The O'Sheas: The Bond of Brotherhood

by Pam Hillman

You’ve probably heard the saying “He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother.”

It goes back to the late 1800s. The story goes that a young Scottish girl was carrying her little brother who was almost as big as she was, and someone commented about how heavy he must be. Sounding somewhat surprised (and quite protective), she replied with a phrase similar to the iconic one we’re so familiar with today.

Ballads have been written, works of art painted, and photos taken of youngsters bravely toting even smaller youngsters on their backs, soldiers carrying their comrades out of battle, and even animations of animals with similar themes. Statues have been erected, orphanages formed with the saying adopted as the catch phrase for caring for—and carrying—each other.

Siblings. Brothers. Sisters.

There’s a special bond between siblings that transcends any other bond on earth. Siblings are the only people who know each other from birth until death and all the stages in between. Granted, being siblings doesn’t mean being alike in personality, having the same goals in life, or even expressing faith in our Lord and Savior. The truth is, siblings might not see eye-to-eye on a lot of things. But the bond is still there, and in healthy relationships, that bond is hard to break.

But sometimes misunderstandings, outside influences, mental illnesses, or tragedy can cause that bond to become frayed or even broken.

Such is the case for the O’Shea brothers in the 18th century in the Natchez, Mississippi district. The eldest brother, Connor O’Shea, was forced to leave Ireland years ago when he became romantically involved with a woman of the upper class. Quinn O’Shea, the hero in The Road to Magnolia Glen, arrives in Natchez harboring feelings of resentment that his older brother had abandoned the family when they needed him most. And, then there’s the third brother, Caleb, who left for parts unknown some years ago and hasn’t been seen since. Throw in deceased parents and two younger brothers, and all of this makes for some serious grudges between the three oldest brothers.

I have two sons of my own, and while they’ve never had to deal with the tragedy of losing a parent, being torn from their homeland or separated from their siblings, they were your normal rowdy, rough and tough boys. Sometimes I despaired that they’d ever get along.

You moms know what I mean. You’re in the kitchen preparing dinner after a long day and hear a ruckus that raises the roof. It might be the fight over the remote. Or whose turn it is to choose the next video game, or whose job it is to take out the trash this week. It could be anything or nothing, but it was always huge at the moment. This stage seemed to last about 15 years or so with my boys.

But sprinkled throughout those 15 years were times I heard (mostly second-hand) of my oldest coming to the defense of the younger when someone else mistreated him in some way. There’s nothing like having a big brother on the bus when other kids start picking on you, is there?

There’s another saying about siblings. Variations abound, but the gist of it is, “You mess with my brother, you mess with me.”

It’s one thing for brothers and sisters to argue and fight with each other, but if someone else attempts to do the same, their own squabbles are forgotten and they band together to stand against the “enemy”.

I grew up with two older brothers, and as the “baby girl” in the family, I knew they’d come to my rescue. It’s funny, I can’t think of a single time when I really needed either of them to save me. There were no bullies, no crazy accidents, and no late night clandestine shenanigans. But somehow I knew that if I needed either of them, all I had to do was ask. Decades later, nothing has changed.

The O’Shea brothers in my Natchez Trace Novel series can square off, glare and growl at each, circle like half-mad tigers in a cage, and even consider throwing a punch or two, but you know what?

When all is said and done, their true allegiance comes out when someone else threatens one of them. Past hurts aren’t always easily forgiven or forgotten, but when push comes to shove, the O’Shea brothers still stand shoulder-to-shoulder against the world.

And that’s as it should be.

He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother.

CBA Bestselling author PAM HILLMAN was born and raised on a dairy farm in Mississippi and spent her teenage years perched on the seat of a tractor raking hay. In those days, her daddy couldn't afford two cab tractors with air conditioning and a radio, so Pam drove an Allis Chalmers 110. Even when her daddy asked her if she wanted to bale hay, she told him she didn't mind raking. Raking hay doesn't take much thought so Pam spent her time working on her tan and making up stories in her head. Now, that's the kind of life every girl should dream of. www.pamhillman.com

Research Trip: Interesting, Strange, Odd

King's Tavern, Natchez, MS
National Register of Historic Places

by Pam Hillman

When I first started plotting my Natchez Trace Novel series, I decided to make a trip to Natchez. I live about 2-3 hours away, so it was a great day trip, except my mother and I took two days to tour the area and walk some of the old trace that still exists along the Natchez Trace Parkway.

