Shortly after the Baker robbery John Mason, a son of Samuel Mason, was lodged in the Natchez jail charged with taking part in the affair. It is more than likely that John Mason happened to be in town when he was accused and arrested than that an officer brought him in from the country. At any rate, he was tried, convicted, and punished by whipping. It is possible that he was innocent of the specific crime for which he was punished, for he may not have been present when the Mason band robbed Colonel Baker. About seventy years later George Wiley, who was a mere lad at the time this whipping occurred, wrote a sketch on “Natchez in the Olden Times.” In it he says:
“The old jail, too, was the scene of the first public disgrace to the noted Mason, who afterwards, with his robber band, became the terror of travelers from the Ohio River to New Orleans. Mason and his son were brought to Natchez and lodged in jail, charged with the robbery of a man named Baker, at a place now in Hindes County where the road crosses a creek still known as Baker’s Creek. They were defended at their trial by a distinguished lawyer named Wallace. He, after the manner so common with lawyers, went to work to get up a public feeling in favor of his clients, and succeeded so well that, although the Masons were convicted, the general sentiment was that they were innocently punished. They were both convicted and sentenced to receive the punishment of thirty-nine lashes and exposure in the pillory. I witnessed the flogging and shall never forget their cries of ‘innocent’ at every blow of the cowhide which tore the flesh from their quivering limbs, and until the last lash was given they shrieked the same despairing cry of ‘innocent,’ ‘innocent.’ After they were released the elder Mason said to the surrounding crowd, ‘You have witnessed our punishment for a crime we never committed; some of you may see me punished again but it shall be for something worthy of punishment.’ He and his son then shaved their heads, and stripping themselves naked, mounted their horses and yelling like Indians, rode through and out of the town.” [[26]]
This account appears correct in all its details except two. Samuel Mason’s son, John, was the only member of the Mason family arrested and whipped. If, as stated by Wiley, two men were punished on this occasion, the other may have been a member of Samuel Mason’s gang. The other error is in the statement that the two prisoners were released. It is shown later that after they were whipped they escaped from jail by the aid of some of Mason’s men.
William Darby, another citizen of Natchez, in an account published in The Casket Magazine, in 1834, tells what occurred shortly after John Mason was whipped: “One of the jury, whose name I omit,” writes Darby, “made himself very conspicuous at the trial of John Mason, wishing before the whole court and audience, that ‘the rascal might be hung.’” By some means Samuel Mason received a report of the juryman’s statement. A few weeks later this same juror, returning to Natchez from one of the settlements, had occasion to ride over a bridle path through a heavy canebreak. He was suddenly confronted by Samuel Mason who stepped out of the cane, armed with a tomahawk and rifle, and, raising the rifle, pointed it at the surprised rider, who immediately threw up his hands. Mason very calmly informed the juror that he had waited for him for two days “to blow your brains out.”
The frightened man begged to be spared for the sake of his wife and children. Mason replied that he, too, had children and loved them as much as any other father loved his own, and that this was his first chance to extend to him the same mercy he had shown toward his son John. Then, as if to further prepare the captive for the worst, Mason asked: “Did John Mason ever do you any harm? Did I myself ever do you any injury? Did you ever hear of me committing murder, or suffering murder to be committed?” Mason shrewdly omitted the words, “except when necessary.” The juror answered: “Never in my life.” “Thank God, I have never shed blood,” declared Mason with great earnestness, “but now, come down off your horse, Sir. If you have anything to say to your Maker, I’ll give you five minutes to say it.”
“The terrified man,” continues Darby, “sank off the horse and fell on his knees, uttering a fervent prayer, addressed rather to the man who stood beside him with his gun cocked. At length, his words failed him and he burst into a violent shower of tears. The man himself, who afterward related the whole circumstance, and could scarce ever do so without tears at the remembrance, said he every moment expected death; but Mason, regarding him with a bitter smile, swore his life was not worth taking, wheeled around and in an instant disappeared amongst the cane.”
Colonel Baker returned to Kentucky and reports of the daring robbery on the Natchez Trace and of his unsuccessful attempt to capture Samuel Mason were circulated throughout the country. Monette says that about the time the Baker robbery occurred “the outrages of Mason became more frequent and sanguinary” and that “the name of Mason and his band was known and dreaded from the morasses of the southern frontier to the silent shades of the Tennessee River.” Mason’s depredations must have been many, although authenticated records of only a few specific instances are now found.
It is probable a number of his victims did not survive to tell the tale, for the wide-awake outlaw realized that along the trails and on the river, as at Cave-in-Rock, his greatest safety lay in the fact that “dead men tell no tales.” Those who were permitted to survive had been treated in such a manner that they would be more likely to describe Mason as a shrewd robber than a cruel murderer, and, it seems, most survivors were careful not to condemn him too severely lest one of his “agents” silence their tongues with a dagger. Mason usually kept an intelligent man at Natchez to observe the character of the outfits obtained by those preparing to travel over the trail. Thus he often received advance notice of the approach of travelers and information in regard to their strength. [[26]] As is shown later, Mason had at least one agent, Anthony Gass, of Natchez, who managed to dispose of the stolen goods turned over to him. The probabilities were, as asserted by a Spanish official, that this robber had “firm abettors” throughout the Ohio and Mississippi valleys.
In those days many a traveler was never heard from after he left home. In some instances it was because he died a stranger in a strange land, or was murdered but never missed except by his people far away, who had no means of learning of his whereabouts or fate. Sooner or later, the impression would prevail among them that the missing man was actually or probably killed and robbed. And since Mason was the most widely known among the outlaws in his day, he was usually selected as the man at the bottom of the mystery.
An example of such a supposition occurs as an incident in the life of the grandmother of W. L. Harper, of Jefferson County, Mississippi. She lived along the old Natchez Trace and frequently accommodated travelers with food and shelter. On one occasion a young Kentuckian stopped at her house and, becoming ill, was obliged to remain several weeks. His conduct and bearing were such that the old lady took a motherly interest in him. Before he left “she actually quilted all his six hundred dollars in his coat and vest, partly to distribute his load, but chiefly to deceive the robbers then infesting the road. She heard no more of him, but the supposition was that he was another of Mason’s victims.” [[81]]