
robbers was abandoned.”
A contributor to _The Natchez Galaxy_ in 1829, in a short article
entitled “The Robber of the Wilderness,” gives another account
of how Mason made his appearance on the banks of Pearl River and
under what circumstances Colonel Baker abandoned the chase. This
Natchez writer has it that when Colonel Baker reached the river the
pursuers took the saddles off their horses and made preparations
to rest for a few hours before resuming the chase. The tracks made
by Mason’s horses showed that his party was much smaller than
theirs. The pursuers therefore anticipated nothing other than an
unconditional surrender. They did not realize how quickly Mason
could turn to his advantage any condition that presented itself.
How the outlaw mastered the present situation is best told by the
contributor to _The Natchez Galaxy_:
“Those preliminaries being disposed of, two of the party strolled
to the bank of the river and, tempted by the coolness and beauty of
the stream, went in to bathe. In the course of their gambol they
crossed to the opposite shore, where they encountered an individual
whose society, under the present circumstances, afforded them very
little satisfaction.
“Mason, aware that he was pursued and having ascertained the
superior force of his pursuers, determined to effect by strategem
what he could not hope to do by open contest. The path into the
forest was narrow here and much beset with undergrowth; and he
placed his men in ambush so that by a sudden onset the party of
Colonel Baker on entering the woods would be thrown into confusion,
and thus be easily despatched or routed. Chance, however, produced
a success more complete than any he could have anticipated. No
sooner had the two naked and unarmed men reached the eastern shore
of the Pearl, than Mason rushed upon them before they could collect
their thoughts or comprehend their danger. He was a hale, athletic
figure, and roughly clad in the leather shirt and leggins, common
to the Indians and hunters of the frontier.
“‘I am glad to see you, gentlemen,’ said he sarcastically, ‘and
though our meeting did not promise to be quite so friendly, I am
just as well satisfied; my arms and ammunition will cost less than
I expected.’
“His prisoners were thunderstruck and totally incapable of reply.
Having placed a guard over them, Mason walked deliberately down
to the shore and hailed the party on the opposite bank, who had
witnessed the scene, that has been detailed, in amazement and
apprehension. As he approached they instinctively seized their arms.
“‘If you approach one step or raise a rifle,’ cried the robber,
‘you may bid your friends farewell. There is no hope for them but
in your obedience. I want nothing but security against danger to
myself and party and this I mean to have. Stack your arms and
deposit your ammunition on the beach near the water. I will send
for them. Any violence to my messenger or the least hesitation
to perform my orders will prove certain and sudden death to your
companions. Your compliance will insure their release, and I pledge
my honor as a man to take no other advantage of my victory.’
“There was no alternative. The arms and ammunition were deposited
as Mason directed. Two of the band were despatched for them, while
a rifle was held to the head of each prisoner. No resistance was
attempted, however, by Colonel Baker or his party, and the arms
were brought across. The banditti were soon in readiness for a
march; the prisoners were dismissed with a good humored farewell;
and the dreaded Mason, true to his word, was soon lost in the
depths of the wilderness. It is hardly necessary to say that the
pursuers, disarmed, discomfitted, and a little chapfallen made the
best of their way back to ‘the settlement’.” [12L]
Shortly after the Baker robbery John Mason, a son of Samuel Mason,
was lodged in the Natchez jail charged with taking part in the
affair. It is more than likely that John Mason happened to be in
town when he was accused and arrested than that an officer brought
him in from the country. At any rate, he was tried, convicted, and
punished by whipping. It is possible that he was innocent of the
specific crime for which he was punished, for he may not have been
present when the Mason band robbed Colonel Baker. About seventy
years later George Wiley, who was a mere lad at the time this
whipping occurred, wrote a sketch on “Natchez in the Olden Times.”
In it he says:
“The old jail, too, was the scene of the first public disgrace
to the noted Mason, who afterwards, with his robber band, became
the terror of travelers from the Ohio River to New Orleans. Mason
and his son were brought to Natchez and lodged in jail, charged
with the robbery of a man named Baker, at a place now in Hindes
County where the road crosses a creek still known as Baker’s Creek.
