WEBVTT - Serial Killers on the American Frontier: "Big" and "Little" Harpe 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:04.439 Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership 0:00:04.480 --> 0:00:09.960 with iHeartRadio. 0:00:10.200 --> 0:00:13.560 Herman Webster Mudget of New Hampshire, better known by the 0:00:13.560 --> 0:00:18.920 alias H. H. Holmes, was responsible for anywhere from twenty 0:00:18.960 --> 0:00:23.079 to two hundred killings before he was apprehended in eighteen 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:27.600 ninety four. He admitted to twenty seven while in custody, 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:30.800 and is known as one of America's first serial killers, 0:00:31.280 --> 0:00:37.240 but not the first. Welcome to Criminalia, I'm Maria Tremarky. 0:00:37.280 --> 0:00:41.600 And I'm Holly Frye. That title of first serial killer, 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:45.879 at least on record, belongs to a duo, the Harps. 0:00:46.120 --> 0:00:48.879 Sometimes you'll see them listed as the Harp Brothers, but 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:53.040 that's a little complicated. Joshua Harper, known as Macaiah or 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:57.360 Big Harp, and William Harper, known as Wiley or Little Harp, 0:00:57.800 --> 0:01:03.000 were born probably in seventeen sixty eight and seventeen seventy, respectively. 0:01:04.000 --> 0:01:08.199 Big Harp was described as quote bony and muscular. He's 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:11.479 been called the brown to the smaller, red haired Little 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:16.080 Harps brains. But make no mistake, both of these men 0:01:16.200 --> 0:01:21.320 shared a proclivity for carrying out unspeakable horrors. We know 0:01:21.480 --> 0:01:24.679 that they're killing spree in the late seventeen hundreds spanned 0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:28.679 a handful of states. We know they killed dozens and 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:33.200 dozens of people. Historian John Musgrave has said of them, quote, 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:36.560 the Harps were able to strike fear while they were living, 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:41.640 and then became the boogeyman for generations to come. This 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:45.319 may be be warned the most violent episode we have 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:46.680 ever yet had. 0:01:47.360 --> 0:01:50.639 First, though, let's talk briefly about what experts know about 0:01:50.760 --> 0:01:53.920 serial killers before we start talking about the story of 0:01:53.960 --> 0:01:58.200 this pair. Researchers believe serial killers are most often driven 0:01:58.240 --> 0:02:01.560 by a psychological thrill or or pleasure they get from 0:02:01.600 --> 0:02:05.680 their actions. They often lack empathy and guilt, and many 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:09.920 are egocentric individuals, or at least become that way during 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:14.560 their killing spree. Big and Little Harp murdered for the thrill, 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:17.960 sometimes set off by minors lights, but there was really 0:02:18.040 --> 0:02:21.960 no rhyme or reason to it. They didn't consider monetary 0:02:22.040 --> 0:02:26.680 gain when choosing victims. It was just bloodlust. Dating back 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:30.640 to ancient times, serial murderers have been chronicled around the world. 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:34.720 The Harps are not considered the world's first serial killers, 0:02:35.000 --> 0:02:39.960 not even close, but they are the first documented American 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:45.120 serial killers. The two committed murder and other crimes indiscriminately, 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:48.920 mainly around the frontier town of Knoxville, but also in 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:52.280 other parts of East Tennessee, Illinois, and Kentucky. 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:57.080 Though there is documentation about this pair of serial killers, 0:02:57.600 --> 0:03:00.519 historians have noted that there are still some difficut culties 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:04.840 differentiating between fact and legend when it comes to the Harps. 0:03:05.680 --> 0:03:08.920 This happens often when you're relying on documents that are 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:12.760 hundreds of years old. Sometimes it happens with documents that 0:03:12.800 --> 0:03:17.160 are even just years old, and sometimes recollections written down 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:21.240 from oral history can be embellished. This problem is only 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:24.480 exacerbated when a person goes by more than one name. 0:03:25.639 --> 0:03:29.079 We do know they were highwaymen and river pirates and 0:03:29.200 --> 0:03:33.239 of course murderers who operated in the late seventeen hundreds. 