36. A Trail of Frontier Depravities
In 1797, Big and Little Harpe were living near Knoxville, Tennessee, when they were suspected of stealing hogs and horses. They were also accused of murdering a man, cutting his chest open and stuffing it with stones to weigh it down, before tossing it into a river. They were forced to flee to Kentucky and began a deadly spree en route. They murdered a peddler and stole his horse and goods, killed two travelers from Maryland, and slew a Virginian.
They were pursued and captured but escaped the gallows by breaking out of the state prison in Danville, Kentucky. When a posse was sent after them, they retaliated by butchering and mutilating the young son of a man who had helped the authorities pursue them. When Kentucky’s governor placed a $300 reward on their heads, they fled northward to Illinois. Along the way, they murdered five men.
