Harvey Jonas was born on June 10, 1829 in Franklin County, North Carolina.  He was a small child at the age five and he was often teased and picked on by other children.  He had to learn how to fight. He befriended an older child that was much slower than the other kids.  This older child taught Harvey how to fight.

By the time Harvey was seven years old, he had been in three fights, one in which he almost killed a child. Charles Jonas tried to keep a tight reign on Harvey, but it did not help.  Harvey was constantly getting in trouble.

Harvey was arrested because he had shot at a man who tried to hurt his little sister. Charles Jonas convinced the man not to press charges.  The man dropped the charges against Harvey.  About two weeks later, the man that had accosted Harvey's sister was found dead. His head had been bashed in.  Harvey was arrested for this crime. Harvey had an airtight alibi and the charges were dropped. Some have said that the older child that Harvey had befriended had killed the man, but no charges were ever brought against the child.

In September of 1836, Harvey's family moved to Dorinda, Maddocha.  This move was a good thing for Harvey because he settled down for awhile and did not get into a lot of trouble.

In 1842 when he was 13, Harvey's days of trouble started up again.  Harvey, his father, and his younger brother, Lewis, were in town buying supplies.  Some children began to tease Harvey and his little brother. Harvey did not like to be teased, so he picked the biggest boy out of the crowd and began to hit him. The child that Harvey hit was caught of guard and was knocked off his feet.  The child went down and Harvey went down with him and continued to hit him. The other kids in the crowd tried to pull Harvey off of the boy, but the more they tried the harder Harvey hit the child that he had knocked to the ground. The fight was broken up by the saloon owner.

The saloon owner was impressed with the way that Harvey handled himself.  The saloon owner took Harvey under his wing much to the dismay of Harvey's mother, Eliza. Harvey stayed out of trouble while he was under the wing of the saloon owner.  The saloon owner taught Harvey many things.  He taught Harvey how to ride and care for horses, how to play cards, and how to shoot a gun among other things.

Harvey fell in love in 1851 with Letitia Bass who was rumored to be the prettiest girl in all of Dorinda.  Harvey had some competition though, Isham Warren, who was also trying to court Letitia.  Harvey did not like the competition. Harvey told Isham to stay away from Letitia. Isham told Harvey that he would not stay away from Letitia.  Isham started to walk off from Harvey when Harvey drew his gun and shot at Isham, only missing Isham by inches. Isham turned around and drew his gun on Harvey. Before Isham could get a shot off, Harvey had shot Isham dead.

News of this shooting traveled quickly and people all over Maddocha soon heard about the fastest draw in Dorinda. Not everyone was pleased with this news though, Letitia was unhappy with the news just like Harvey's father Charles Jonas was displeased with the news.  Charles wanted Harvey to leave Dorinda and go to another city, but Cyrus Jonas, Harvey's youngest brother, persuaded Charles otherwise.  Cyrus really looked up to his older brother.

Harvey was quiet until 1855. Harvey had begun to hang out with a bad group of men in 1854. They were very cruel men. It is rumored that one of the men had killed a family of eight from Absanie just because one of the children had asked him a question. The other men had similar stories surrounding them.  Another of the men had rob a bank and killed everyone that was in the bank at the time.

Harvey had become fascinated with one of the men, Cabell "Cigar" Monroe. Cabell was constantly fighting with someone because of his given name.  Whenever someone would find out his name was Cabell; he would be teased and he would start a fight.  Cabell got the name Cigar when he shot a cigar out of a man's mouth. Cigar loved the attention that he was getting from Harvey. Cigar told Harvey that every good outlaw needed a good nickname, and he began to call Harvey, Cobra, because Harvey was a very cunning person and quick with a gun. Harvey liked the nickname.

When Harvey joined the band of men, his was instructed to kill a woman. Harvey could not kill the woman because she had not done anything to Harvey and he saw no reason to kill her. The band of men was very angry with Harvey. They began to beat and stomp Harvey to death. Cigar stopped the men before they killed him.  Cigar later took Harvey and the two of them went and killed the woman that Harvey was supposed to have killed earlier.  Cigar was actually the one who killed the woman, but he told the band of men that Harvey had killed her.

Harvey did not want to be a part of the gang after they had beaten him up. He got into a fight with Cigar.  When Harvey told Cigar that he did not want to join the gang, Cigar became very angry with Harvey. After the argument had started, they began to fight. The fight ended with Harvey being stabbed in the arm and Cigar lay dead on the ground with a knife in his chest.  Harvey buried the body of Cigar and left Dorinda in late 1855.  No one ever found out what really happened to Cigar until a homesteader dug up the body of Cigar in 1862.

Harvey came out of hiding in 1859 to avenge his brother, Cyrus Jonas', death. Cyrus died because of the Jonas-Dixon Feud.  Harvey burned down the top producing steel mill of the Dixon family.  No one was killed in the incident.

In 1860, Harvey started a gang called the "Revenge Riders".  He and his gang continued to reek havoc on the Dixon family.  Most of the "Revenge Riders" were caught in 1863.  Before they were caught, they had burned down two of the Dixon's most prosperous businesses, killed 11 men, burned down several farm houses of people who associated with the Dixon Family, and robbed a bank that held the majority of the Dixon Family's money.

In 1864, Harvey and the Revenge Riders took their crime spree on the road. They began to travel all over Maddocha robbing banks and robbing stagecoaches. The Revenge Riders rob the line of stagecoaches associated with the Dixon family 63 times.  The Revenge Riders robbed more than 38 banks and more than 115 stagecoaches.  All but two members of the Revenge Riders were caught in 1863.  Those two members were Harvey Jonas and Lady Pearl Thomas who was rumored to be the fastest drawing woman in Maddocha and a love interest of Harvey Jonas.

Harvey Dixon met his demise in 1869. Harvey returned to Dorinda in late 1868 to announce his engagement to Lady Pearl Thomas. The two were to be married in May of 1869. On April 14, 1869, Harvey and Pearl were killed. A bounty hunter that had been chasing Harvey and Pearl for some time heard that the two outlaws were supposed to be in Dorinda.  The bounty hunter came to Dorinda and found the two outlaws.

The two outlaws had attended a party the night before. At the party, a colleague of the bounty hunter reportedly got the two outlaws very drunk.  When the two outlaws went to their home, they both fell into a deep sleep.  The bounty hunter killed the two outlaws in their sleep. It is believed that Harvey's brother, Lewis Jonas, was responsible for telling the bounty hunter that Harvey was in Dorinda.