Joseph Thompson Hare
Joseph Hare was born on a farm in Chester County, Pennsylvania in
about 1780. As a boy, he was a tailor's apprentice, and
retained his love for fabric and clothing for his entire life.
Joseph's early life consisted of a series of petty crimes in New
York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. Taking a trip to New Orleans on a
sailing ship, Joseph decided to remain in the south, rather than return to
his home. New Orleans did not change his perspective, however, and
he soon returned to his life of crime.
Gathering three companions, Joseph began following farmers and
peddlers on their trek back north from New Orleans to Natchez, then along
the Natchez Trace, with the intent to rob and steal the cash the peddlers
had received from selling their wares and produce.
Joseph and his gang of thieves did not simply pounce upon their
victims. They disguised themselves by rubbing berry juices on their
faces, giving themselves a grotesque appearance that frightened their
victims even more. The gang continued traveling north along the
trace, robbing one victim after another along the way.
Just south of the Tennessee line, Joseph and his men found a
cave-like area in which to rest between robberies. Here they
were well hidden by a thick cane brake, and with beds made of feathers,
the gang remained comfortable. They even began trading with the
Indians, led by an Indian squaw named Hay Foot who acted as a scout.
Joseph Hare, however, remained restless. He had difficulty
sleeping, and began riding out alone during the day. He made
careless errors, and at one point was almost killed by an intended
victim.
After three months the gang left their cane brake hide-out.
They had accumulated quite a bit of money, and were eager to spend
it. They headed north to Nashville, then to Louisville where they
traveled by flatboat down the Ohio, over to the Mississippi, then all the
way south to New Orleans, where they remained for the next seven
months. Finally, their money spent, the gang once again left
New Orleans, headed north to Natchez, and back onto the Trace, this time
carrying Spanish passports. Camping in a cave just outside of
Natchez, Hare began a diary. He wrote:
"Let not any one be
induced to turn highwayman by reading this book and seeing the great sums
of money I have robbed, for it is a desperate life, full of danger, and
sooner or later ends at the gallows."
Life was not peaceful or quiet for the Hare gang, even in New
Orleans, where they constantly found themselves embroiled in one bloody
fight after another. However, on one occasion, the men hosted a
cotillion.
Leaving New Orleans for a third time, Hare and his men were arrested
by the Spanish. These were the days shortly before the Spanish
American War. Tempers were short, and the Spanish passports
notwithstanding, the Hare gang was accused of being American spies.
They were arrested and thrown in jail. Ironically, they were
released when a group of guests who had attended the cotillion wrote
letters of testimony as to their character and honesty. Once again,
the gang left New Orleans, returned to the Natchez Trace, and resumed
their evil ways.
It was during this third trek that Hare was first captured.
While running from pursuers, Hare had envisualized seeing a magnificent
white horse on the trail. Shaken, he stopped and prepared to stay
all night at a house along the Trace. The delay cost him his
freedom. The posse arrived a short time later.
Hare spent the next five years in jail. His time was spent in
Bible reading, and writing his confessions. Upon release, Hare left
the wilderness, convinced that the "white horse" he had seen was Christ,
who had appeared to warn him of his sins. True or not, the
apparition did not have a permanent effect. Within one year of his
release, Hare was arrested a second time after robbing a night mail coach
out of Baltimore.
Hare almost escaped the death penalty by virtue of a loophole, but
his luck did not hold. On Thursday morning, September 10, 1818,
Joseph Thompson Hare was hanged before a crowd of fifteen hundred
persons.
The text of this page was donated by Ellen Pack, Adams County. Thanks Ellen!
Copyright 2000 Ellen Pack Bibliography: The
Outlaw Years, by Robert M. Coates; Published by The Literary
Guild of America, New York, 1930.
|