time, not far from the scene of action, and who received his information from one of the persons engaged in the capture and execution of Harp.

Wiley Harp made his escape, and fled to the neighborhood of Natchez; where he continued his bloody deeds until the winter of 1803, or spring of 1804. He had associated himself with a band of robbers, who were headed by a man by the name of Meason, or Mason, who was well known in the country as a desperate villain; and for whose head, if he could not be taken alive, a considerable reward was offered. Harp sought an opportunity to slay Meason, and having done so, carried his head to Natchez, and demanded the reward. It so happened, that he arrived at Natchez, with Meason's head, at the same time the troops from East Tennessee arrived, who were on their march, by order of the Federal Government, to take possession of Louisiana. Some of the troops were well acquainted with Harp-identified his person beyond a doubt and he was condemned and executed shortly thereafter.

Thus ended the lawless and bloody career of those incarnadine monsters, whose ruthless, unnatural and barbarous deeds, must startle and astound the reader who has not hitherto heard the story of their more than brutal outrages. Even the most ferocious, blood-thirsty and carnivorous beast of the forest, and the most warlike and rapacious fowl of the air, possesses social feelings and animal sympathies. Neither the wrathful lion, nor the fierce-eyed tiger, will destroy, but will guard and protect his female mate and helpless offspring, as well as those of his own peculiar species. The wild and timid stag will throw his antlers between his feminine companion and approaching danger, and guard with sedulous care the secret haunt of the fawn. The eagle soars with keen

eyed vigilance around the towering cliff where sets his brooding mate; and, when the period of incubation has terminated, and the eyes of the helpless eaglets look upon the brilliant rays of the burning sun, he feeds and nourishes them with the most anxious solicitude. But the incarnate fiends whose bloody career is portrayed in this chapter-incapable of, even such animal sympathies and natural feelings as are inherent in the bosoms of brutes and birds-waged relentless war upon their own race, and, without provocation, imbrued their hands in the blood of the innocent, the helpless and unoffending. And, regardless of those paternal feelings, which compose the silken cord of parental affection, that bind even the brutal tenants of the forest to their feeble offspring, and the winged inhabitants of the air, to their tender and helpless brood, they butchered their own unoffending children, who should have been the idols of their hearts, and the objects of their most anxious and constant solicitude.

After the death of Micajah Harp and the flight of his brother, their wives went into the settled parts of Kentucky and besought the inhabitants for protection. The two who had lived with the big Harp, had nothing peculiar in their appearance; but the wife of Wiley was a woman of handsome features, genteel demeanor and, apparently, of delicate constitution. She alleged she had made several unsuccessful attempts to escape from Harp. Her father afterwards took her home, and she was restored to the society of her kindred and friends.The two women of Micajah Harp remained in Kentucky.

The Legislature of Kentucky, by an act of Assembly, gave Leiper two hundred and fifty dollars in consideration of his bold and chivalrous conduct in arresting the big Harp.

The writer of this narrative has no doubt the bloody transactions here detailed, will sound in the ears of some of his readers, very like the fictions of Baron Monchausen, or the tales of the Arabian Knight's Entertainment; for it is hard to believe that man, in this enlightened and christian age, can sink below the vicious and grovelling nature of the most fierce and ferocious beast; and perpetrate deeds that, even the fiends who reign in the infernal courts of pandemonium would shrink from with. revolting horror. But such of his readers may cast their doubts to the winds, and rest with unshaken confidence in the truths of this tragic history; for, hundreds of the most respectable individuals, who are yet living, will bear testimony to its veracity.

It may seem astonishing that two lawless brigands, having three women to guard and protect, should so long infest a civilized community, and spread terror and death throughout a country inhabited by the most daring, brave and chivalrous people to be found upon the habitable globe; for such were the inhabitants of Tennessee and Kentucky, at the time those tragic scenes were being transacted. But, when the reader is informed, that both these States were, at that day, but sparsely populated, and an extensive range of mountains (running along the line between the two States) divided the settlements of the one from the other some sixty or a hundred miles, and that this vast range of mountains were filled with rock-houses and caverns, and many parts covered with dense laurel thickets and extensive cane-brakes, where these lawless wretches could conceal themselves, and subsist upon the wild game of the forest for months at a time, his wonder will cease.

"Till they have gained their ends, are giants in
Their promises, but those obtained, weak pigmies
In their performance. And it is a maxim
Allowed" by many, "so they may deceive,

They may swear any thing;" for, the simple folks,
"As they constantly hold" do "never punish
"But smile at" public "perjuries."

-What so foolish as the chase of fame?
How vain the prize! how impotent the aim!
For what are men who grasp at praise sublime
But bubbles on the rapid stream of time,
That rise and fall, that swell, and are no more,
Born and forgot ten thousand in an hour.

As a horse

YOUNG.

Is still a horse, for all his golden trappings,

So your men of purchased titles, at their best are

But serving men in rich liveries.

MASSINGER.

Fifty years ago, or even thirty, if a candidate for of fice had left his home to traverse the country and solicit votes, instead of securing his election he would most cer

tainly have occasioned his defeat, no matter what his per

sonal popularity might have been. been the only consequence of his

Nor would this have imprudent temerity;

he would have met with an insult from every individual whose vote he solicited, and in all probability would have been knocked down before he had solicited the suffrages of twenty men. But now, how changed are the feelings, manners and customs of the people in relation to this subject! A candidate for office in these enlightened days of science, politics, and the march of mind, is not only permitted to electioneer for votes, but if he does not do so-nay, if he is not very industrious, and also, very skilful in the science of flattery-he is certain to be defeated, though his opponent may be the veriest ignoramus, as well as the greatest scoundrel, (who has not yet been convicted of a penitentiary offence) in all the country.

Here let the reader, for a moment, reflect upon this subject! Is it prudent, is it politic, is it calculated to advance our prosperity and perpetuate our freedom and independence as a nation, to put up, in open market, all the honors and emoluments of office, to be struck off to the lowest bidder, or to be intrigued for by scoundrels, who will, invariably, "have an eye single to the recompense of reward,” instead of the good and glory of the country, and the prosperity of the people? Is it not as notorious as that we have a government, that men without talent, without learning, without experience, and often without moral character-nay, even of notorious ill-fame-obtain the highest and most important public stations within the gift of the people? If this latter interrogatory be answered in the affirmative, and it admits of no other answer for the facts stand out in such bold relief "that