They were defended at their trial by a distinguished lawyer named
Wallace. He, after the manner so common with lawyers, went to work
to get up a public feeling in favor of his clients, and succeeded
so well that, although the Masons were convicted, the general
sentiment was that they were innocently punished. They were both
convicted and sentenced to receive the punishment of thirty-nine
lashes and exposure in the pillory. I witnessed the flogging and
shall never forget their cries of ‘innocent’ at every blow of the
cowhide which tore the flesh from their quivering limbs, and until
the last lash was given they shrieked the same despairing cry of
‘innocent,’ ‘innocent.’ After they were released the elder Mason
said to the surrounding crowd, ‘You have witnessed our punishment
for a crime we never committed; some of you may see me punished
again but it shall be for something worthy of punishment.’ He and
his son then shaved their heads, and stripping themselves naked,
mounted their horses and yelling like Indians, rode through and out
of the town.” [26]
This account appears correct in all its details except two. Samuel
Mason’s son, John, was the only member of the Mason family arrested
and whipped. If, as stated by Wiley, two men were punished on
this occasion, the other may have been a member of Samuel Mason’s
gang. The other error is in the statement that the two prisoners
were released. It is shown later that after they were whipped they
escaped from jail by the aid of some of Mason’s men.
William Darby, another citizen of Natchez, in an account published
in _The Casket Magazine_, in 1834, tells what occurred shortly
after John Mason was whipped: “One of the jury, whose name I
omit,” writes Darby, “made himself very conspicuous at the trial
of John Mason, wishing before the whole court and audience, that
‘the rascal might be hung.’” By some means Samuel Mason received
a report of the juryman’s statement. A few weeks later this same
juror, returning to Natchez from one of the settlements, had
occasion to ride over a bridle path through a heavy canebreak. He
was suddenly confronted by Samuel Mason who stepped out of the
cane, armed with a tomahawk and rifle, and, raising the rifle,
pointed it at the surprised rider, who immediately threw up his
hands. Mason very calmly informed the juror that he had waited for
him for two days “to blow your brains out.”
The frightened man begged to be spared for the sake of his wife and
children. Mason replied that he, too, had children and loved them
as much as any other father loved his own, and that this was his
first chance to extend to him the same mercy he had shown toward
his son John. Then, as if to further prepare the captive for the
worst, Mason asked: “Did John Mason ever do you any harm? Did I
myself ever do you any injury? Did you ever hear of me committing
murder, or suffering murder to be committed?” Mason shrewdly
omitted the words, “except when necessary.” The juror answered:
“Never in my life.” “Thank God, I have never shed blood,” declared
Mason with great earnestness, “but now, come down off your horse,
Sir. If you have anything to say to your Maker, I’ll give you five
minutes to say it.”
“The terrified man,” continues Darby, “sank off the horse and fell
on his knees, uttering a fervent prayer, addressed rather to the
man who stood beside him with his gun cocked. At length, his words
failed him and he burst into a violent shower of tears. The man
himself, who afterward related the whole circumstance, and could
scarce ever do so without tears at the remembrance, said he every
moment expected death; but Mason, regarding him with a bitter
smile, swore his life was not worth taking, wheeled around and in
an instant disappeared amongst the cane.”
Colonel Baker returned to Kentucky and reports of the daring
robbery on the Natchez Trace and of his unsuccessful attempt to
capture Samuel Mason were circulated throughout the country.
Monette says that about the time the Baker robbery occurred
“the outrages of Mason became more frequent and sanguinary” and
that “the name of Mason and his band was known and dreaded from
the morasses of the southern frontier to the silent shades of
the Tennessee River.” Mason’s depredations must have been many,
although authenticated records of only a few specific instances are
now found.
It is probable a number of his victims did not survive to tell the
tale, for the wide-awake outlaw realized that along the trails and
on the river, as at Cave-in-Rock, his greatest safety lay in the
fact that “dead men tell no tales.” Those who were permitted to
survive had been treated in such a manner that they would be more
likely to describe Mason as a shrewd robber than a cruel murderer,
and, it seems, most survivors were careful not to condemn him too
severely lest one of his “agents” silence their tongues with a
dagger. Mason usually kept an intelligent man at Natchez to observe
the character of the outfits obtained by those preparing to travel
over the trail. Thus he often received advance notice of the
approach of travelers and information in regard to their strength.
[26] As is shown later, Mason had at least one agent, Anthony
Gass, of Natchez, who managed to dispose of the stolen goods turned
over to him. The probabilities were, as asserted by a Spanish
official, that this robber had “firm abettors” throughout the Ohio
and Mississippi valleys.
In those days many a traveler was never heard from after he left
home. In some instances it was because he died a stranger in a
strange land, or was murdered but never missed except by his people
far away, who had no means of learning of his whereabouts or fate.
Sooner or later, the impression would prevail among them that the
missing man was actually or probably killed and robbed. And since
Mason was the most widely known among the outlaws in his day, he
was usually selected as the man at the bottom of the mystery.
An example of such a supposition occurs as an incident in the
life of the grandmother of W. L. Harper, of Jefferson County,
Mississippi. She lived along the old Natchez Trace and frequently
accommodated travelers with food and shelter. On one occasion
a young Kentuckian stopped at her house and, becoming ill, was
obliged to remain several weeks. His conduct and bearing were such
that the old lady took a motherly interest in him. Before he left
“she actually quilted all his six hundred dollars in his coat and
vest, partly to distribute his load, but chiefly to deceive the
robbers then infesting the road. She heard no more of him, but the
supposition was that he was another of Mason’s victims.” [81]
A few months after William C. C. Claiborne took his seat as
governor of the Mississippi Territory he found it necessary to
make an investigation of the robberies on the Mississippi River.
On February 10, 1802, he wrote to Manuel de Salcedo, the Spanish
Governor General of the Province of Louisiana, residing at New
Orleans, informing him that he had received notice of “a daring
robbery which had lately been committed upon some citizens of the
United States who were descending the River Mississippi on their
passage to this town”--Natchez--and that it was uncertain whether
the persons guilty of this act of piracy were Spanish subjects or
American citizens.
[Illustration: MAP SHOWING CAVE-IN-ROCK AND THE NATCHEZ TRACE, 1814]
To 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 that he had
given his officers “the most positive orders ... to take the most
efficacious means of discovering and apprehending the criminal or
criminals that can be adopted ... and I assure your Excellency that
if the criminals are taken they will be punished in such a manner
as to serve as an example to others.” He complained that the people
of “the States and Western Settlements ... having the freedom
and use of the navigation of the Mississippi” came down into the
Spanish territory in great numbers, among whom are “vagabonds ...
who have fled from, or who do not, or can not return to, the United
States.” [113]
Each governor was willing to arrest highway robbers and river
pirates on his own side of the Mississippi, but neither could
suggest to the other that if it became necessary for any pursuing
party to cross the river into foreign territory, such pursuers
might continue the chase without a special permit. Samuel Mason
evidently understood and foresaw this condition of international
affairs. He had purposely avoided committing crimes on the Spanish
side, and now that his notoriety would, in all probability,
result in his being hunted along the Natchez Trace, he moved to
the Mississippi, there to confine his operations to the river and
its American bank, on the very border of a comparatively safe and
easily reached land of refuge.
The Baker robbery was in a sense nothing more than another link
in Mason’s long chain of crimes. Colonel Baker was not daunted by
the loss of his money and his failure to capture Mason, for the
following spring he started down the river again in a flatboat
loaded with merchandise. He supplied himself with guns, not only
to protect his boat, but also to better prepare himself for
his return home over the dangerous Trace. Some time in April,
1802, when his boat reached a point below Vicksburg, then known
as Walnut Hills and Nogales, he came in contact with Mason and
some of his men. Colonel Baker wrote a statement giving the
details of this attack and forwarded it to Governor Claiborne of
Mississippi. Colonel Baker’s written statement cannot be found.