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:36.720 Those are facts, and we will not get into all 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:40.840 of their exploits. We really can't. They were very, very busy. 0:03:41.360 --> 0:03:44.680 But regardless, their story is a list of atrocities that 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:48.920 are frightful, inhumane, and truly the things of nightmares. 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:53.080 Not a lot that's fact is known about their childhood, 0:03:53.160 --> 0:03:57.400 or family or background. Many consider them to have been cousins, 0:03:57.680 --> 0:04:01.800 although they may have been brothers. It's believed that their 0:04:01.880 --> 0:04:05.320 family were Scottish immigrants who had settled in Orange County, 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:10.040 North Carolina, around seventeen sixty, and that the family changed 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:14.080 its name from Harper to Harp. Though there's no definitive 0:04:14.120 --> 0:04:19.560 explanation for that, a common explanation is the American Revolution 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:22.880 was about to spark. This was a time when the 0:04:23.000 --> 0:04:26.840 United States was still the Thirteen Colonies, and the Harpers, 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:31.360 new to the Colonies, were Scots loyal to the British Crown, 0:04:31.839 --> 0:04:35.039 but wanted to fit in with their patriot neighbors, so 0:04:35.200 --> 0:04:36.880 Harper became Harp. 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:41.440 Another fuzzy fact from their childhood is that the Harps 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:45.440 may have watched as their parents were brutally tortured and 0:04:45.640 --> 0:04:50.240 hanged for their loyalist affiliations. If that's true, that kind 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:54.160 of devastating personal tragedy could have helped put the orphaned 0:04:54.200 --> 0:04:58.479 Harps on track for a haphazard life of butchery and depravity. 0:04:59.360 --> 0:05:02.240 But to be clear, this isn't a fact that appears 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:05.719 in all of the documentation about them, so consider that 0:05:05.800 --> 0:05:08.960 particular element of the story with a grain of salt. 0:05:09.440 --> 0:05:13.040 The two left North Carolina, hoping to find work as 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:19.200 slave overseers. They didn't because the American Revolution interrupted their plans. 0:05:20.120 --> 0:05:23.240 Like their parents did, the duo sided with the British, 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:27.560 but if we're being honest, they didn't really care about sides. 0:05:28.160 --> 0:05:31.720 They were much more interested in violence than patriotic duty. 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:32.599 It said. 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:35.760 They spent most of their time raping, pillaging, and killing 0:05:35.960 --> 0:05:40.200 during the War for American Independence, and they may have 0:05:40.400 --> 0:05:45.919 spent some of that time actually fighting in a few battles. 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:50.360 Upon leaving the military, they joined with the Cherokee Chickamauga 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:56.160 village of Nikajack, located southwest of modern day Chattanooga, Tennessee. 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:59.760 During that time, the men raided settlements with the tribe 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:03.720 and also became good with and very fond of the Tomahawk. 0:06:04.640 --> 0:06:08.440 After the British surrendered at Yorktown, the Cherokee continued to 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:12.400 war with those who identified as patriots. Big and Little 0:06:12.440 --> 0:06:15.720 Harp had already left for East Tennessee, where they settled 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:20.640 alongside Beaver Creek, only about eight miles west of Knoxville. 0:06:20.680 --> 0:06:23.720 At first, they farmed and slaughtered hogs for a living, 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:28.040 actually peacefully, which you'll soon come to find a little 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:32.120 bit hard to believe, but even so, it didn't last. 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:37.839 They began plundering hogs, sheep, horses, whatever they could grab 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:43.440 from their neighbors. Barnes mysteriously started to burn down after 0:06:43.480 --> 0:06:46.400 a man named Edward Teal's horses were stolen from his 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:50.720 stable and angry posse of locals captured the Harps, but 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:53.200 the pair escaped while the captors tried to bring them 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:56.279 to the Knoxville jail. Here we're going to take a 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:59.039 break for a word from our sponsors, and when we're back, 0:06:59.560 --> 0:07:02.640 we're going to start doing a deeper dive into their killings, 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:16.800 which frankly reads like a demon's to do list. 