Harpe Brothers
Micajah "Big" Harpe (1768? – August 1799) and Wiley "Little" Harpe (1770? – January 1804), pronounced (Mick-ah-zhah) and (Why-lee), were murderers, highwaymen, and river pirates, who operated in Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, and Mississippi in the late 18th century. Their crimes appear to have been motivated more by blood lust than financial gain and many historians have called them the America's first true "serial killers". The Harpes are said to have been brothers (though some sources say cousins), born in Orange County, North Carolina to Scottish parents. Their father or their uncles, were allegedly of Tory allegiance, who fought on the British side during the Revolutionary War. Big Harpe is known to have had two wives, sisters Susan and Betsey Roberts. Little Harpe married Sally Rice, daughter of a Baptist minister.
Read more about Harpe Brothers: Disputed Claims of Early Lives and Involvement in Revolutionary War and Indian Wars, Atrocities, Deaths, Harpe Women, Descendants, Appearances in Literature, Stage, Television, and Film
Famous quotes containing the words harpe and/or brothers:
“We always weaken whatever we exaggerate.”
—Jean-François De La Harpe (1739–1803)
“Come, dear children, let us away;
Down and away below!
Now my brothers call from the bay,
Now the great winds shoreward blow,
Now the salt tides seaward flow;
Now the wild white horses play,
Champ and chafe and toss in the spray.”
—Matthew Arnold (1822–1888)