The Feud: The Hatfields and McCoys: The True Story

Home > Other > The Feud: The Hatfields and McCoys: The True Story > Page 40
The Feud: The Hatfields and McCoys: The True Story Page 40

by Dean King


  11. Hatfield and Spence (252–53) said, “Atkinson arrived in Williamson, accompanied by a man named Boggs, and convinced Elias to surrender.” Later, they said Atkinson did this “as a lawyer”; however, by this time, Atkinson, who served as the governor of West Virginia from 1897 to 1901, was already in the executive office.

  12. Velke, 107–11, from Jones, 117, 193.

  13. New York Times, “Hatfield Feud Renewed.”

  14. Jones, 217. According to the Southwestern Reporter, on Dec. 6, 1906, Alex Messer was briefly released on parole. However, he was arrested again after he was found carrying a gun and “molesting people.” He failed to live up to promises to reform and, in 1907, returned to prison, where he stayed for the rest of his life.

  On July 11, 1904, the New York Times (“Pardon for a Feudist”) reported that the McCoys signed the petition only because Johnse had not taken part in the New Year’s Day raid, though he actually had. Rice (120) said Thorne himself was attacked while touring the prison, which is incorrect.

  15. Louisville Courier-Journal, “Hatfield Dies Tied to a Tree,” and L. D. Hatfield, 38.

  Coda

  1. Hatfield and Spence, 222.

  2. Mutzenberg, 108. For a good description of the gunfight, see Donnelly, 15, 19–20 ; Montgomery News, “Hatfield Brothers Killed”; Velke, 107–11, 158; and G. Elliott Hatfield, 212.

  3. Spivak, “Interview with Cap Hatfield.”

  4. Donnelly, 15–16, and Charlotte Sanders, “Hatfields Produced Mingo’s 2nd Sheriff,” Williamson Daily News. Greenway and his wife, Cora Lee, had five sons, all of whom became prominent citizens of Williamson. Wirt was a Republican mayor of the town for sixteen years. W.E. served as postmaster and county sheriff, the latter post beginning in 1932, after his father’s last stint as sheriff. Shayde also served as postmaster. Anthony worked in the sheriff’s department, and Neenie ran a bookstore.

  5. Joseph Platania, “Three Sides to the Story.”

  6. Ibid., and West Virginia Archives, “Henry Drury Hatfield” and “Inaugural Address of Governor Henry D. Hatfield.”

  Epilogue: Mine Is the Vengeance

  1. Velke, 180 d–e, and Howard, “Descendants of French Ellis.”

  2. Donnelly, 20–21.

  3. Hatfield and Spence, 221; G. Elliott Hatfield, 225, 235; Swain, 194; Donnelly, 15–16 ; Mutzenberg, 109; Klotter, 328; Cantley, 28; and Margaret Hatfield interview transcript.

  4. Donnelly, 22–23.

  5. New York Times, “Randall McCoy, Feudist, Dies”; Truda McCoy, 215; and Tyree, “Funeral of Sarah McCoy.”

  6. Sanders, “Ollie McCoy” and “Tom McCoy Ordained as Minister,” and Hoffman, 9.

  7. Cunningham, “Horrible Butcheries,” 25; Kenneth R. Bailey, “Dan Cunningham”; and Temptation to Lawlessness, 25–45.

  SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Writings on the Hatfield and McCoy feud come in a great array of forms. The sources below include everything from feud-dedicated newsletters to well-researched hybrid novel/nonfiction works (such as Spivak’s and Judge Staton’s) to family reminiscences to standard academic references. Some early sources, such as the report of Kentucky adjutant general Sam E. Hill to the governor of Kentucky, inform quite a few later works. The reporting of Spears and Crawford in 1888 is seminal. Charles Mutzenberg’s 1917 chapter on the feud, which is partly based on Hill, is frequently referred to by other authors. After 1949, Virgil Carrington Jones’s feud history became the standard reference, and later works by Otis K. Rice and Altina Waller added much to the discussion. Truda McCoy and G. Elliott Hatfield offer detailed and partisan accounts, with excellent geneaologies, and Coleman C. Hatfield’s books contribute more stories with details, color, and opinions. A number of the works borrow without attribution from earlier accounts but are not without their own merits. In particular, Swain contains a chapter entitled “Truth About the Hatfield-McCoy Feud” with a note stating: “An attempt will here be made to give the cold facts as they have been gathered after an exhaustive investigation during which much of this information was gleaned from living actors who participated in this unhappy Feud” (183). However, he copied verbatim from Mutzenberg. L. D. Hatfield did too, sometimes amusingly putting Mutzenberg’s dialogue in the vernacular.

