reported that Mason had been seen near Cole’s Creek, James May came
to Greenville, Mississippi--a place formerly called Hunston, some
twenty-five miles in a northeasterly direction from Natchez, and
now extinct--and gave an account of his recent contact with Mason.
James May, it will be recalled, was among the rough characters who
were driven out of Henderson County, Kentucky, about the time Mason
made his departure from there for Cave-in-Rock. May’s past career
was not yet known by the citizens to whom he made this report.
_The Palladium_, ever reliable but sometimes late, in its issue of
September 8, 1803, says:
“By a gentleman from Natchez, we are informed that about the 25th
or 26th of July, a man by the name of James May, came to Hunston,
near Natchez, and made oath before a magistrate, that sundry
articles of property and money, which he then delivered up, he had
taken from the notorious Samuel Mason, after shooting him in the
head just above the eye. May had been robbed and taken by Mason on
his passage down the river, and had joined that party. A few days
after which, the company hearing a firing of guns, Mason ordered
his party, May excepted, to hide the horses. May he directed to
hide a skiff. He took his gun with him, and on his return, whilst
Mason was counting his money to divide with the party, he shot him,
put the money and property on board the skiff, and conveyed it to
Hunston.
“A letter from Natchez, published in the Natchez paper, confirms
the above account. A letter to a gentleman in this town from his
correspondent at Natchez dated the 25th instant, makes no mention
of the above circumstance, but says: ‘The Masons have removed to
Mississippi where they have of late committed many robberies, but
no murders that I have heard of.’”
No complete file of any of the newspapers published in Natchez
from 1800 to 1805 has been found. The few stray copies, located in
various large libraries, contain nothing about Mason’s career. All
are too late or too early to embrace any current news pertaining
to him. Thus it was without success that an effort was made to
verify, by “the Natchez paper” which “confirms the above account,”
the statement regarding May’s appearance in Greenville in July,
1803, or to draw on any Natchez paper for any contemporary reports
relative to Mason.
There is nothing in history or tradition to indicate what action
was taken by the authorities after they received James May’s
report. He evidently left Greenville, but for what purpose can only
be surmised. It is highly probable that, after May presented the
“money and property” he claimed he had taken from Mason as evidence
of his having shot the outlaw for whom a reward was offered, he was
soon convinced that he had produced no positive evidence at all.
Judging from what took place a few months later, he left for the
purpose of bringing in Mason, dead or alive.
May probably had been “robbed and taken” by Mason for the same
purpose that John Setton had been detained--to be used as a witness
upon whom he might try to shift the Mason robberies. If so, May’s
pursuit of Mason for the offered reward was stimulated by a spirit
of revenge. He sallied forth, reconnoitered, and returned; but he
did not return to Greenville, nor alone. He appeared at Natchez
and was accompanied by John Setton. Setton shortly thereafter was
recognized as one of Mason’s band and both men were taken and
committed to jail some time during the latter part of October. When
they were arrested Setton, as shown by later records, claimed he
came to Natchez for the purpose of turning state’s evidence. _The
Kentucky Gazette_, of November 22, 1803, briefly touches on the
situation as it was about a month before that paper went to press:
“A letter from a gentleman at Natchez, to his correspondent in this
town, dated 20th October, contains information that the men who
robbed Mr. Elisha Winters, on his way from New Orleans, have been
taken and committed to jail; so that there is a probability of his
getting his money. They had in their possession sundry articles
taken from the party who were robbed near Bayou Pierre. One of the
robbers has turned state’s evidence against the rest; and says
that if he can be suffered to go out with a guard, he will take
them where all the papers were hid and a number of other things
with some money. The place is not more than two days’ ride, and
application has been made to the governor for the above purpose,
which will doubtless be granted.”
The hunt for Mason was now continued with even greater enthusiasm.