But one of the most interesting (and looking back, strange) things I did was tour King’s Tavern. Believed to be the oldest building in Natchez, it was built in 1769 (some sources say 1789) and as various times operated as a tavern, stage stop, and a mail station.

Knowing my mother would likely balk at eating dinner at an establishment called a tavern, not to mention that it’s still fairly dark and seedy looking, we opted for something a little less risqué and pricey.

After dinner, though, I was dying (no pun intended) to see King’s Tavern, where Madeline the ghost lives. Madeline was a barmaid at the tavern in the late 1700s. Story has it that Madeline became the mistress of Richard King, the owner, and that the owner’s wife paid two men to have her killed. In 1932, three bodies and a dagger were recovered from the walls of the tavern when a chimney was being installed — two men and a woman. Creepy, huh?

We found the tavern easily enough on a narrow, dark street. Mama was not impressed. I told her to just stay in the car, and I wouldn’t be long. I just wanted to see the building.

So, off I go to this tavern, which in reality is now a very respectable restaurant.

This is where my tale becomes a bit eerie.

When I waltzed in with my camera, the hostess on duty said that she wasn’t supposed to let people tour the building if they weren’t dining. But, she said, since they weren’t very busy that night, she’d make an exception. She pointed me to the stairs and away I went, feeling very adventurous and a bit nervous that the manager was going to find out and throw me out.

So, there I was, creeping around upstairs taking pictures and getting a feel for what the sleeping rooms and taproom of an 18th Century tavern looked like.

Not wanting to overstay my welcome, and a bit afraid that Madeline would make an appearance and I’d make a fool of myself by screaming, I didn’t stay long. I made my way downstairs and back toward the entrance.

Upstairs Bedroom

Upstairs Bedroom

And there, scowling and looking a lot like the ghost from the past with his tails and top hat (not really!), was the manager. I’m sure the hostess was on pins and needles, so I just smiled, sailed on by, and said, “Thank you so much. I enjoyed it!”

“It” is relative, if you’re vague enough.

Anyway, it was all quite fascinating and enlightening. The strange thing is that I don’t know what I expected to find at the tavern. I mostly wanted to get a feel for such an old building, one built a couple of years before my series starts. What I didn’t expect was the tension I felt. Not because of the place, or the stories of ghosts that roam the tavern, but because of my covert trip up those steep, narrow stairs and the floorboards creaking under my feet that might alert the manager that someone was upstairs.

So, tell me the most memorable (scary? Funny? Interesting?) trip or situation you ever found yourself in?

CBA Bestselling author PAM HILLMAN was born and raised on a dairy farm in Mississippi and spent her teenage years perched on the seat of a tractor raking hay. In those days, her daddy couldn't afford two cab tractors with air conditioning and a radio, so Pam drove an Allis Chalmers 110. Even when her daddy asked her if she wanted to bale hay, she told him she didn't mind raking. Raking hay doesn't take much thought so Pam spent her time working on her tan and making up stories in her head. Now, that's the kind of life every girl should dream of. www.pamhillman.com

The Natchez Trace Novel series

Building a Story World: Part Fact, Part Fiction

by Pam Hillman

Creating a story world is like being captivated by a stranger’s face through a rain-soaked window, or traveling through an unfamiliar countryside blanketed in heavy fog. There’s a hint of what’s on the other side of the glass or the haze, but you can’t see everything clearly. But because of that very thing, your imagination is given the freedom to paint the picture you most want to see in your mind.

If you could wipe the glass clean or burn away the fog, you might discover that the story world in question is part fact, part fiction.

This is true of the story world I created for my Natchez Trace Novel series set in the 1790s. Each story begins in Natchez-Under-the-Hill, touching on some of the aspects of the seedy wharf and making reference to actual streets that were already laid out at the time. Governor Gayoso, his future wife, Elizabeth Watts, and his secretary, Stephen Minor, make cameo appearances.

My characters travel along the Natchez Trace, stopping at a tavern called Harper’s Inn. This particular inn is fictional as I wanted it to be a very rough establishment. Mount Locust, on the other hand, which was a very respectable inn and is still standing to give visitors a look at what inns (also referred to as stands) of the day consisted of, is also mentioned, giving anyone familiar with the area a yardstick by which to gauge where my characters are as they travel back and forth along the trace.

Mount Locust

It felt natural to include Mount Locust in my story world. My characters don't spend much time there, but each book mentions the inn and the characters pass by it several times during the course of the series. It's a good landmark to give authenticity and a benchmark location.

