Blood Feud: The Hatfields & The McCoys (34 page)

2 McCoy,
The McCoys,
25.

3 Jones,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
32–33.

4 Ibid.
,
33.

5 McCoy,
The McCoys,
27. But Jones,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
35, describes Roseanna as having black hair, so who knows?

6 Based on photo #038427 from the West Virginia State Archives.

7 Crawford,
An American Vendetta,
16.

8 G. Elliot Hatfield,
The Hatfields
(Stanville, KY: Big Sandy Valley Historical Society, 1974), 34.

9 Hatfield and Spence,
Tale of the Devil,
111. Coleman A. Hatfield states that Devil Anse was not responsible for preventing Roseanna and Johnse’s marriage, that Johnse went on to marry four times without Devil Anse’s objecting, and that Devil Anse should have objected more to Johnse’s marrying Nancy McCoy than Roseanna because her father Harmon McCoy was more of an enemy to Devil Anse than was Ranel, with whom, Coleman A. maintains, Devil Anse had bushwhacked during the Civil War.

10 Jones,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
37; Rice,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
21.

11 McCoy,
The McCoys,
36.

12 Ibid., 37.

13 Rice,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
21.

14 McCoy,
The McCoys,
39.

15 Ibid., 41–42.

16 Waller,
Feud,
71. Jones,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
37, attributes Johnse’s arrest to “many indictments.” McCoy,
The McCoys,
44, says Ranel, Jim, Tolbert, and Pharmer arrested Johnse for seduction. Rice,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
22, maintains that Ranel, Jim, Tolbert, and Pharmer arrested Johnse for moonshining and carrying a concealed weapon.

17 West Virginia Division of Culture and History, transcript of interview with Margaret Hatfield, June 11, 1992, for the film
West Virginia,
WV History Film Project, www.wvculture.org/history/wvmemory/filmtranscripts/wvhatfield.html.

18 Jones,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
38.

19 L. D. Hatfield,
True Story
,
37.

20 Hatfield and Spence,
Tale of the Devil,
125.

21 Jones,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
4.

22 Hatfield and Spence,
Tale of the Devil,
179.

23 Waller,
Feud,
70.

24 McCoy,
The McCoys,
47.

25 Rice,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
22.

26 Waller,
Feud,
71.

27 McCoy,
The McCoys,
50.

28 Ibid., 52. But Rice (
Hatfield and McCoys,
23) reports that one source claimed that Roseanna succumbed to measles and had a miscarriage, whereas another claimed that the baby was a boy named Melvin. (Melvin was actually the son of Ranel’s son Tolbert.)

29 Ibid., 51.

30 Ibid., 62.

31 Ibid.

32 Ibid., 66.

33 Ibid., 54–57.

34 Ibid., 58–59.

35 Ibid., 105.

36 Ibid., 60–61.

37 Rice,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
23.

Chapter 6: Pawpaw Murders

1 Even the date of this Election Day is disputed. Coleman A. Hatfield (
Tale of the Devil,
116) insists that it was Saturday, August 5, 1882.

2 The location is also in dispute. Hatfield and Spence (
Tale of the Devil,
116) say that the election grounds were at Preacher Anse Hatfield’s cabin. But Jones (
Hatfields and the McCoys,
40) maintains that they were at Jerry Hatfield’s cabin. Perhaps the two were neighbors?

3 Hatfield and Spence,
Tale of the Devil,
116.

4 Ibid.

5 Jones,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
41.

6 Waller,
Feud,
71.

7 Hatfield and Spence,
Tale of the Devil,
116.

8 Ibid., 135.

9 Hatfield and Spence (
Tale of the Devil,
116) claim that Floyd McCoy was also involved in this attack on Ellison Hatfield, though it seems unlikely since he had the reputation of being timid and uninterested in fighting.

10 Ibid., 117.

11 Hatfield and Spence,
Tale of the Devil,
116; Jones,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
41–43; Rice,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
24.

