During this time, the Harpes befriended Moses Doss, who became their first victim. His mutilated body was found on the trail that led to the Cherokee village called Nickajack. Mutilation was to become a trademark of the Harpes. In order to avoid the conflict between the U.S. Army and the Cherokees at Nickajack, the Harpes, with four Cherokee friends retreated to a hideout in the Cumberland Mountains.

While traveling on the Wilderness Road, Methodist minister, William Lambuth was robbed by them, but all his possessions were returned when the Harpes learned he was a preacher.

The next known victim of the Harpes was a pioneer named Johnson. He was kidnapped, robbed, murdered and mutilated. Their next victim was a traveling salesman named Peyton.

Their next known victims were two young men named Bates and Paca. Susan Harpe later testified that following the murder of the two men, Big Harpe and Little Harpe removed the clothes from the dead men and dressed in them, then paraded around boasting of how pretty they looked!

After conducting a reign of terror in Tennessee for three years, the Harpes moved to Knoxville, where they gave the appearance of law-abiding citizens. Wiley (Little) Harpe met and married a lady named Sally Rice and kept up the act for awhile, but before long, the Harpes were engaging in illegal activity again. When neighbors reported them to authorities for stealing livestock, the neighbors’ barns and outhouses mysteriously caught fire! Finally, the Harpes stole a team of horses and left town, traveling north on the Wilderness Road toward Kentucky. Sally Rice was with her new husband, Wiley.

In December, 1799 the ragged looking group was in Kentucky, at a tavern owned by John Farris, located on the Rockcastle River. A traveler named Stephan Langford offered to buy breakfast for the group; they accepted. Langford left with the Harpes to travel through the wilderness county. The Harpes came out of the wilderness without Langford. They had his horse though! Langford's mutilated remains were later found and taken to the tavern for identification.

Word of the atrocities committed by the Harpes was beginning to spread. People were afraid of them. They seemed to kill and mutilate for some bizarre pleasure.

A posse arrested them in Stanford, Kentucky. All three women were pregnant and all three of them gave birth in jail. The Harpe Brothers escaped, leaving their family behind. The women were released. Stanford citizens presented the women with clothing, money and a mare to help them on their way. The women headed south, sold the horse and rejoined their husbands.

Kentucky’s governor gave James Ballenger an order to cross state lines if necessary to locate the Harpes and arrest them. When the search party arrived at the home of Daniel Trabue, they learned that Trabue’s thirteen year old son was missing. His mutilated body was found several weeks later at the bottom of a sinkhole.

Upon hearing this, the governor issued a proclamation calling for the Harpes, dead or alive. The Harpes then headed, with their women and infants, to Cave-In-Rock, Ohio, a hideout for outlaw gangs. After a brief while there, the Harpes were forced to leave in May, 1799. It seemed that even outlaws didn’t want the Harpes in their midst. At some point, Big Harpe bashed in the head of his nine-month-old child for crying.

In July, 1799 they brutally murdered a farmer named Bradbury. A few days later, they murdered a young boy named Coffey. Two days after that, they murdered William Ballard.

They then headed to Harriman Junction, where on July 29, they beat to death James Brassel. His brother, Robert, escaped and went for help. A posse was formed to pursue the Harpes. After tracking them some distance, it became apparent that the Harpes were headed back to Knoxville.

The citizens of Tennessee armed themselves. Citizen groups started searching for the Harpes in hopes of either bringing them to justice or outright killing them. Newspapers began to run stories of the horrible murders and mutilations committed by them.

Again, the Harpes turned north for Kentucky. On the road to Russellville, Kentucky, they attacked a camp of settlers, killing all but one man, who escaped and sought help. Upon his return, the mutilated bodies of five adults and three children were found.

During their trip, they stopped to spend the night at the home of Moses Stegall, an acquaintance who had joined them in various crimes. Moses wasn’t home, but his wife and infant child were. The Harpes spent the night in the loft. Before leaving the next morning, they cut the throats of Stegall’s wife and child then set fire to their home.

A posse was formed and Moses Stegall joined it. For two days they tracked the Harpes until they finally spotted them. The Harpes mounted their horses and each rode off in a different direction. The posse stayed after Big Harpe and his wife, Susan. Posse member, John Leiper managed to jump ahead of the other posse members and was in hot pursuit of Big Harpe. At one point, he halted his horse, took aim and fired. Big Harpe fell from his horse with a musket ball in his back. Big was still alive when the rest of the posse arrived. He requested a drink of water. Of all people to show him kindness, it was Moses Stegall who brought him water. It was also Moses Stegall who shot him in the head while he drank the water, then using Big’s own knife, cut off his head! The severed head was placed in a sack, tied to a stick and given to Big’s wife, Susan, with instructions to carry it to the nearest settlement. Beside the road, near Robertson’s Lick, Kentucky, Harpe’s head was nailed to a tree. The settlement would for many years be called Harpe’s Head, today it is Dixon, Kentucky.

Little Harpe would next turn up on the Natchez Trace, joining outlaw Samuel Mason in crimes against travelers and settlers. He was believed to have been caught and hanged in Natchez, Mississippi in 1804. However, for years crimes continued in the area and were executed in exactly the same manner as those committed by Little Harpe. Many believed he was not the person who was hanged.

The three Harpe women changed their names and in time became law-abiding citizens.

Throughout their brief, murderous spree, the Harpes are known to have brutally murdered thirty-five people, but those are only the ones that are known!