american anecdotes

Gangsters, Swindlers, Killers, & Thieves: The Lives & Crimes of Fifty American Villains (2004)

Edited by Lawrence Block

This excellent book contains many very fine anecdotes. One of my favorites:

"Mica and Wiley Harpe were brothers who headed west after the Revolution, preying on settlers and travelers in the Mississippi Valley. When a posse trapped them in 1799, Wiley escaped. Mica was shot down and his head was sawn off while he was still alive. The posse members carried off his head, perhaps in hope of a reward, but wound up boiling it for soup one night when rations ran low. "