The few pioneers who had settled here were, a few years
afterwards, reinforced by the incoming of the ancestors of many of the
best families now living, among whom were the Hopkins, headed by General
Samuel Hopkins, agent and attorney, in fact for Richard Henderson & Co.,
the Bells, Andersons, Holloways, Talbotts, Newmans, Barnetts, Ashbys,
McBrides, Fuquays, Rankins, Hamiltons and others.
About this time all of this section of the country, to
the Tennessee line and including a great portion of the territory north of
Green River, was infested and completely overrun by a band of notorious
murderers and thieves, who proved a terror to the better class of people.
Among this class of outlaws were the Harpes, the Mason, the Wilson, the
Mays, of whom mention has been made, and many others, who were not the
avowed, but were the secret friends and abettors of the outlaws. These
fiends incarnate, thirsted for blood; they rode the forests through and
through fearing neither the power of God, nor the defense of the settlers.
At that time cabins were far apart, and they connected only by paths and
trails. For the settler to attempt a defense by the use of fire-arms, was
but an invitation to murder, and to undertake a union of forces at any
time for the purpose of combining against the outlaws, was as useless as
it was next to impossible. Therefore, many men, solely for
self-preservation, were forced to become apparent friends of these people.
Outlawry was at high tide, and deeds of violence, shocking to
civilization, were perpetrated with as little concern as though regulated
by law, and carried out by authority of the courts. A half hour's ride in
any direction would place the highwayman out of the range of primitive
danger, and safely away in a territory where they could not be found with
a double microscopic search warrant. For this reason, then, they were to
be, and were greatly feared by all honest men. The better class in those
days were in the minority and had to content themselves and keep
absolutely quiet in the enjoyment of their possessions, and in the
occupancy of a purely neutral position.
History of Henderson County, Kentucky
by Edmund L. Starling
pps. 29 - 30
published in 1887
public domain material