Besides the militia stationed at Natchez and Fort Gibson many men
were on watch for the notorious outlaw and his band. The woods
were full of robber-exterminating and reward-seeking soldiers and
civilians. Mason’s capture was inevitable. May and Setton evidently
formed a pursuing party of their own. According to one tradition,
the two men discovered Samuel Mason near Rodney, Jefferson County,
Mississippi, and, according to another, they found him near Lake
Concordia, Louisiana, not far from Natchez. They gained Mason’s
confidence and succeeded in convincing him that they had returned
in order to follow him as their leader. Then it was that Mason met
the fate he had himself invited.
Monette says: “Two of his band, tempted by the large reward,
concerted a plan by which they might obtain it. An opportunity soon
occurred, and while Mason, in company with the two conspirators,
was counting out some ill-gotten plunder, a tomahawk was buried
in his brain. His head was severed from his body and borne in
triumph to Washington, the seat of the territorial [Mississippi]
government.” Daniel Roe, in a letter published in _The Port
Folio_, August, 1825, states that the two men “took Mason’s head
to Natchez in the bow of a canoe, rolled up in blue clay, or mud,
to prevent putrefaction.” Resuming Monette’s account: “The head
of Mason was recognized by many, and identified by all who read
the proclamation, as the head entirely corresponded with the
description given of certain scars and peculiar marks. Some delay,
however, occurred in paying over the reward, owing to the slender
state of the treasury. Meantime, a great assemblage from all the
adjacent country had taken place, to view the grim and ghastly head
of the robber chief. They were not less inspired with curiosity to
see and converse with the individuals whose prowess had delivered
the country of so great a scourge.”«30»
One version, which first appeared in print about 1876, has it
that “Many fully identified the head by certain marks thereon,
except his wife who as positively denied it.... The Governor had
sent his carriage for her expressly to come down and testify ...
and many believed Mason fled the country and died in his bed in
Canada.... Mason’s family [probably his wife and youngest son] then
resided in this county, not far from old Shankstown, and his wife
was generally respected as an honest and virtuous woman by all
her neighbors, and one of her sons was a worthy citizen of Warren
County not many years ago.” This is quoted in Claiborne’s history
from a “Centennial Address” delivered by Captain W. L. Harper,
of Jefferson County, Mississippi. In 1891 Robert Lowry published
a statement in his _History of Mississippi_, without citing any
authority, that “One of Mason’s gang killed an innocent man, cut
off his head, carried it to the Governor of Mississippi and claimed
the reward.”
May, as already seen, claimed that he had been a victim of Mason
and, a few months previous, had declared he could find and capture
the notorious robber. Setton, on the other hand, having expressed
a desire to turn state’s evidence, admitted having been connected
with the outlaw. The situation was interesting, for it was an
unusual one. The head, having been identified as Samuel Mason’s,
the two heroes of the occasion went before a judge to make an
affidavit and to get an order on the governor for the payment of
the reward. “But just as the judge was in the act of making out a
certificate,” writes Claiborne in his _History of Mississippi_,
“a traveler stepped into the court room and requested to have the
two men arrested. He had alighted at the tavern, had repaired to
the stable to see his horse attended to, and there saw the horses
of the two men who had arrived just before him. He recognized the
horses (principally because each had a peculiar blaze in the face)
as belonging to parties who had robbed him and killed one of his
companions some two months previous on the Natchez Trace, and going
into the court house, he identified the two men.”
Suspicion was immediately aroused. This declaration not only
showed that May, who complained of being robbed, was a robber
himself, but it also indicated that the “reformed” Setton as well
as the “victimized” May, had committed at least one robbery since
they left Greenville in search of Mason. Who are May and Setton,
and where do they come from, and what have they been doing for a
living? Such questions were asked. Absolutely nothing was known
about May. As to Setton, their information was limited to the
report that he had been “badly treated” by Mason; some may have
known that he had traveled under assumed names, but evidently none
yet suspected he was Little Harpe.
