Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1888-02-03
The Hatield-McCoy Vendetta.

kentucky border are almost beyond
belief. The barbarities extended
over a period Of years, beginning
with trivial law suit, aad have been
ended temporarily, at least. by the
arrest of part of the Hatfield gang.
The crowning piece of devll,ry
was that of the night Of Jan. l. 1888,
when Is of the Hatfield gang, headed
by JAS Vance, surrounded the Me-
Coy homestead, near the mouth of
Pond Creek, an influent of the Tug
from the Kentucky side, burned the
house from with all its contents, kill
ed his son and daughter. beat their
mother with the butt of gun till
they thought sha was dead aud left
the little children in the house to die
in the cold on the bleak mountain side
among the bushes. to which thuy had
escaped with nothing on but their
night clothes.
1t was about ten O'Clock, when the
McCoys, consisting Of old "Ran'l, /"
his son Calvin, his daughter Alfara.
and another daughter were preparing
for bed Suddenly they heard the
trampiing OF many men ct the door
way, and in a mo.nent three or four
men yelled: Hello, in there; open
this door, or We'll break it in and
burn the house!"
Calvin Mccoy, who had q Win
chester and plenty of ammunition. re-
assured his mother and sisters and
the children, all of them the orphans
of his murdered brothers, and telling
bis father to load an old-fsshioued
double-barreled shotgun, prepared for
siege. He glanced out of crack in
the logs of the house aud found the
attacking party all huddled 50 closely
under the window of the house as to
defy his efforts to shoot at any Of
them Once or twice he did shoot.
but no one was apparently hurt by
the shots. Learning that they must
burn the house in order to dislodge
their victims, the Hat6elds finally set
fire to the building.
When it began to blaze, one of the
daughters, Alfara, 90 years old end
far gone in consumption. ran into an
annex and seizing churn. dashed its
contents on the flames, extinguishing
them. Baffled in this instance, the
inturiated men surrounded the brave
girl and threatened her with instant
death death if she should again inter
fers. She replied that she intended
to do all in her power to save the
lives of her parents and the little chill
dren in the house.
II know you, Cap Hatfield, and
you can't scare mel" said the girl,
suddenly recognizing one Of the men.
"Kill her. Cap; kill her; she'll be
witness against US if you don t." said
one OF the band.
"Cap" raised his Winchester and
iD second a bullet burrrowed in the
poor girls brain.
Meantime the house was again
fired in several places and this time
burned without interference 1t was
but poor log structure at best and,
as the logs were old and dry, readily
succumbed to the flames, famed by
the sweeping January blasts. Old
Mrs. Mccoy, learning of the death of
her daughter, ran out of the main
building toward the annex, only to
be met by two or three of the MUIR
derers, and one of them, after mo-
ment's parley, dubbed his Winches-
ter and struck her to the ground, re-
peating the stroke several times.
As the heat began to get intense
within the house it became apparent
that some diversion must bs made in
order to saye the lives of even the
children. Calvin Mccoy heroically
agreed to sacrifice himself. He told
his father to stay in the house while
he would open the door suddenly and
rush to the shelter of corn crib
handy, from which he could fight to
some purpose, while the old gentle.
man might get in shot occasionally
from his shot gun The father re-
monstrated, but the son was deter
mined to make the break. 1t was IN.
expected, and the youth had almost
reached cover when he was discovered
and volley fired at him. One of the
balls struck him in the back of the
head and he fell forward dead.
At this moment the father, cad in
his night clothes and followed by the
children, appeared in the doorway,
about which almost all the AZ sassins
were huddled. As be opened the
the door and stepped out he dischsrg-
ed one barrel to his right hand and
the other to his left. Shrieks of pain
and bafled rage commingled in the
midnight air as the fends ran off into
the darkness. Taking advantage of
their discontinue, Mr. Mccoy gather
ed his little ones around him and es-
capped to the brush, where he and they
shivered till daybreak, where they
were joined soon after by the mother
and another daughter, who had sue
ceeded in putting the body of Alfara
out of reach of the fame.
The two shots from Mr.. McCoy's
gun must have done terrible execu.
tio1, as it is said two or three new
made graves have been found in the
Hatfield settlement, and as many
more are said to be Carrying their
arms 10 slings or are hobbling around
on crutches. 1t was the first blow,
the father who had been bereaved of
five children, had struck in his own
behalf; and even then it was one of
desperation and not of vengearce.
Coming down from the bushes in
the gray of the morning, Mr. Mccoy
found bis daughter lying near the
smoking ruins of his house, her brains
oozing from hole in her forehead
Out from the house, near the corncrib,
lay the son vino had lost his own life
| in the heroic effort to save the lives
of the Others He had not even h
suit of clothing left. His little grand
children crowded around him begging
for food and clothing phey had been
dragged from bed just 10 time to es-
cape being burned to death. His wife
lay near the annex, unable to move
and still daZed from the blows of the
night before. No friend or neighbor
| anDeared tn helm him and IL was hon r q