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:22.560 Welcome back to Criminalia. The Harps killing spree lasted for 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:28.440 roughly eighteen months. Let's talk about the hellish atrocities they raised. 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:32.400 The tale of horrors the Harps engaged in is really 0:07:32.520 --> 0:07:37.080 just beginning in this story. Sometime before seventeen ninety four, 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:42.040 while living in Tennessee, they kidnapped two women, Maria Davidson 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:46.320 and Susan Wood. Susan was the daughter of Captain James 0:07:46.320 --> 0:07:50.680 Wood of the United States Continental Army. Here's an aside. 0:07:51.320 --> 0:07:54.840 During the American Revolution, the Harps took part in a 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:58.400 lawless Tory gang, and little Harp had been shot and 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:01.480 wounded by the captain for the attempted rape of a 0:08:01.520 --> 0:08:06.320 young girl. Some accounts call these kidnappings of Maria and 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:10.000 Susan marriages, and that needs air quotes because there is 0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:14.080 absolutely no evidence that these relationships were legally bound or 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:17.800 at all consented to you by the women. Let's be 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:22.480 very clear, they were captives. The men were violent and 0:08:22.560 --> 0:08:26.080 abusive to Maria and Susan, and when any children were 0:08:26.080 --> 0:08:29.160 born from these unions, those children were murdered. 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:33.239 It was in seventeen ninety eight when the Harps rampage 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:39.000 officially took off. The beginning of that eighteen month killing spree. 0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:42.480 They became one of the most violent serial killing pairs 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:46.360 known to America still to this day. When they began 0:08:46.640 --> 0:08:51.360 career murdering. It began in Knox County, and the community was, 0:08:51.920 --> 0:08:57.240 as you may imagine, alarmed. One victim, maybe not their first, 0:08:57.280 --> 0:09:00.520 but definitely an early victim who stood out was a 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:03.720 man named Johnson, who the Harps believed was trying to 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:08.679 force them out of town. In reality, everyone wanted them 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:13.720 out of town. The Harps killed Johnson carved his body open, 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:17.960 disemboweled him, and filled him with stones before they tossed 0:09:18.040 --> 0:09:22.120 him into the nearby Holston River. Johnson was not the 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:24.120 only victim who met that fate. 0:09:25.120 --> 0:09:28.680 John Musgrave has also stated of the pair, quote, I 0:09:28.720 --> 0:09:31.520 think they realized early in they were not part of 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:34.400 the elect and decided if they were going to Hell, 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:39.000 they might as well make a grand entrance. The viciousness 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:41.840 of the all but civil war in the Carolinas during 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:46.439 the American Revolution didn't help, and certainly led them away 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:49.320 to the wilderness and the less than civilized norms they 0:09:49.400 --> 0:09:51.840 lived over the next couple of decades. 0:09:52.520 --> 0:09:56.520 After killing two more men, they trekked through Tennessee and 0:09:56.640 --> 0:10:00.480 traveled north to Kentucky through the Cumberland Gap, the point 0:10:00.520 --> 0:10:05.240 in the Cumberland Mountains where Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia all meet. 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:09.040 There they killed two more men from Maryland who were 0:10:09.080 --> 0:10:14.239 traveling in the opposite direction. Graphic accounts of these killings 0:10:14.520 --> 0:10:19.000 suggest Big Harp used his tomahawk skills to split open 0:10:19.160 --> 0:10:22.199 the head of one of the victims. Another of the 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:25.560 murders involved a young man named John Langford, who was 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:29.320 traveling alone in the wilderness with a purse full of silver. 