The next step in the development of their careers is given in one
of Draper’s manuscripts written after an interview with Colonel
John Stump, who was born in 1776: “In the winter of 1803–4 old
Captain Frederick Stump, commanding a company under Colonel George
Doherty, went as far as Natchez to aid in taking possession
of Louisiana. There Captain Stump, by invitation of Governor
Claiborne, an old friend, made his quarters, and was present when
Setton and May came with Mason’s head to claim the reward of one
thousand dollars. The Governor told them to call at a stated time
and the check would be ready for them. After they had gone Captain
Stump said he believed that Setton was really Little Harpe.... The
description of Little Harpe so well corresponded with Setton’s
appearance that it was agreed to arrest them both.... It was
proclaimed at the landing of Natchez that it was believed that
Wiley Harpe was taken, and if any Kentucky boatman had any personal
knowledge of him, they were desired to examine the prisoner. Five
boatmen recognized him and gave in their evidence to that effect.
Some of them were witnesses in the Harpe case when they broke from
the Danville jail. Said one of these boatmen before seeing him: ‘If
he is Harpe he has a mole on his neck and two toes grown together
on one foot.’ And so it proved, and the fellow with such positive
proof against him shed tears.” [121]
Shortly after this, John Bowman, of Knoxville, Tennessee, called
in to see the two men. He recognized Little Harpe. “Little Harpe
denied the name, but Bowman persisted and said, ‘if you are Harpe
you have a scar under your left nipple where I cut you in a
difficulty we had at Knoxville.’ Bowman tore the man’s shirt open
and there was the scar.” [26]
Up to this time, Little Harpe, under the names of John Taylor,
John Setton, and Wells, had succeeded in concealing his identity.
He now realized that even though he turned state’s evidence
against the Masons, the history of his own terrible career in
Tennessee and Kentucky and at Cave-in-Rock was too well and widely
known for him to expect any mercy, no matter how important his
revelations regarding the Masons might be. At New Madrid he had a
narrow escape from being identified. After he and the Masons were
captured and taken to the Spanish prison, it was rumored that one
of the prisoners was “a fellow who calls himself Taylor but who
is supposed to be that notorious villain and murderer Harpe.” A
statement to that effect was written in a letter dated January 24,
1804, and published six weeks later in _The Western Spy_. But, as
already seen, he had sworn before the New Madrid court, as John
Setton, that he had met a man by the name of Harpe who had been
killed and, when further questioned, declared that he knew nothing
regarding the whereabouts of Little Harpe. Although his identity
was now well established, he, in self-defense, persisted in denying
the name. Escape was his only hope.
Nothing was then known about James May’s past other than his recent
acts connected with the beheading of Mason and his attempted
apprehension of the Mason band. These acts in themselves exposed
him as a man of such a treacherous character that he could expect
no mercy nor any reward. On the other hand, should he be identified
as one of the men who had been driven out of Henderson County,
Kentucky, and be accused of Cave-in-Rock murders and robberies,
then nothing but the severest punishment that could be inflicted
upon him might be expected. With him, as with Little Harpe, escape
was his only hope. And both escaped.«31»
How 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 proclamation to
capture the outlaw dead or alive, they were acquitted. William
Darby, then living near Natchez, writes that the two prisoners
“learning their danger fled from Natchez, but were taken in
Jefferson County, Mississippi, and confined in jail and in due
time, tried and convicted....” They were tried before the Circuit
Court in Greenville, in January, 1804, as is shown by the few
existing entries made in the now mutilated docket book of that
court. No record of the court proceedings was found, although a
careful search was made.
The first entry found in the docket book is dated Friday, January
13, 1804. The court was presided over by Peter B. Bruin, David
Ker, and Thomas Rodney, who were among the best known men in
Mississippi. It is an interesting fact that when Aaron Burr was
arrested the following year on Cole’s Creek, near Greenville, he
was tried in Washington, Mississippi, before two of these same
judges, the third, Judge Ker, having died of pneumonia contracted
while serving at the trial of Harpe and May. William Downs, as
foreman of the grand jury, brought in “an indictment of robbery”
against each of the prisoners: “The Territory against James May”
and “The Territory against John Setton.” Little Harpe, alias
Setton, and his co-worker May were represented by Mr. Breazeale and
Mr. Parrott. These attorneys evidently made every possible effort
to save their clients. A plea of “not guilty” had been entered.