  Adams, Samuel Hopkins. “Dan Cunningham: A Huntsman of the Law.” McClure’s Magazine 23 (June 1904): 215–20.

  Andersen, Kurt. “Appalachia: Hatfields and McCoys.” Time, Dec. 14, 1981.

  Anderson, Helen Vance, and John Vance. Tug River Memories. Privately published. Hardy, KY: Barbara Vance, 2004.

  Atkins, Tom. “Franklin Phillips—No Outlaw.” Old Pond Hatfield-McCoy Newsletter 3, no. 1 (Spring/Summer 2000): 40–50.

  ———. Old Pond Hatfield-McCoy Newsletter 3, no. 2 (Fall/Winter 2000): 36–41.

  ———. Old Pond Hatfield-McCoy Newsletter 3, no. 4 (Fall/Winter 2001): 7–8.

  Atkinson, George W., and Alvaro F. Gibbens. Prominent Men of West Virginia: Biographical Sketches of Representative Men in Every Honorable Vocation, Including Politics, the Law, Theology, Medicine, Education, Finance, Journalism, Trade, Commerce and Agriculture. Wheeling, WV: W. L. Callin, 1890.

  Ayers, Edward L. In the Presence of Mine Enemies: The Civil War in the Heart of America, 1859–1863. New York: W. W. Norton, 2003.

  Bailey, Kenneth R. “Dan Cunningham.” e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia. www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1697.

  Baily, Rebecca J. Matewan Before the Massacre: Politics, Coal, and the Roots of Conflict in a West Virginia Mining Community. Morgantown: West Virginia University Press, 2008.

  Baker, Robert, and Brian E. Hall. “Organization & History of the 39th Kentucky Mounted Infantry Regiment and Company ‘F.’ ” Blue Gray Historical Group. Last modified Feb. 28, 2007. www.bluegrayhistoricalgroup.org/39thktymtdinfhis.htm.

  Bartoo, Carole. “Genetic Clues to Famous Feud.” Vanderbilt Reporter. www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/reporter/index.html?ID=5470.

  Block, Lawrence. Gangsters, Swindlers, Killers, and Thieves: The Lives and Crimes of Fifty American Villains. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.

  Bolgiano, Chris. The Appalachian Forest: A Search for Roots and Renewal. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1998.

  Broadstone, Michael A., ed. History of Greene County, Ohio: Its People, Industries, and Institutions. Indianapolis, IN: B. F. Bowen and Co., 1918.

  Callahan, James M. History of West Virginia, Old and New. Vol. 2. Chicago: American Historical Society, 1923.

  Cantley, Beulah. “Uncle Dan, What a Man”: By a Loving Grandaughter [sic]. Charleston, WV: Boda, 1976.

  Chafin, Andrew. “Andrew Chafin Interview: Thanksgiving, 1972.” Typescript. Transcription by Andy Chafin, Brad Chafin, and Betty Avril, Jan. 2002. West Virginia Collection, West Virginia University.

  Chafin, Andy. Personal interview with author, Sept. 12, 2012.

  Clark, Thomas D. “Kentucky Logmen.” Journal of Forest History 25, no. 3 (July 1981): 144–57.

  Cline, Cecil, and Harry Dale Cline. Clines and Allied Families of the Tug River Region of Kentucky and West Virginia: A Historical and Genealogical Study of the Pioneer Settlers and Their Descendants. Baltimore, MD: Gateway Press, 1998.