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:34.240 His body was discovered as Johnson's was disemboweled and filled 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:37.560 with stones, a manner that would become kind of a 0:10:37.880 --> 0:10:42.360 favorite technique for the pair. On April twenty second, seventeen 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:45.520 ninety nine, the Kentucky governor issued a three hundred dollars 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:47.520 reward on each of the Harps. 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:51.280 In December that year, the men and the women that 0:10:51.320 --> 0:10:54.760 they had kidnapped as their wives were captured for those 0:10:54.840 --> 0:10:58.320 murders after a local innkeeper fingered them, and they were 0:10:58.480 --> 0:11:03.120 jailed in Danville, Kentucky. Two months into their incarceration, the 0:11:03.200 --> 0:11:06.960 men escaped and in doing so left the women behind, 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:10.840 each of whom was pregnant. The women were acquitted of 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:15.280 the Harp's crimes. The son of the innkeeper who identified 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:16.800 them was found dead. 0:11:17.600 --> 0:11:22.480 The men kept moving into less populated areas. Little Harp 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:28.360 married a minister's daughter named Sarah Rice, Well maybe married. 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:34.080 Big Harp kidnapped two sisters for himself, Susan and Betsy Roberts, 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:39.280 as his own to abuse, terrorize, and impregnate, Similar to 0:11:39.360 --> 0:11:42.600 Davidson and Wood before them, The women were beaten and 0:11:42.720 --> 0:11:46.760 forced to remain with Big against their will. It's unclear 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:50.240 if Little's wife, Sarah knew what she was getting into, 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:53.640 or if this had actually been a kidnapping and not 0:11:53.920 --> 0:11:58.480 a marriage. And also, like in Davidson and Wood's situation, 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:02.920 most if not all, of the newborns produced through these 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:06.720 relationships were killed. For instance, at a camp a few 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:11.320 miles northeast of Russellville, Kentucky, it's well reported that Big 0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:15.400 Harp smashed his infant daughter's head into a tree because 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:19.920 she was crying. Some later accounts suggest it was the 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:23.840 only time he admitted he regretted a murder, but most 0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:27.000 do not believe that is a fact. When a man 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:30.440 named Moses DAWs, who may or may not have traveled 0:12:30.440 --> 0:12:34.600 with them, showed concern for the brutalized women, he too 0:12:35.080 --> 0:12:35.640 was murdered. 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:40.280 Historian John Musgrave, who we mentioned earlier, theorized that quote 0:12:40.600 --> 0:12:44.520 the Harp wives were brutalized, battered women trying to survive 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:48.880 and protect whatever children they could. During the early part 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:52.000 of seventeen ninety nine, when the Harps were barely midway 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:55.760 into their killing spree, all three were pregnant or had 0:12:55.840 --> 0:12:59.679 just given birth. They had no way to survive apart 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:03.280 from the men not in the wilderness when caring for 0:13:03.320 --> 0:13:06.880 infant children. That's even if they thought they could get 0:13:06.920 --> 0:13:10.800 away without being tracked down and killed by their husbands. 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:13.040 Here we're going to take a break for a word 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:18.040 from our sponsors. The Harps terrorized the American frontier, killing 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:22.200 aimlessly as they traveled. We have more atrocities to talk 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:33.680 about when we return. 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:40.600 Welcome back to Criminalia, where we sadly have many more 0:13:40.640 --> 0:13:43.599 bodies to talk about. The light at the end of 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:48.000 the tunnel will also talk about the deaths of the Harps. 