12 McCoy,
The McCoys,
76.

13 Jones,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
40.

14 Other researchers refer to this Elias Hatfield as “Bad Elias”: Rice,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
24; Jones,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
40.

15 According to Jones (
Hatfields and the McCoys,
40–41), Tolbert had harangued Bad Elias about this debt earlier in the day, and Preacher Anse Hatfield had persuaded the two men to let it go. Tolbert’s wife had also tried to persuade him to go home with her, but he refused.

16 Waller,
Feud,
72.

17 Ibid., 72.

18 McCoy,
The McCoys,
74.

19 No other researcher agrees with her, but Truda McCoy insists that the third McCoy son involved in this clash was sixteen-year-old Bill instead of eighteen-year-old Bud, explaining that they looked so much alike that people often confused them. Truda’s main sources of information for this episode were Sam and Jim McCoy, Bill’s and Bud’s brothers, and Martha McCoy, Bill’s and Bud’s sister-in-law. It seems likely that these three would have known which brother was involved, especially since Bud was eventually killed for Bill’s supposed role in this scuffle (McCoy,
The McCoys,
225).

20 Truda McCoy (
The McCoys,
75) says that Devil Anse Hatfield retrieved the pistol and shot at the fleeing McCoy sons. But other researchers maintain that Devil Anse wasn’t present that day (Hatfield and Spence,
Tale of the Devil,
117).

21 Truda McCoy (
The McCoys,
76) claims the constables were John Hatfield and Floyd Hatfield (a different Floyd from the Hog Trial). Matthew Hatfield was also one of the constables, say Jones (
Hatfields and the McCoys,
43) and Rice (
Hatfields and the McCoys,
24).

22 Jones,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
44.

23 McCoy,
The McCoys,
76. Rice (
Hatfields and the McCoys,
26) maintains that Ranel McCoy remained with his captive sons.

24 Jones,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
45.

25 McCoy,
The McCoys,
77.

26 Ibid., 78.

27 Jones,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
44.

28 Ibid.

29 Ibid.

30 Truda McCoy (
The McCoys,
79) says that Devil Anse Hatfield accosted the party and seized the prisoners, and that Jim, Sam, and Floyd McCoy objected but were overpowered. She claims that Jim started to organize a posse, but his mother, Sarah, talked him out of it.

31 Jones,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
45.

32 Ibid., 46.

33 Waller,
Feud,
74.

34 Jones (
Hatfields and the McCoys,
47) says that Ranel McCoy was still with his sons but departed on his horse for Pikeville at this point to summon help.

35 Ibid., 48.

36 Accounts of the upcoming episode are given by Rice (
Hatfields and the McCoys,
26–28), Jones (
Hatfields and the McCoys,
47–53), and McCoy (
The McCoys,
81–87).

37 Jones,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
50.

38 Jones (
Hatfields and the McCoys,
91) states that the identity of the Hatfield male who was Ellison Mounts’s father was in question and that it might have been Wall. Yet the fact that Mounts was named Ellison would appear to support the widespread belief that Ellison Hatfield was, in fact, his father.

39 McCoy,
The McCoys,
87.

40 Jones,
Hatfields and McCoys,
50.

41 Crawford,
An American Vendetta,
82: Eldean Wellman quoting Joseph Platania, “Men to Match the Mountains: Devil Anse Hatfield and Uncle Dyke Garrett,”
Goldenseal
10, no. 3: 26–32.

42 Hatfield and Spence,
Tale of the Devil,
120.

43 Ibid., 119–20.

44 Jones,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
52.

45 L. D. Hatfield,
True Story,
24.

46 Hatfield and Spence,
Tale of the Devil,
166.

47 Hatfield and Spence (
Tale of the Devil,
115) state that the bodies were found the next morning.

48 Jones,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
54–55.

49 Hatfield and Spence,
Tale of the Devil,
120–21.

50 Ibid., 121.

51 Ibid., 115.

52 McCoy, p. 90.

53 Jones (
Hatfields and the McCoys,
56) maintains that Ranel McCoy didn’t return from Pikeville or learn of his sons’ deaths until after their funeral.