Breeze Hill Plantation is fictional, but if pressed, I could take you twenty miles north of Natchez along the old trace, find a hill surrounded by rolling countryside, and claim it as the spot where Breeze Hill would have stood. The plantation home itself is based loosely on the floor plan and design of Linden Hall, part of which was constructed in 1785 and is located in Natchez proper to this day operating as a Linden Hall B&B. Most of the other plantations, homes, and businesses sprinkled throughout the series are fictional.

Linden Hall, circa 1785

Another thing I found was the floor plans for Linden Hall. They were invaluable in picturing where the rooms were back in the day and assigning said rooms to my characters. Again, Breeze Hill is fictional, but the floor plan and the U-shaped house is real. As I wrote both The Promise of Breeze Hill and The Road to Magnolia Glen, I kept the floor plans and the location of the outbuildings close at hand.

Why use a real location? Readers are anchored in the story when an author uses a real town, country, or geographical location that they are vaguely familiar with to set the stage. It might be as broad as “the Mojave Desert,” or “London, 1845”.

With the reader anchored solidly in fact, the author can then add in a fictional ghost town or fort at the edge of the desert, a small millinery tucked on an unnamed side-street in London, or even an entire plantation along the Natchez Trace in 1791.

And then the fog lifts, allowing the reader to see the story world clearly.

Hop over to JustRead Publicity Tours and join the tour for a chance
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The Promise of Breeze Hill and The Road to Magnolia Glen. Hosted by Pam Hillman and JustRead Publicity Tours

Stands on the Natchez Trace in the 18th Century PLUS GIVEAWAY

In the 1790s, there was basically one route from Natchez northward to Nashville, TN, and that was the Natchez Trace, also known as The Devil’s Backbone.

Plantation owners, statesmen, loggers, and men of all walks of life travelled down the Mississippi River to sell their products (cotton, corn, tobacco, pelts, lumber, sugar, etc.), but even that route wasn’t without its hazards (but that’s a blog for another day… when book #3 releases next year!). But heading back north was a bit trickier, and certainly more dangerous. The same folks who floated downriver either walked, rode horses, or bumped along in wagons up the trace on their way northward after selling their goods downriver in Natchez or New Orleans.

Rustic Cabin. Landrums Homestead & Village, Laurel MS

And each and every trip, they put their lives at risk. Highwaymen lay in wait on the trace to steal, kill, and dispose of unwary travelers. In light of these hazards, how did travelers protect themselves?

The most obvious protection would be to travel in a large group and with others they could trust, but that wasn’t always feasible. More than one group found themselves in the middle of nowhere among vile highwaymen pretending to be upstanding citizens.

Assuming someone could trust their traveling companions, their next goal was to start their journey bright and early each day in order to reach the next stand (or inn) by nightfall. Stands were located every 15-20 miles, and sometimes closer, but seasoned travelers learned to avoid disreputable inns.

Dining area similar to what many Stands along the trace would have looked like.
Landrums Homestead & Village

For a price, travelers could secure food, lodging, fodder and possibly stabling for their horses. Some stands were clean, with nourishing fare, and private lodging facilities, while others were little more than pigsties and the food provided not much better than that fed to the pigs. Some stands were safe places to lodge overnight, while a traveler risked his life by closing his eyes at others.

Here are a few of the more well known (and infamous) stands along the 400 mile stretch of the Old Trace. The numbers listed give the mile marker on the modern-day Natchez Trace Parkway, starting in Tennessee, just south of Nashville.

407.7 Gordon House and Ferry Site. Built in 1818, the Gordon’s provided lodging for travelers and ran a ferry across the Duck River.

A cabin resembling where travelers might have stayed during their journey.
Landrums Homestead & Village

385.9 Grinder’s Stand. Along with a campground, picnic area, and ranger station, a monument honors Meriwether Lewis who died at Grinder's Stand in 1809. Over 200 years later, it is still debated whether Lewis was murdered or committed suicide.

249.6 Tockshish. Settled in 1770 by John McIntosh. When the Natchez Trace was declared a National Post Road in 1800, this stand became the midway point where post riders from Natchez and Nashville met, exchanged mail bags, and then each retraced their journey.

Dining area at Mount Locust, Mile Marker 15.5, Natchez Trace Parkway.

180.7 French Camp. Established as a stand in 1812, French Camp became a school in 1822 and there is still a school there today. Each Spring French Camp hosts a Frontier Day. Unfortunately, it was this past Saturday and I missed it. So sad! (But I have my calendar marked for 2019!)