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:51.440 Big and Little Harp still each had a three hundred 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:54.920 dollars bounty on each of his head. Next, they made 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:58.800 their way to a river pirate gang. Samuel Mason's gang's 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:03.559 notorious Caven Rock stronghold was in Illinois, and while en 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:08.719 route to it, the Harps, to no one's surprise, continued 0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:13.280 their killing spree. Numerous people died, including women and children. 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:16.880 Once they met up with Mason's River Pirates, a gang 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:20.040 in the lucrative business of raiding merchant flatboats on the 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:25.120 Ohio River, they were welcomed, but not for long. Even 0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:29.000 those who chose a pirate's life, which could often be violent, 0:14:29.520 --> 0:14:33.680 couldn't handle the bloodlust of the Harps. The end came 0:14:33.880 --> 0:14:37.040 when the men got into the habit of stripping victims naked, 0:14:37.640 --> 0:14:41.760 tying them to a blindfolded horse, and then running that 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:45.320 horse off the top of a nearby bluff. In May 0:14:45.360 --> 0:14:49.000 of seventeen ninety nine, not long after they had arrived, 0:14:49.560 --> 0:14:53.400 the Harps, including their captive women, were forced to leave 0:14:53.440 --> 0:14:56.880 the pirate stronghold because of their horrific behavior. 0:14:57.880 --> 0:15:02.000 The Harps, as we see, never put but then would 0:15:02.000 --> 0:15:05.960 you if you were driven to kill all humans? They 0:15:06.080 --> 0:15:09.440 and their captive women walked hundreds of miles through rural 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:13.480 Kentucky and Tennessee on the way of course, adding to 0:15:13.520 --> 0:15:17.880 their kill list. In their wake. They left William Ballard's 0:15:17.880 --> 0:15:22.680 disemboweled corpse drifting in the Holston River. James Brassel was 0:15:22.680 --> 0:15:27.880 discovered with his throat violently hacked open. In south central Kentucky, 0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:31.680 John Graves and his teenage son were found dead. Their 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:36.359 heads had been axed. While passing through Logan County, Kentucky. 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:40.000 The pair murdered a young enslaved girl and a family 0:15:40.360 --> 0:15:43.320 while they slept at their camp. They killed a farmer 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:46.680 named Bradbury. They killed a man named Hardin, and they 0:15:46.760 --> 0:15:51.000 killed a boy named Coffee. Another man named John Tully 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:54.120 was also found murdered of. 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:58.760 The Harp's travels. Musgrave has also noted quote the near 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:02.720 wilderness front tier west of the Appalachians and the sparsity 0:16:02.760 --> 0:16:07.320 of settlements allowed the Harps maximum freedom to commit their deprivations. 0:16:08.240 --> 0:16:13.600 Kentucky and Tennessee were states young but at least formally organized, 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:16.920 but when they crossed north of the Ohio River at 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:20.760 Cavan Rock, they were in the old Northwest Territory, where 0:16:20.800 --> 0:16:23.840 the nearest law man was more than one hundred miles away. 0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:27.480 Seeking shelter, that August, the Harps stayed overnight at a 0:16:27.520 --> 0:16:31.520 farmstead in Webster County, Kentucky, at the invitation of a 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:35.480 Missus Stegall, who was being kind to those passing through, 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:39.680 and for her kindness, the men slit the throat of 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:42.960 her four month old baby boy when he cried, and 0:16:43.000 --> 0:16:46.600 when she discovered the baby's body, they killed her too. 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:51.400 They killed another overnight guest named Major William Love. Missus 0:16:51.440 --> 0:16:54.600 Stegall's husband, Moses, who had been away during the murder 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:57.720 of his wife and infant son, set out to kill 0:16:57.760 --> 0:17:00.000 the Harps as soon as he returned. 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:04.879 They were preparing to kill another local Kentucky settler, George Smith, 0:17:04.960 --> 0:17:07.560 when they were found by a local posse on August 0:17:07.600 --> 0:17:12.120 twenty fourth, seventeen ninety nine. The men called for their surrender, 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:16.119 but that did not happen. The Harps fled on horseback. 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:19.520 Big Harp was shot in the leg and the back, 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:22.520 making it easier for those hunting him to catch up 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:25.320 with him. As he lay dying on the ground, he 0:17:25.400 --> 0:17:30.639 confessed to twenty murders, and then Moses Stegau, looking for 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:34.560 vengeance and part of the posse searching for him, took 0:17:34.560 --> 0:17:39.359 his blade and slowly sawed off BIG's head, described with 0:17:40.119 --> 0:17:43.199 very gory detail that he started at the back of 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:47.560 the neck while Big was still conscious. Later, Big was 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:50.880 hanged on a pole near Henderson, Kentucky, at a crossroads 0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:55.120 where for years the remaining pole was called Harp's Head. 0:17:55.280 --> 0:17:59.320 And Little Harp. He escaped and rejoined Samuel Mason's gang 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:02.960 of pirates at Cavan Rock and for four years used 0:18:03.000 --> 0:18:07.359 the alias of John Sutton. During this time, a sizeable 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:10.760 reward was placed on Mason's head, and Harp, with a 0:18:10.760 --> 0:18:15.119 pirate named James May, killed him for the money. But 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:20.000 as they presented the head to authorities, they were arrested. 0:18:20.440 --> 0:18:23.439 If Harp thought that he wouldn't be recognized, he was 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:28.840 gravely mistaken. Both men actually escaped, but their luck had 0:18:28.920 --> 0:18:32.800 run out. They were recaptured, tried, and then sentenced to 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:36.960 be executed by hanging. In January of eighteen oh four, 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:41.159 Little Harp was executed. His head was cut off and 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:44.960 placed on a stake along the Natchez Road a warning 0:18:45.160 --> 0:18:49.520 to other outlaws. Big Harp may have confessed to twenty 0:18:49.600 --> 0:18:53.080 murders as he was dying, but historians believe the Harps 0:18:53.160 --> 0:18:57.960 killed at least forty men, women and children, and very 0:18:58.119 --> 0:18:59.600 likely more than that. 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:04.760 In hindsight, for many historians, the Harp's capture was inevitable, 0:19:04.960 --> 0:19:07.920 and that's because they never had a motive just to 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:11.800 desire or impulse to kill any other person who they 0:19:11.880 --> 0:19:15.840 happened to come across. John Musgrave has stated he never 0:19:15.960 --> 0:19:19.240 quote thought the Harps had an endgame other than to 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:22.800 stay alive as long as they could. According to judge 0:19:22.880 --> 0:19:24.920 James Hall, who was one of the first to write 0:19:24.960 --> 0:19:27.880 about the Harps in the eighteen twenties, there were two 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:30.919 types of men on the frontier. The first was the 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:34.320 noble pioneer seeking to do right by his family and God. 0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:38.720 The second wasn't looking to advance civilization. He was trying 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:42.280 to escape it. They were men, as Haul put it, 0:19:42.359 --> 0:19:47.080 with a blunt perception of virtue, which is a very 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:48.720 polite way to put that. 0:19:49.600 --> 0:19:52.639 Yeah, the thought of the word virtue in a sentence 0:19:52.760 --> 0:19:56.480 anywhere near the Harps feels a little bit weird, feels wrong. 0:19:56.880 --> 0:20:00.680 It's wrong. This is not as st with a lot 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:04.320 of things that inspire me to be creative. However, we 0:20:04.400 --> 0:20:08.520 have rules, so I tried to pick out things that 0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:10.600 seemed like they might be a good fit. And this 0:20:10.640 --> 0:20:14.680 is another one where I turned to a popular spirit 0:20:14.800 --> 0:20:17.840 of the seventeen hundreds, which is brandy. So that's going 0:20:17.920 --> 0:20:20.560 to be in it, mm hmm. But then we have 0:20:20.600 --> 0:20:24.320 some other things. So this one starts out with an 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:28.760 ounce of brandy, an ounce of London dry gin, and 0:20:28.800 --> 0:20:34.640 we're including that as a reference to the Harper family 0:20:34.920 --> 0:20:39.439 alliance to the royal crown. Yes, and then you're going 0:20:39.520 --> 0:20:42.760 to add an ounce of crem Denia, which we've used 0:20:42.760 --> 0:20:45.119 I think once before on this show, I believe, but 0:20:45.160 --> 0:20:47.360 it's been a minute. It's a liqueur it has kind 0:20:47.359 --> 0:20:49.720 of a sweet almondy flavor. 0:20:50.320 --> 0:20:52.000 I feel it's been a few minutes. 