Then followed much sparring over technicalities. They first
attempted to quash the indictment; they next claimed the court did
not have jurisdiction; and finally presented a petition for a writ
of _habeas corpus_. But all these contentions were overruled.«32»
“And for trial (each) put himself upon the country and General
Poindexter, Attorney General.” Each was tried by separate jury,
James May being the first, and each was found guilty. Then the two
attorneys came forward with “a plea of former acquittal,” but the
court rendered a decision that “the plea of former acquittal is
not sufficient in law to be considered a sufficient bar to this
indictment.” This plea of “former acquittal” leads one to infer
that when Mason’s head was brought to Natchez both men were tried
there and elsewhere for murder, and having been “acquitted” of that
charge they, in all likelihood, argued that they were therefore
also acquitted of highway robbery which was incidental to the
murder.
As already stated, the record of the proceedings containing all
these and other details of the case cannot now be found. There is
nothing to indicate who the witnesses were, except Elisha Winters,
who was “allowed the compensation allowed by law for his attendance
at this term and for traveling to and from said court one thousand
miles.” Among the few available pages of the docket book
bearing on this case is one containing two entries dated February
4, 1804. They show that the sentence passed was in the same words
for each prisoner. James May’s is the first on the record, and is
immediately followed by Little Harpe’s:
[Illustration: GALLOWS FIELD, JEFFERSON COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
Here, in 1804, two Cave-in-Rock outlaws were hanged
(From a drawing by J. Bernhard Alberts, made in 1917)]
“John Setton who has been found guilty of robbery at the present
term was this day set to the bar and the sentence of the court
pronounced upon him as follows, that on Wednesday the eighth day of
the present month he be taken to the place of execution and there
to be hung up by the neck, between the hours of ten o’clock in the
forenoon and four in the afternoon, until he is dead, dead, dead.
Which said sentence the Sheriff of Jefferson County was ordered to
carry into execution.”
On Wednesday afternoon, February 8th, Little Harpe and James May
were taken from the jail to a field about a quarter of a mile north
of the village of Greenville. There, on what has ever since been
known as “Gallows Field,” they received their well deserved reward,
but not the one they had planned to procure. They paid, with their
lives, what was, considering the atrocity of their crimes, a light
penalty.
In pioneer days the official executioner usually prepared a gallows
by fastening one end of a long beam or heavy pole in the forks of a
tree and placing the other end similarly in another tree. On this
cross timber he tied the rope with which the condemned man was to
be hanged. The prisoner, as a rule, was put on a wagon, his coffin
serving as a seat, and driven to the place of execution. Upon his
arrival the same wagon and coffin on which he rode were used as
the platform and trap of his gallows. After the suspended rope was
properly looped around his neck the condemned man was made to stand
erect on his coffin. When all details had been attended to the
horses were rushed forward, leaving the human body hung suspended
in the air. In some instances the gallows was a frame-work with a
platform in which a trap door was built.
In the hanging of Harpe and May the procedure was somewhat unusual
even for a frontier country. Two ropes were tied to a heavy pole
placed high between two trees. The two men walked from the jail to
the gallows. Each with his hands tied behind him was made to mount
a ladder; his feet were then bound and the noose fastened around
his neck. When the ladders were dropped the two bodies fell as far
as the suspended rope permitted, and thus each was “hung up by the
neck” until, as prescribed by law, he was “dead, dead, dead.” [54]
The news that Samuel Mason had at last been killed was a great
relief to the country. The fact that Little Harpe and James May
were actually hanged was a matter of equally widespread interest.