104.5 Brashears Stand. Brashears Stand was located just northeast of present day Jackson, MS. In 1806, this stand was advertised as “a house of entertainment in the wilderness”. Brashears Stand is about 70 miles from where I live, and several historical figures who make cameo appearances in my Natchez Trace Novel series (Stephen Minor and Andrew Ellicott) are mentioned as having dealings with Turner Brashears, the man who operated this stand.

93.1 Osburn Stand. Opened in 1811, but didn't enjoy the benefits of foot travel for long as the preferred route shifted away from this site in the early 1820s.

73.5 Dean Stand. Served travelers in the 1820-30s.

Mount Locust, the Old Natchez Trace, restored and open to the public.

15.5 Mount Locust. As the mile marker denotes, Mount Locust is 15.5 miles north of Natchez. Mount Locust was one of the first stands in Mississippi. Restored, there is a ranger station, restrooms, and exhibits. The bulk of my Natchez Trace Novel series takes place a few miles north of Mount Locust.

As you can see, this is just a sampling of the stands that catered to travelers on the Natchez Trace in its heyday. Many stands came about by necessity, not because the homesteaders moved to the area with the intention of becoming hosts & hostesses to travelers. If they homesteaded close to the main road, and they just happened to be a day's travel from the last inn, travelers tended to roll in about dusk and asked to spend the night for their own safety. Sometimes, it was easier to open a stand and provide food and lodging instead of just letting travelers mill about, or worse, try to cram everyone into a one-room cabin that was already bursting at the seams with a houseful of children.

And, why, you ask, am I interested in these stands? Well, Kiera Young, the heroine in The Road to Magnolia Glen, discovers a need not long after she arrives in the colonies and opens a stand at Breeze Hill Plantation for weary travelers. It's a win-win for my heroine, the travelers, and the owners of Breeze Hill. Or is it?

www.pamhillman.com

Giveaway: Share today's post via social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and then leave a comment letting me know you shared for a chance to win a print copy of The Promise of Breeze Hill (book #1) or The Road to Magnolia Glen (book #2) in the Natchez Trace Novel series. (Limited to US entrants only.)

Want an Additional Chance to Win? Sign up for my newsletter HERE (make sure to let me know in the comments below) and I'll throw your name in the tricorne a second time!

And the winner of her choice of either

The Promise of Breeze Hill or The Road to Magnolia Glen is .... 

Jeanie (aka Mama Cat)!

Congratulations, Jeanie. 

(Photos are from Landrums Homestead and Village in Laurel, MS unless otherwise noted. Pam Hillman, photographer. Landrums is not on the Natchez Trace, but is a wonderful historic village that will take you back to a more relaxing time and place.)

Five Reasons to Love Mississippi AND Cover Reveal!

by Pam Hillman

Having been born and raised in Mississippi, I’d like to share FIVE reasons that make Mississippi an amazing place to set an entire series in my home state.

1) Mississippi River - The Mississippi River runs North/South all the way from Minnesota along the western border of Mississippi to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Native Americans, mostly hunter-gatherers and Mound Builders formed agricultural societies up and down its banks.

The river was (and still is) a major transportation hub as well as a barrier and boundary for those without the means to cross. Farms, plantations, cities, shipping, barges, flatboats, riverboats all vied for a place on or near the Mississippi River.

2) Natchez Trace - The Natchez Trace, also known as the "Old Natchez Trace" and “The Devil’s Backbone”, runs roughly 440 miles from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee.

The Old Sunken Trace and Cole's Creek

The trail follows a ridge line, and animals naturally followed the pathway to distant grazing lands, the salt licks in Tennessee, and to the Mississippi River. Native Americans, then European and American explorers, traders, and settlers followed in their paths, improving and widening the road with each passing year.

3) Natchez, MS - Natchez, at one time the capital of the Mississippi Territory, is one of the oldest and most important European settlements in the lower Mississippi River Valley. Changing hands from France, Spain, Great Britian and eventually becoming part of the United States of America, the city is a smorgasbord of nationalities, cultures, and architecture.

The strategic location on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River and at the Southern end of the Natchez Trace ensured its place as a center of trade and commerce for well over two centuries from its founding.

4) Plantations - Plantations are self-sustaining and self-contained settlements. The proximity of the Mississippi River and the Natchez Trace, and later, the invention of the steamboats plying the river in conjunction with the vast tracks of fertile land in the surrounding lowlands enticed wealthy Southern planters to take up residence, growing cotton and sugarcane and to lesser degrees, indigo and tobacco. Natchez became the principal port from which these crops were exported, both upriver and downriver to New Orleans and to Europe.

