The Revolver Guy Discusses Frontier Serial Killers

 Article here. The guest article by Clay Spencer begins:

At the turn of the Eighteenth Century, America, as a nation, was in its infancy and still largely unexplored, though the Lewis and Clark Expedition would soon shed much light on what lay out there across the wide continent. Soon to follow were the mountain men who trapped beaver and deeply explored the mountainous Far West. Yet the vast interior, between the Alleghanies and the Rocky Mountains, was still sparsely inhabited and little known except by the Native American tribes who didn’t take kindly to uninvited white pioneers bent on stealing their lands. There also were other new inhabitants arriving who had a decidedly sinister air about them and were on the prowl, searching for loot and mayhem.

 And, as he adds:

Because of the raw emptiness of the region, law enforcement was almost nonexistent and the dangers were constant from man and beast, only the foolish—and likely soon to be deceased—entered the frontier alone, without arms and the ability to use them.

He goes on to discuss some of the outlaws that inhabited a triangular area bordered by the Ohio River, the Mississippi River and the Natchez Trace. As Spencer relates (footnotes omitted):

    A wealth of natural features and its isolation made the region attractive to lawbreakers, many of whom had fled the more settled Eastern Seaboard. There were numerous limestone caves useful for hideouts. Small islands dotted the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, the latter had its own notorious cave described below. The Natchez Trace was a primitive, narrow dirt trail that bordered cypress swamps, dense canebrakes and forests, running more than 400 miles between Nashville, Tennessee, to Natchez, Mississippi. It was a particularly dangerous pathway for travelers and merchants, ripe for ambush while on their way back from selling goods and produce in Natchez and New Orleans. A few crude inns offering shelter and food dotted the Trace for sojourners, but outlaws also frequented them, searching for victims to rob and kill.

    By the late Eighteenth Century, the quasi-triangular region of the two mighty rivers and the Trace was a virtually perfect hunting ground for deranged murderers, robbers and rapists to carry out their activities virtually unchecked. In some cases, though, when caught criminals were very harshly punished. Few citizens were bothered by such rough justice; indeed, most enjoyed the spectacles.

Much of his article focuses on two outlaws--Micajah “Big” Harpe and Wiley “Little” Harpe, thought to be either brothers or cousins--that robbed and murdered their way through the region. Spencer states:

No one knows precisely how many people the Harpes murdered. Estimates range from about 20 to 50 but even the higher number could be too conservative. Most of their killings occurred in remote areas and many of their victims’ remains were never found. A specialty of theirs (adopted by other highwaymen and pirates) was disemboweling their victims’ corpses and filling the cavities with rocks. Once completed, the Harpes would sink the bodies either in a swamp or a river. Sometimes though, the bloated, rotting remains floated to the top and were discovered by passersby. Of course, many cadavers never surfaced or were discovered. The victims’ families and friends never knew what had happened to them.

The article continues with more details of the Harpes and their eventual demise, so be sure to check it out. Below is also a video about the Harpes:

VIDEO: "Why Traveling In Colonial America Was SUPER Dangerous"

Joe Scott (20 min.)