Its effect, however, is shown by the fact that upon receipt of it
Governor Claiborne, who was aware that outlaws had long infested
the frontier, more fully realized the necessity for action. The
governor sent out three official letters from the capital of
Mississippi Territory, each dated, “Town of Washington, April 27,
1802.” [113]
The first was written to Colonel Daniel Burnett, at Fort Gibson,
who was in command of the militia in Claiborne County. It is here
quoted in full from Dunbar Rowland’s _Official Letter Books of
W. C. C. Claiborne_:
TOWN OF WASHINGTON, APRIL 27, 1802--
“Sir,--I have received information that a set of pirates and
robbers who alternately infest the Mississippi River and the
road leading from this district to Tennessee, rendezvous at or
near the Walnut Hills, in the County of Claiborne:--a certain
Samuel Mason and a man by the name of Harp, are said to be the
leaders of this banditti:--they lately attempted in a hostile
manner to board the boat of Colo[nel] Joshua Baker, between the
mouth of Yazou River, and the Walnut Hills, but were prevented
by Colo[nel] Baker’s making a shew of arms, and manifesting a
great share of firmness. These men must be arrested; the honor
of our country, the interest of society, and the feelings of
humanity, proclaim that it is time to stop their career; The
crimes of Harp, are many and great, and in point of baseness,
Mason is nearly as celebrated:--While these sons of rapine and
murder are permitted to rove at large, we may expect daily to
hear of _outrages_ upon the lives and properties of our fellow
citizens.
“The militia of your regiment not being organized, I presume
it would not be in your power, to execute (strictly) a
military order, I shall therefore only request, that you will
immediately endeavor to procure fifteen or twenty men as
volunteers, and place yourself, or some confidential character
at their head.
“This little force will then proceed to the Walnut Hills,
and after making the due examination and enquiry at that
place, they will examine the woods in the neighborhood of the
Mississippi as high up as Yazou; If you should fall in with
Mason and his party you will use all the means in your power to
arrest them, or any of them, and I desire, that the person or
persons arrested, may immediately be conveyed under a strong
guard to Natchez.
“I hope that the honor of taking these lawless men, will be
conferred upon the citizens of your neighborhood; should they
succeed, I promise them a very generous reward.
“I have written to Lieutenant Rennick upon this subject, and it
is probable, he will give you all the aid in his power.
“With great respect & esteem.
“I am sir, your Hble--Servt:
“WILLIAM C. C. CLAIBORNE
“P. S. For your information, I have enclosed you the statement
made by Colo[nel] Baker to me, of the late attempt made to rob
him.
“W. C. C. C.
“COLO[NEL] DANIEL BURNETT--”
Another letter was sent to Lieutenant Seymour Rennick, who was
in command of a detachment of United States troops at Grindstone
Ford on the Natchez Trace. In it the governor referred to the
attack made on Colonel Baker’s boat and stated that “a certain
Samuel Mason and a certain Wiley Harp ... have been in the habit
of committing with impunity murders and robberies.... I think it
is probable they may be found at or near the Walnut Hills; at that
place the wife of John Mason resides.” He suggested to this officer
that the federal government furnish Colonel Burnett with a sergeant
and twelve men.
The third letter was addressed “To the Officer commanding the
United States Troops near the mouth of Bear Creek on the Tennessee
River.” In it Governor Claiborne writes that: “I have received
information that the road from this territory to Tennessee is
infested by a daring set of robbers, among them are a certain
Samuel Mason and a certain Wiley Harp ... I hope, Sir, that if you
should receive information of any mischief being done or attempted
in the wilderness you will immediately order out a party of men,
and make the necessary exertions to arrest the offenders.”
The lower Mississippi valley was now aroused. Mason had become
a terror in a frontier country that was more or less accustomed
to lawlessness and bloodshed. His robberies were current history
and the whereabouts of Wiley Harpe was a discussed but unsolved
question. A little more than two years before Governor Claiborne
began to move toward the arrest of Mason, the news that Big Harpe
had been captured and beheaded in Kentucky near Cave-in-Rock
(Mason’s one-time headquarters) had rapidly spread throughout the
country. With the report also had come the warning that Little, or
Wiley Harpe, had escaped and fled south. Up to this time--April,
1802--there was nothing to point out the actual or probable
whereabouts of the missing Harpe. No mention of any murders
committed by him appeared in the current newspapers. Indications
and hopes were that he had left the country for good or had been
killed. Governor Claiborne probably had heard from others besides
Colonel Baker that Wiley Harpe was one of Mason’s men. Even though
he was not convinced of Harpe’s presence on the Mississippi, he
knew that by linking the names of these two notorious outlaws
together, the public would more fully realize the desperate
character of Mason and therefore take a more active interest in his
capture.