5) Highwaymen - Highwaymen weren’t confined to the English countryside. Because of the high rate of traffic on the Natchez Trace before the steamboat was launched on the Mississippi River in 1811, thieves and robbers plied the trace, stealing and killing unsuspecting travelers.

With all these fascinating people, places, events within a few hours of me, how could I not write about them? So I did.

The Promise of Breeze Hill - Available for preorder from your favorite Retailer

The Promise of Breeze Hill, A Natchez Trace Novel

Natchez, MS; 1791

Anxious for his brothers to join him on the rugged frontier along the Mississippi River, Connor O’Shea has no choice but to indenture himself as a carpenter in exchange for their passage from Ireland. But when he’s sold to Isabella Bartholomew of Breeze Hill Plantation, Connor fears he’ll repeat past mistakes and vows not to be tempted by the lovely lady.

The responsibilities of running Breeze Hill have fallen on Isabella’s shoulders after her brother was found dead in the swamps along the Natchez Trace and a suspicious fire devastated their crops, almost destroyed their home, and left her father seriously injured. Even with Connor’s help, Isabella fears she’ll lose her family’s plantation. Despite her growing feelings for the handsome Irish carpenter, she seriously considers accepting her wealthy and influential neighbor’s proposal of marriage.

Soon, though, Connor realizes someone is out to eliminate the Bartholomew family. Can he set aside his own feelings to keep Isabella safe?

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Visit Pam at www.pamhillman.com

The Natchez Trace: The Devil's Backbone, Highwaymen, and Wayfaring Strangers

I've been happily writing a story set in 1790, titled Terms of Indenturement. It’s the first of a series and releases in the fall of 2017.

Map

So, anyway, writing in the 1790s is a bit of a departure for me as most of my research has been between the 1850-1890s. But this story was one I wanted to write and for it to be historically accurate, it needed to be set before 1812 when the first paddle-wheels started plying the Mississippi river.

Why, you ask?

Well, because part of the backdrop for the series is the old Natchez Trace, also known as The Devil’s Backbone. The old Natchez Trace is centuries old and runs from Nashville, TN to Natchez, MS, over 400 miles long.

Back in the 1700s and even before that, the Choctaw, Chickasaw, and the Natchez hunted along trails all over the hills and hollows. Eventually, the easiest routes became the most common and what we know as the old Natchez Trace was born.

By 1733 the French had mapped the trail from Natchez heading northeast. In the late 1700s, Ohio River Valley farmers began floating their crops down the rivers to Natchez and New Orleans. It was easy, and quite pleasant to float down the river on flatboats, but going back up the river wasn’t easy at all. It was nigh to impossible. Instead, they sold or abandoned their flatboats for lumber, returning home by way of the Natchez Trace, either on foot or horseback.

It didn’t take long for the trail to become a clearly marked road. By 1810, many years of travel had made the trace the most heavily traveled road in the South. Inns, also called “stands” sprang up. By 1820, over 20 stands were in operation. Some provided basic food and shelter, with owners that might not be the honest, upstanding citizens that travelers longed for. Other inns, like Mount Locust, were well-known and owned by respectable, God-fearing folks who welcomed and treated visitors with hospitality, as well as a safe place to stay.

Mount Locust

Travel along the trace wasn’t without its hazards, the least of which were swamps, floods, disease-carrying insects, mosquitos the size of bats (okay, not really. But when one bites you, it FEELS like it!). But worse than that were the bands of highwaymen that plied the trace, attacking travelers that might be flush with cash from their recent transactions downriver.

The trace was a lawless frontier in the 1700s, and many a man lost his life traveling along the dark trail. It wasn’t until the invention of the steamboat that wealthy planters, merchants and their families could make the return trip on the water instead of along the trail. In January 1812, the steamer New Orleans arrived in Natchez. Soon steamboats from New Orleans and Natchez were calling regularly at St. Louis, Nashville, and Louisville and all points in between.

Travelers who could afford passage on the steamboats preferred the relative safety and comfort—and the speed—to the slow pace of going overland. Before long the busy trace became a peaceful forest lane. The overland travelers with lots of money in their pockets were on the riverboats, and the highwaymen sought other avenues to line their pockets.