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:54.480 It has that. So if you bought it a couple 0:20:54.560 --> 0:20:58.840 of seasons ago, bring out that bottle. Let's start, and 0:20:58.920 --> 0:21:02.320 then you're going to do two dashes of grapefruit bitters 0:21:02.400 --> 0:21:04.520 and you're gonna combine all of this and you're shaking 0:21:04.560 --> 0:21:07.240 tin with ice, give it a good shake, and then 0:21:07.280 --> 0:21:11.280 you will strain it into your cocktail glass. This is 0:21:11.440 --> 0:21:16.160 a weird one because it's like booze on booze on booze, 0:21:16.680 --> 0:21:19.280 and yet it does not taste all that boozy, and 0:21:19.400 --> 0:21:23.520 I don't know why, but it doesn't. Sometimes that happens, 0:21:23.880 --> 0:21:27.440 and it's dangerous because since it doesn't taste all that boozy, 0:21:27.880 --> 0:21:29.960 you can really throw it back and then you're like, wow, 0:21:30.000 --> 0:21:33.160 I just had a lot of alcohol. So yes, as 0:21:33.160 --> 0:21:36.000 always drink responsibly, but particularly if you make one of these, 0:21:36.040 --> 0:21:40.920 like don't chug a bunch. To make the mocktail version 0:21:40.960 --> 0:21:45.400 of this instead of brandy, you are going to steep 0:21:45.560 --> 0:21:48.280 some low sugar white grape juice with Earl Gray tea 0:21:48.440 --> 0:21:51.959 for a little while, and then I would do that 0:21:52.040 --> 0:21:55.720 like a four ounce with one tea bag and then 0:21:55.760 --> 0:21:58.480 you're obviously gonna have leftovers, so you can either make 0:21:58.520 --> 0:22:01.440 more or you can use that in something else. Actually, 0:22:01.520 --> 0:22:04.480 I like infused white grape juice that has a tea flavor, 0:22:05.080 --> 0:22:09.240 just with like a little bit of ginger ell or clips. Like, 0:22:09.240 --> 0:22:11.679 it's just a nice quick way to make a little bevy. 0:22:12.359 --> 0:22:14.840 So you're gonna use an ounce of that infused white 0:22:14.840 --> 0:22:18.440 grape juice, You're gonna use an ounce of flat tonic, 0:22:19.640 --> 0:22:22.960 and then in lieu of the kremdon noio. I would 0:22:22.960 --> 0:22:26.879 only do a half ounce of almonds syrup because otherwise 0:22:26.920 --> 0:22:29.040 I think it gets too sweet. So you might want 0:22:29.040 --> 0:22:32.840 to up the the grape juice and the gin a 0:22:32.880 --> 0:22:37.080 little bit, but not too much. If you do absolutely 0:22:37.200 --> 0:22:40.359 zero alcoholic content to the point that bitters are not cool. 0:22:41.359 --> 0:22:44.200 Just a few drops of grapefruit juice and like maybe 0:22:44.200 --> 0:22:46.560 a little saline or just throw some salt in. We'll 0:22:46.560 --> 0:22:49.399 do you just fine here, So same deal, Shake it 0:22:49.400 --> 0:22:53.080 with ice, pour it over, pour it into a chilled 0:22:53.080 --> 0:22:56.119 cocktail glass, and you have a mocktail. And we're calling 0:22:56.160 --> 0:23:00.520 this one discordant harp because I kept thinking out the 0:23:00.600 --> 0:23:03.160 idea of harp as an instrument that would normally make 0:23:03.160 --> 0:23:06.160 beautiful music instead of all of this murder. 0:23:06.320 --> 0:23:08.240 It's a horrible nightmare music. 0:23:08.760 --> 0:23:12.439 That's the discordant part. I hope if you try this 0:23:12.520 --> 0:23:16.080 you love it. I really really like this drink. Actually, 0:23:16.080 --> 0:23:17.760 it surprised me how much I liked it. 0:23:18.080 --> 0:23:21.400 I really like when grapefruit shows up in drinks, even 0:23:21.480 --> 0:23:24.639 in small amounts. You know, I'm a big fan. 0:23:25.280 --> 0:23:29.399 Here's the oddity. I don't love a grapefruit to eat, 0:23:30.240 --> 0:23:34.480 but I will drink grapefruit soda. You all use the bitterers. 0:23:34.800 --> 0:23:38.280 I have a grapefruit liqueur that I love. I don't 0:23:38.320 --> 0:23:40.479 know what that's about, but there you go. I have 0:23:40.760 --> 0:23:44.960 like regular grapefruit juice. I'm like hard pass, but somehow 0:23:45.000 --> 0:23:46.760 in other forms totally down. 0:23:47.000 --> 0:23:48.200 It was friends. 0:23:48.240 --> 0:23:50.960 It has to it needs friends, for sure. You're one 0:23:51.000 --> 0:23:54.480 hundred percent accurate there. So that is the discordant harp. 0:23:54.560 --> 0:23:56.280 And if you make it, I hope you love it. 0:23:56.800 --> 0:23:58.959 We sure love that you spend this time with us 0:23:59.040 --> 0:24:01.600 listening to stories that are in this case not all 0:24:01.600 --> 0:24:04.760 that delightful in terms of their content, but hopefully you 0:24:04.880 --> 0:24:07.560 learn something. And now you know that there have been 0:24:07.680 --> 0:24:11.520 terrible people around as long as we've had a country 0:24:11.600 --> 0:24:14.280 and way before that as well, forever. But we will 0:24:14.320 --> 0:24:17.280 be right back here next week with another story and 0:24:17.320 --> 0:24:19.399 some more drinks, and we hope you will join us 0:24:19.440 --> 0:24:41.760 for that. Criminalia is a production of Shondaland Audio in 0:24:41.840 --> 0:24:46.560 partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, please 0:24:46.640 --> 0:24:50.200 visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 0:24:50.240 --> 0:24:51.280 to your favorite shows.