  Cole, Merle T. A Comprehensive History of the West Virginia State Police, 1919–1979. Electronic publication. Merle T. Cole, 1998. www.statepolice.wv.gov/about/Documents/wvspHistory.pdf.

  ———. “Soldiers of the New Empire: The Gaujot Brothers of Mingo County.” West Virginia Historical Society Quarterly 16, no. 2 (Apr. 2002).

  Crawford, Theron Clark. An American Vendetta: A Story of Barbarism in the United States. New York: Belford, Clarke and Co., 1889.

  ———. “An American Vendetta.” New York World, Oct. 7, 1888.

  ———. “American Barbarians.” New York World, Oct. 14, 1888.

  ———. “The Land of the Vendetta.” New York World, Oct. 21, 1888.

  Creelman, James. “Bloody Border War.” New York Herald, Feb. 9, 1888.

  ———. “
West Virginia’s Savages.” New York Herald, Feb. 13, 1888.

  Cunningham, Dan. Memoirs of Daniel W. Cunningham: The Criminal History of Roane and Jackson Counties, West Virginia. New River Notes Books, 2005. Also found as Murders of Roane and Jackson Counties [bound typescript], Feb. 24, 1928, in the West Virginia State Archives.

  ———. “The Horrible Butcheries of West Virginia: A True Story of the Hatfields and McCoys, Including Anse Hatfield’s War History.” Edited and with an introduction by Ludwell H. Johnson III. West Virginia History 46, nos. 1–4 (1985–1986): 25–43.

  Dabney, Joseph Earl. Mountain Spirits: A Chronicle of Corn Whiskey from King James’ Ulster Plantation to America’s Appalachians and the Moonshine Life. Asheville, NC: Bright Mountain Books, 1974.

  Darwin, Charles. The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex. Vol. 2, Sexual Selection. 2nd ed. New York: American Home Library Company, 1902.

  Dizney, Elijah F. “Mountain Feuds.” Berea Quarterly 13, no. 1 (Apr. 1909): 7–18.

  Donnelly, Shirley. The Hatfield-McCoy Feud Reader: Stories About the Famous Feud. Parsons, WV: McLain Printing Company, 1972.

  Doolittle, Jerome. The Southern Appalachians. New York: Time-Life Books, 1975.

  Dorman, John Frederick. “Petitions from Kentuckians to the Virginia Legislature.” The Kentucky Genealogist 11, no. 1 (Jan.–Mar. 1969).

  Dotson, Grace. “Abner Vance, The True Story.” The Appalachian Quarterly (Sept. 2003): 40–42.

  Dunaway, Wilma. The First American Frontier: Transition to Capitalism in Southern Appalachia, 1700–1860. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996.

  Ely, William. The Big Sandy Valley: A History of the People and Country from the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time. Catlettsburg, KY: Central Methodist, 1887.

  Fox, Richard K. Devil Anse, or The Hatfield-McCoy Outlaws: A Full and Complete History of the Deadly Feud Existing Between the Hatfield and McCoy Clans. New York: Richard K. Fox, Publisher, 1889.

  Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: The Story of Success. New York: Little, Brown, 2008.

  Hamilton, Emory L. The David Musick Tragedy. From Indian Atrocities Along the Clinch, Powell and Holsten Rivers. Unpublished manuscript, 219–25.

  Hanmer, James Williams. “The Making of an American Myth: The Hatfields and the McCoys.” MA thesis, San Jose State University, 1997.

  Harkins, Anthony. Hillbilly: A Cultural History of an American Icon. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.

  Harris, John T., ed. “Warren Miller.” In West Virginia Legislative Hand Book and Manual and Official Register, 1917. Charleston, WV: Tribune Printing Company.

  Hatfield, Coleman C., and F. Keith Davis. The Feuding Hatfields and McCoys. Chapman, WV: Woodland Press, 2008.

  Hatfield, Coleman C., and Robert Y. Spence. The Tale of the Devil. Chapman, WV: Woodland Press, 2007.