But the years and years of travel along those roads had worn some areas down to where the banks are 5 to 10 feet high. My mother and I walked part of the sunken trace a few years ago. It was quiet. Nothing could be heard except the birds, some rustling that could have been squirrels.

The Sunken Trace

I have my characters traveling along this very stretch of road. It’s so much fun to write about an area that’s only a couple of hours away. I really, really want to go back to the area before this book is due, but I’m not sure I can fit in a trip—even a short one—in the next 6 weeks, but I’m going to try.

Samuel Mason: An Early Western Desperado

Samuel Mason

Those of you who know your American Revolution history may know of Samuel Mason and his service during the conflict. Whether you do or not, perhaps you haven’t heard of what he did after the war that birthed our nation. I’ll share some of both aspects of his life with you today.

Samuel Mason was born on November 8, 1739 to a prominent Virginia family. He spent some portion

of his teen years on the wrong side of the law, stealing horses from a neighbor. However, after being wounded and caught, he stopped the horse thievery. He married Rosanna Dorsey in 1767, with whom he had eight children. In 1773, Mason moved his family to Ohio County, Virginia (present-day West Virginia), where he later served in the Ohio County Militia Virginia State Forces during the war. He achieved the rank of captain was put in command of Fort Henry in the Ohio frontier.

Fort Henry

In late August of 1777, Indians attacked Fort Henry, firing a few shots at men who were outside the fort to round up some horses. When Mason heard the shots, he and fourteen men rode out to their rescue, only to be ambushed. All the men were killed except Mason, who was badly wounded. He was able to survive the attack by hiding behind a log, and was later rescued.

After recovering from his wounds, Mason continued on at Fort Henry for another two years, then moved to Washington County, Pennsylvania, and a 500-acre farm he’d bought. There, he became a Justice of the Peace and an associate judge, all while working his property and attaining several horses, cows, sheep, and four slaves. However, he fell deep in debt, though he somehow managed to continue paying taxes on the property and animals. People accused him of being a thief, causing Mason to abandon his property and flee to Kentucky in 1784. A year later, his property was sold in a sheriff’s sale, which repaid only a portion of the money he owed. In 1789, a Pennsylvania court sent someone to hunt Mason down and collect the outstanding debt, though they failed in their mission.

Cave-In Rock

It was in the 1790’s when Mason turned back to lawlessness. Settled at Red Banks along the Ohio River (present-day Henderson, Kentucky), Mason and his four sons took to river piracy. Later, the gang moved southward to Diamond Island, and eventually made their hideout the notorious Cave-In Rock on the Illinois side of the river. There, they were known to invite river travelers into the cave and offer them hospitality, all while some of the gang would scope out what goods the travelers had on their boats. Once the voyagers would move on, Mason and his gang would attack them and take whatever they wanted. For a while, the Harpe brothers—Micajah and Wiley, who are thought to be the first American serial killers—made their home at Cave-In Rock. Mason and his gang didn’t take to the Harpe brothers’ especially brutal ways, despite the fact the Mason gang could be plenty harsh to their victims as well. Mason asked the brothers to move on.

In 1799, a vigilante group called “The Exterminators” drove the Mason gang out of Cave-In Rock,

causing the band to move south again, this time into Spanish Louisiana and the Natchez Trace of Mississippi, where they continued their pattern of robbing and killing the travelers along the wilderness thoroughfare. By now, they’d become notorious desperados—some of the early precursors to western outlaws like Jesse James and others.

In 1802, bounties were put out for the gang members. They were captured at least once, though they escaped. Some accounts say that Mason killed the boat commander in his getaway, adding another life to his brutal outlaw career. When the Americans upped the bounty on Mason and his gang in 1803, an old “friend” found the reward too tempting to resist. Wylie Harpe found Mason, murdered and beheaded him, and took the trophy to the Mississippi territorial offices to prove he’d captured the desperado. Harpe was quickly identified as an outlaw in his own right, in part for his time spent with the Mason gang, and he was subsequently arrested and hanged.

Thus ends the story of Samuel Mason.

It’s your turn: Do you find the stories of heroes-turned-villains like Sam Mason to be interesting, repulsive, or both?

Jennifer Uhlarik discovered the western genre as a pre-teen, when she swiped the only “horse” book she found on her older brother’s bookshelf. A new love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L’Amour westerns and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. Armed with a B.A. in writing, she has won five writing competitions and finaled in two other competitions. In addition to writing, she has held jobs as a private business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, and her favorite—a full-time homemaker. Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers and lifetime member of the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband, teenaged son, and four fur children.

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