America’s First Serial Killers Were Kicked Out of a Pirate Gang For Being Too Violent
%20(9).jpeg)
America’s First Serial Killers Were Kicked Out of a Pirate Gang For Being Too Violent Larry Holzwarth - October 9, 2017 The American Revolution opened the lands west of the Allegheny Mountains to settlement and Americans poured west to the rich farmlands of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Other than Daniel Boone’s Wilderness Road and a few other pathways which were little more than Indian trails, the trek to the Ohio country was best accomplished using the rivers as highways. From Pittsburgh and from Wheeling, then part of Virginia, settlers floated down Ohio and its tributaries to find their new homes, carrying with them all that they owned. It was inevitable that there would soon be present those who would try to take it from them. River pirates huddled on the banks, in caves and encampments, and preyed upon the passing travelers. Among the worst was the Cave in the Rock gang. Led by a notorious pirate named Sam Mason and using a natural cavern in Southern Illinois as their base, the Ca...