54 McCoy,
The McCoys,
93.

Chapter 7: Devil Anse and the Hellhounds

1 Hatfield and Spence,
Tale of the Devil,
125.

2 Jones,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
68.

3 Ibid., 57.

4 Ibid., 58.

5 Crawford,
An American Vendetta,
19.

6 Jones,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
56–57.

7 Hatfield and Spence,
Tale of the Devil,
122.

8 Jones,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
63–64.

9 McCoy,
The McCoys,
95.

10 Versions of this story are told in Jones,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
69; McCoy,
The McCoys,
95–96; and Rice,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
31. Also, Shirley Donnelly,
The Hatfield-
McCoy Feud Reader
(Parsons, WV: McClain, 1971), 9. McCoy says that Sam McCoy was with the Scotts and that they were walking to a mill to have some corn ground.

11 McCoy,
The McCoys,
97.

12 Jones,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
69; Rice,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
31.

13 Hatfield and Spence,
Tale of the Devil,
93.

14 Based on photo #038506 in the West Virginia State Archives.

15 Crawford,
An American Vendetta,
24–25.

16 Ibid., 31.

17 Hatfield and Spence,
Tale of the Devil,
91.

18 Ibid., 153.

19 McCoy,
The McCoys,
113–14.

20 Ibid., 102.

21 Jones,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
73.

22 McCoy,
The McCoys,
103.

23 Ibid., 105–7.

24 Ibid., 165.

25 Ibid., 114.

26 Donnelly,
Hatfield-McCoy Feud Reader,
17.

27 Jones (
Hatfields and the McCoys,
73) and Rice (
Hatfields and the McCoys,
33) state that it was two unmasked men.

28 McCoy,
The McCoys,
115.

29 Hatfield and Spence,
Tale of the Devil,
127. However, Jones (
Hatfields and the McCoys,
73) and Rice (
Hatfields and the McCoys,
33) maintain that the two whipped women were Mary Daniels and her daughter.

30 Jones,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
74; Rice,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
33.

31 McCoy,
The McCoys,
119.

32 Rice,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
33–35.

33 McCoy,
The McCoys,
119–26.

34 Ibid., 126–27.

35 Hatfield and Spence,
Tale of the Devil,
128.

36 McCoy,
The McCoys,
127; Rice,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
51.

37 Rice,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
35–36.

38 McCoy,
The McCoys,
127.

39 Rice,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
51.

40 Jones,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
151; Rice,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
51.

41 Hatfield and Spence,
Tale of the Devil,
204.

42
Courier-Journal
(Louisville, KY), March 17, 1888, as quoted in Rice,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
31.

43 Rice,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
31.

44 Hatfield and Spence,
Tale of the Devil,
138.

45 Jones,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
81; Rice,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
50.

46 Rice,
Hatfields and the McCoys,
52.

47 Waller,
Feud,
165–67.

48 Crawford,
An American Vendetta,
Wellman endnote #18, 84.

49 Baker and Hall,
39th Kentucky Mounted Infantry Webpage,
http://reocities.com/rmbaker66/index.html.

50 Waller,
Feud,
160.

51 Based on sketches of Dils and his Pikeville home reproduced in Waller, 120–21.

52 Ibid., 167.

53 Jones,
Hatfields and McCoys,
82; Rice,
Hatfields and McCoys,
51; Waller,
Feud,
172.

54 Waller,
Feud,
171.

55 Jones,
Hatfields and McCoys,
80; Donnelly,
Hatfield-McCoy Feud Reader,
9.

56 Waller,
Feud,
172.

57 Jones,
Hatfields and McCoys,
83; Rice,
Hatfields and McCoys,
52; Waller,
Feud,
167.

58 McCoy,
The McCoys,
129–30. Jones (
Hatfields and McCoys,
179) says that Billy Phillips died in prison.