  Hatfield, G. Elliott. The Hatfields. Revised and edited by Leonard Roberts and Henry P. Scalf. Pikeville, KY: The Big Sandy Valley Historical Society, 1988.

  Hatfield, L. D. The True Story of the Hatfield and McCoy Feud. L. D. Hatfield, 1945. Kessinger Publishing, in reprint.

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

  Hatfield, Philip. The Other Feud: William Anderson “Devil Anse” Hatfield in the Civil War. Charleston, WV: CreateSpace, 2010.

  Henshaw, Thomas. The History of Winchester Firearms, 1866–1992. Clinton, NJ: Winchester Press, 1993.

  Hill, Sam. “Report of the Adjutant General of Kentucky.” Kentucky: National Guard History eMuseum. Last modified May 29, 2008. www.kynghistory.ky.gov/history/3qtr/addinfo/hatfieldmccoy.htm.

  Hoffman, Margaret. “Hatfields, McCoys Bury the Hatchet.” Panorama: Sunday Dominion Post, Aug. 1, 1976.

  Howard, Betty P. “What Was the Cause of the Hatfield-McCoy Feud?” Kentucky Explorer 25, no. 4 (Sept. 2010): 34–37.

  ———. “Rebecca Scott.” Medical Leader, Mar. 10, 2007.

  ———. “Pauline Cecil.” The Medical Leader, June 2, 2007.

  Johnston, David E. A History of the Middle New River Settlements and Contiguous Territory. Huntington, WV: Standard PTG and Pub. Co., 1906.

  Jones, Virgil Carrington. The Hatfields and the McCoys. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1948.

  Karr, Carolyn. “A Political Biography of Henry Hatfield.” West Virginia History 28, no. 1 (Oct. 1966): 35–63.

  Katz, William Loren. “1876: The Year When Things Went from Bad to Worse for Indians and Blacks.” History News Network, Jan. 23, 2012.

  Kephart, Horace. Our Southern Highlanders: A Narrative of Adventure in the Southern Appalachians and a Study of Life Among the Mountaineers. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1976. Originally published in 1913.

  Klotter, James C. “A Hatfield-McCoy Feudist Pleads for Mercy in 1889.” West Virginia History 43, no. 1 (Fall 1981).

  Lawson, W. B. “The Hatfield-McCoy Vendetta; or Shadowing a Hard Crowd.” Log Cabin Library, Oct. 18, 1894, 2–29.

  Leyburn, James G. The Scotch-Irish: A Social History. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1962.

  Litsey, E. Carl. “Kentucky Feuds and Their Causes.” Frank Leslie’s Popular Monthly 53, no. 3 (Jan. 1903): 161–72.

  MacCorkle, William Alexander. The Recollections of Fifty Years. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1928.

  Maddox, Ed. “Hatfield-McCoy Feud Select Bibliography.” Pikeville, KY: Pike County Society for Historical and Genealogical Research, 2001.

  Maynard, Lee. Crum: The Novel. Morgantown, WV: Vandalia Press, 2001.

  McCoy, Homer Claude. “The Rise of Education and the Decline of Feudal Tendencies in the Tug River of West Virginia and Kentucky in Relation to the Hatfield and McCoy Feud.” MA thesis, Marshall College, 1950.

  McCoy, Sam, Hobert McCoy, Orville McCoy, and Leonard Roberts. Squirrel Huntin’ Sam McCoy: His Memoir and Family Tree. Pikeville, KY: Pikeville College Press, 1979.

  McCoy, Truda Williams. The McCoys: Their Story. Edited by Leonard W. Roberts. Pikeville, KY: Preservation Council Press, 1976. Written in the 1930s.

  McKinney, Gordon B. “Industrialization and Violence in Appalachia in the 1890’s.” In An Appalachian Symposium, edited by J. W. Williamson. Boone, NC: Appalachian State University Press, 1948.

  Messerer, E. P. “The Sportsman Tourist: Days and Nights in West Virginia.” Forest and Stream 51, no. 7 (Aug. 13, 1898): 122.