_The Guardian of Freedom_, February 20, 1804, published the
following, which was copied by a number of papers, including _The
Kentucky Gazette_ of a week later:
“Extract of a letter from a gentleman in Mississippi Territory to
his friend in this town (Frankfort) dated February 8, 1804: ‘There
have been two of Sam Mason’s party--which infested the road between
this country and Kentucky--in jail at Greenville for trial. They
were condemned last term and executed this day. One of them was
James May; the other called himself John Setton but was proved to
be the villain who was known by the name of Little or Red-headed
Harpe, and who committed so many acts of cruelty in Kentucky.’”
_The Palladium_, March 3, published a news item dated Natchez,
February 9, 1804: “Setton and May were executed at Greenville
yesterday between three and four o’clock, pursuant to their
sentence. We are informed that Setton made some confession at
the place of execution which has a tendency to implicate several
persons not heretofore suspected as parties concerned with Masons
in their depredations. May complained of the hardship of his fate;
said he had not been guilty of crimes deserving death and spoke of
the benefit he had rendered society by destroying old Mason.”
The hanging of Little Harpe and James May for highway robbery
was a fulfillment of the written law of pioneer times as well
as the unwritten law of frontier communities. But many of the
enraged citizens felt that the law of pioneer justice had not been
satisfied for the known and unknown murders committed by these two
offenders. There is nothing in history or tradition to indicate
that an attempt was made to lynch the two condemned outlaws. But
the lynch spirit evidently raged. In the words of Franklin L.
Riley, an authority on early Mississippi history: “After their
execution on the Gallows Field their heads were placed on poles,
one a short distance to the north and the other a short distance to
the west of Greenville, on the Natchez Trace.” [105]
How long these gruesome warnings to highwaymen stood along the
road and what finally became of them is not known. Each doubtless
met with a fate befitting a head so ignoble. It is not probable
that they were ever interred in the grave with the two headless
bodies. Tradition has it that the two bodies were placed in a box
and buried in a new grave yard about one hundred yards east of the
Greenville jail and court house and about the same distance north
of the hotel in the central part of the village.
This new grave yard was on the Natchez Trace and contained less
than half a dozen graves. Tradition says that an effort was made
by a number of people who had kinsmen buried in it to influence
the officials to bury elsewhere the decapitated remains of these
despised desperadoes. Their request was not granted, and the burial
was held late on the night of the execution within a few yards of
where stood one of the head-surmounted poles. The next day the
indignant men who had opposed this as a burial place for the two
villains, exhumed their dead and removed the remains about a half
mile south of Greenville and there began a new burying ground which
today is known as Bellegrove Church Yard.«33»
What attempts were made to collect the reward offered for the
capture of Mason? What became of the Masons? It is probable these
questions can never be fully answered. The court records showing
the total expense involved in the trial and transportation of
the Masons, and in the trial and execution of Little Harpe and
James May, have not been found. These expenses were paid by the
territorial and federal governments. One of Governor Claiborne’s
letters [113] shows that in January, 1806, one Seth Caston
“exhibited demands for one hundred dollars for apprehending and
bringing to justice” these two notorious outlaws. There is
nothing indicating the character of Caston’s claim; nor is there
anything to show whether or not he received any money. Harpe and
May were entitled to the reward offered in Governor Claiborne’s
proclamation; it doubtless would have been granted to them in full
had they not proven that above all other rewards they best deserved
that which they received on the gallows.
Neither history nor tradition tells what became of the Mason family
after Samuel Mason met his fate and Little Harpe and James May
received their reward. Samuel Mason’s wife, who evidently did not
approve of her husband’s lawlessness--at least not in her later
years--made her home, as we have already seen, not far from old
Shankstown, in Jefferson County, Mississippi. There, according
to Claiborne, the historian, she was “generally respected as an
honest and virtuous woman by all her neighbors, and one of her
sons [probably Magnus or Samuel Mason Jr.] was a worthy citizen of
Warren County.” Monette says that “the Mason band being deprived
of their leader and two of his most efficient men, dispersed and
fled,” and thus terminated the greatest terror to travelers which
had infested the country.«34»