Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - weapons/fighting styles of the ohio/mississippi flatboatmen (1790-1840)?

pallas · 7th September 2009, 08:07 PM

there where also some rather infamous bands of pirates who inhabited caves in the southern tip of illinois at the confluence of the ohio and mississippi rivers....two brothers known as the "horrible harpes" lived among them until they where kicked out for running a man tied to a horse off a cliff (which seemed to be a step too far for the pirates who where accustomed to simple murder) The Harpes made no discrimination between age or sex in their victims, often butchering anyone under the slightest provocation including babies. Some sources claim that Micajah ("big" harpe) bashed his infant daughter's head against a tree when her constant crying annoyed him. This would be one of the only crimes he would later confess genuine remorse for.

Big Harpe was shot in the back by a man named John Leiper, who was a member of the posse who was chasing the Harpes after they had killed the wife and child of Moses Stegall and burned down his cabin. The posse found the killers resting and gave a heated chase. Wiley ("little") Harpe escaped and eventually made his way to the Natchez Trace where he joined with an outlaw named Mason.. big harpe is reported to have told Moses Stigall who became impatient waiting for him to die and began to behead him with a large butcher knife "your a goddamned rough butcher, but cut on and be damned!". Stigall then stuck his head on a pole, at the location still known as "Harpe's Head," in Webster County, Kentucky.

Little Harpe eluded the authorities for some time, until allegedly being caught in an effort to get a ransom of his own on the head of an outlaw, Samuel Mason. He was captured in 1803 and hung, following his trial in January 1804. It is currently unknown if indeed this was Harpe, as reports of his crimes continued for decades after the hanging. Little Harpe was beheaded after he was hung and his head stuck on a pole outside of greenville mississippi, a town that does not now exist. After the atrocities committed by the Harpes, many members bearing the family name changed their name in some way to disguise their family heritage. Some went by "Harp" merely removing the final "E", but leaving the pronunciation the same. Others changed the name significantly. Wyatt Earp is a famous example said - though unconfirmed - to have been a member of the Harpe family.

7th September 2009, 08:07 PM	#7
pallas Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 53	there where also some rather infamous bands of pirates who inhabited caves in the southern tip of illinois at the confluence of the ohio and mississippi rivers....two brothers known as the "horrible harpes" lived among them until they where kicked out for running a man tied to a horse off a cliff (which seemed to be a step too far for the pirates who where accustomed to simple murder) The Harpes made no discrimination between age or sex in their victims, often butchering anyone under the slightest provocation including babies. Some sources claim that Micajah ("big" harpe) bashed his infant daughter's head against a tree when her constant crying annoyed him. This would be one of the only crimes he would later confess genuine remorse for. Big Harpe was shot in the back by a man named John Leiper, who was a member of the posse who was chasing the Harpes after they had killed the wife and child of Moses Stegall and burned down his cabin. The posse found the killers resting and gave a heated chase. Wiley ("little") Harpe escaped and eventually made his way to the Natchez Trace where he joined with an outlaw named Mason.. big harpe is reported to have told Moses Stigall who became impatient waiting for him to die and began to behead him with a large butcher knife "your a goddamned rough butcher, but cut on and be damned!". Stigall then stuck his head on a pole, at the location still known as "Harpe's Head," in Webster County, Kentucky. Little Harpe eluded the authorities for some time, until allegedly being caught in an effort to get a ransom of his own on the head of an outlaw, Samuel Mason. He was captured in 1803 and hung, following his trial in January 1804. It is currently unknown if indeed this was Harpe, as reports of his crimes continued for decades after the hanging. Little Harpe was beheaded after he was hung and his head stuck on a pole outside of greenville mississippi, a town that does not now exist. After the atrocities committed by the Harpes, many members bearing the family name changed their name in some way to disguise their family heritage. Some went by "Harp" merely removing the final "E", but leaving the pronunciation the same. Others changed the name significantly. Wyatt Earp is a famous example said - though unconfirmed - to have been a member of the Harpe family.