  Morgan, John G. West Virginia Governors: 1863–1980. 2nd ed. Charleston, WV: Charleston Newspapers, 1980.

  Mounts, Willard. The Rugged Southern Appalachia. Denver: Ginwill Publishing Company, 1997.

  Mutzenberg, Charles G. Kentucky’s Famous Feuds and Tragedies: Authentic History of the World Renowned Vendettas of the Dark and Bloody Ground. New York: R. F. Fenno and Co., 1917.

  Mylott, James P. A Measure of Prosperity: A History of Roane County. Charleston, WV: Mountain State Press, 1984.

  Nuzhet, O. Atuk, et al. “Pheochromocytoma in von Hippel–Lindau Disease: Clinical Presentation and Mutation Analysis in a Large, Multigenerational Kindred.” Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 83, no. 1 (1998): 117–20.

  O’Brien, Frank M. The Story of the Sun: New York, 1833–1918. New York: George H. Doran Company, 1918.

  Osborne, Randall, and Jeffrey C. Weaver. The Virginia State Rangers and State Line. Lynchburg, VA: H. E. Howard, 1994.

  Otterbein, Keith F. “Five Feuds: An Analysis of Homicides in Eastern Kentucky in the Late Nineteenth Century.” American Anthropologist 102, no. 2 (June 2000): 231–43.

  Otto, John Solomon. “Forest Fallowing Among the Appalachian Mountain Folk: An Ethnohistorical Study.” Anthropologica 30, no. 1 (1988): 3–22.

  Pearce, John Ed. Days of Darkness: The Feuds of Eastern Kentucky. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1994.


  Pike County, Kentucky, 1821–1987, Historical Papers 6. Pikeville, KY: Pike County Historical Society, 1987.

  Platania, Joseph. “Three Sides to the Story: Governor Hatfield and the Mine Wars.” WVGenWeb Project. www.wvgenweb.org/wvcoal/sides.html.

  Plumb, William T., Jr. “Illegal Enforcement of the Law.” Cornell Law Quarterly 24 (1938–1939): 337–93.

  Prichard, James M. “The Devil at Large: Anse Hatfield’s War.” In Virginia at War 1863, edited by William C. Davis and James I. Robertson Jr. for the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2009.

  Ragland, Henry Clay. History of Logan County, W. Va. Chapters 13–22: The Genealogical Section. Transcribed by Tom Steele, June 30, 1998. www.freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ptsonline/history/ragland.htmlrootsweb. ancestry.com/~ptsonline/history/ragland.html.

  Rakes, Paul H., and Kenneth R. Bailey. “ ‘A Hard-Bitten Lot’: Nonstrike Violence in the Early Southern West Virginia Smokeless Coalfields, 1880–1910.” In Bruce Stewart, Blood in the Hills: A History of Violence in Appalachia. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2012.

  Rasmussen, Barbara. Absentee Landowning and Exploitation in West Virginia, 1760–1920. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1994.

  Rice, Otis K. The Hatfields and the McCoys. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1982.

  Ridenour, Martha. “Perry Anderson Cline.” Unpublished essay in possession of Big Sandy Heritage Center.

  Roesch, Helen Blankenship. “Hatfields of Southwest Virginia, Kentucky.” Henry P. Scalf Papers, University of Pikeville.

  Sanders, Charlotte. Williamson Daily News, Sept. 12, 1989 (special feud anniversary edition).

  ———. “Beautiful Beech Creek Valley Not Always Peaceful,” pp. 10–11a.

  ———. “Condit’s Mother Sided with Hatfields.”

  ———. “Drinking Was Popular with Both Hatfields and McCoys,” p. 14a.

  ———. “Emma Hatfield Reminisces About ‘Uncle Anderson,’ ” p. 9a.

  ———. “Ex–Mingo County Sheriff Tom Chafin Remembers.”

  ———. “Feud Was Revived in 1899 After the Killing of ‘Doc’ Ellis,” p. 18a.

 

‹ Prev