One version, which first appeared in print about 1876, has it that “Many fully identified the head by certain marks thereon, except his wife who as positively denied it.... The Governor had sent his carriage for her expressly to come down and testify ... and many believed Mason fled the country and died in his bed in Canada.... Mason’s family [probably his wife and youngest son] then resided in this county, not far from old Shankstown, and his wife was generally respected as an honest and virtuous woman by all her neighbors, and one of her sons was a worthy citizen of Warren County not many years ago.” This is quoted in Claiborne’s history from a “Centennial Address” delivered by Captain W. L. Harper, of Jefferson County, Mississippi. In 1891 Robert Lowry published a statement in his History of Mississippi, without citing any authority, that “One of Mason’s gang killed an innocent man, cut off his head, carried it to the Governor of Mississippi and claimed the reward.”
May, as already seen, claimed that he had been a victim of Mason and, a few months previous, had declared he could find and capture the notorious robber. Setton, on the other hand, having expressed a desire to turn state’s evidence, admitted having been connected with the outlaw. The situation was interesting, for it was an unusual one. The head, having been identified as Samuel Mason’s, the two heroes of the occasion went before a judge to make an affidavit and to get an order on the governor for the payment of the reward. “But just as the judge was in the act of making out a certificate,” writes Claiborne in his History of Mississippi, “a traveler stepped into the court room and requested to have the two men arrested. He had alighted at the tavern, had repaired to the stable to see his horse attended to, and there saw the horses of the two men who had arrived just before him. He recognized the horses (principally because each had a peculiar blaze in the face) as belonging to parties who had robbed him and killed one of his companions some two months previous on the Natchez Trace, and going into the court house, he identified the two men.”
Suspicion was immediately aroused. This declaration not only showed that May, who complained of being robbed, was a robber himself, but it also indicated that the “reformed” Setton as well as the “victimized” May, had committed at least one robbery since they left Greenville in search of Mason. Who are May and Setton, and where do they come from, and what have they been doing for a living? Such questions were asked. Absolutely nothing was known about May. As to Setton, their information was limited to the report that he had been “badly treated” by Mason; some may have known that he had traveled under assumed names, but evidently none yet suspected he was Little Harpe.
The next step in the development of their careers is given in one of Draper’s manuscripts written after an interview with Colonel John Stump, who was born in 1776: “In the winter of 1803–4 old Captain Frederick Stump, commanding a company under Colonel George Doherty, went as far as Natchez to aid in taking possession of Louisiana. There Captain Stump, by invitation of Governor Claiborne, an old friend, made his quarters, and was present when Setton and May came with Mason’s head to claim the reward of one thousand dollars. The Governor told them to call at a stated time and the check would be ready for them. After they had gone Captain Stump said he believed that Setton was really Little Harpe.... The description of Little Harpe so well corresponded with Setton’s appearance that it was agreed to arrest them both.... It was proclaimed at the landing of Natchez that it was believed that Wiley Harpe was taken, and if any Kentucky boatman had any personal knowledge of him, they were desired to examine the prisoner. Five boatmen recognized him and gave in their evidence to that effect. Some of them were witnesses in the Harpe case when they broke from the Danville jail. Said one of these boatmen before seeing him: ‘If he is Harpe he has a mole on his neck and two toes grown together on one foot.’ And so it proved, and the fellow with such positive proof against him shed tears.” [[121]]
Shortly after this, John Bowman, of Knoxville, Tennessee, called in to see the two men. He recognized Little Harpe. “Little Harpe denied the name, but Bowman persisted and said, ‘if you are Harpe you have a scar under your left nipple where I cut you in a difficulty we had at Knoxville.’ Bowman tore the man’s shirt open and there was the scar.” [[26]]
Up to this time, Little Harpe, under the names of John Taylor, John Setton, and Wells, had succeeded in concealing his identity. He now realized that even though he turned state’s evidence against the Masons, the history of his own terrible career in Tennessee and Kentucky and at Cave-in-Rock was too well and widely known for him to expect any mercy, no matter how important his revelations regarding the Masons might be. At New Madrid he had a narrow escape from being identified. After he and the Masons were captured and taken to the Spanish prison, it was rumored that one of the prisoners was “a fellow who calls himself Taylor but who is supposed to be that notorious villain and murderer Harpe.” A statement to that effect was written in a letter dated January 24, 1804, and published six weeks later in The Western Spy. But, as already seen, he had sworn before the New Madrid court, as John Setton, that he had met a man by the name of Harpe who had been killed and, when further questioned, declared that he knew nothing regarding the whereabouts of Little Harpe. Although his identity was now well established, he, in self-defense, persisted in denying the name. Escape was his only hope.
Nothing was then known about James May’s past other than his recent acts connected with the beheading of Mason and his attempted apprehension of the Mason band. These acts in themselves exposed him as a man of such a treacherous character that he could expect no mercy nor any reward. On the other hand, should he be identified as one of the men who had been driven out of Henderson County, Kentucky, and be accused of Cave-in-Rock murders and robberies, then nothing but the severest punishment that could be inflicted upon him might be expected. With him, as with Little Harpe, escape was his only hope. And both escaped.[31]
How Little Harpe and May escaped is not known. While at Natchez they may have been indicted for Mason’s murder. If so, having killed Mason in compliance with the governor’s proclamation to capture the outlaw dead or alive, they were acquitted. William Darby, then living near Natchez, writes that the two prisoners “learning their danger fled from Natchez, but were taken in Jefferson County, Mississippi, and confined in jail and in due time, tried and convicted....” They were tried before the Circuit Court in Greenville, in January, 1804, as is shown by the few existing entries made in the now mutilated docket book of that court. No record of the court proceedings was found, although a careful search was made.
The first entry found in the docket book is dated Friday, January 13, 1804. The court was presided over by Peter B. Bruin, David Ker, and Thomas Rodney, who were among the best known men in Mississippi. It is an interesting fact that when Aaron Burr was arrested the following year on Cole’s Creek, near Greenville, he was tried in Washington, Mississippi, before two of these same judges, the third, Judge Ker, having died of pneumonia contracted while serving at the trial of Harpe and May. William Downs, as foreman of the grand jury, brought in “an indictment of robbery” against each of the prisoners: “The Territory against James May” and “The Territory against John Setton.” Little Harpe, alias Setton, and his co-worker May were represented by Mr. Breazeale and Mr. Parrott. These attorneys evidently made every possible effort to save their clients. A plea of “not guilty” had been entered. Then followed much sparring over technicalities. They first attempted to quash the indictment; they next claimed the court did not have jurisdiction; and finally presented a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. But all these contentions were overruled.[32] “And for trial (each) put himself upon the country and General Poindexter, Attorney General.” Each was tried by separate jury, James May being the first, and each was found guilty. Then the two attorneys came forward with “a plea of former acquittal,” but the court rendered a decision that “the plea of former acquittal is not sufficient in law to be considered a sufficient bar to this indictment.” This plea of “former acquittal” leads one to infer that when Mason’s head was brought to Natchez both men were tried there and elsewhere for murder, and having been “acquitted” of that charge they, in all likelihood, argued that they were therefore also acquitted of highway robbery which was incidental to the murder.
As already stated, the record of the proceedings containing all these and other details of the case cannot now be found. There is nothing to indicate who the witnesses were, except Elisha Winters, who was “allowed the compensation allowed by law for his attendance at this term and for traveling to and from said court one thousand miles.” Among the few available pages of the docket book bearing on this case is one containing two entries dated February 4, 1804. They show that the sentence passed was in the same words for each prisoner. James May’s is the first on the record, and is immediately followed by Little Harpe’s: