A coroner’s inquest jury in Warren County decided April 12, 1799, that Frederick Stump Jr. was murdered by Micajah “Big” Harpe and Wiley “Little” Harpe, who cut Stump’s throat and ripped his belly “open near 12 inches in length.”

The Harpes are often considered the earliest documented serial killers in American history and are believed to have been responsible for as many as 50 killings. Big Harpe was murdered in August 1799 in Muhlenberg County by decapitation with a knife. Little Harpe was executed by hanging in February 1804 in Mississippi.

– “Way Back When in Warren County” is compiled by researchers at the Warren County Public Library and appears twice weekly in the Bowling Green Daily News. For more information about the library, visit warrenpl.org.