The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-07-18

make.
Again the men struggled away. and again
they got back before the boy, who piled
his knife as before This time he was seen
by one of the Hatfields, who called neigh
boris attention to the act But before they
could do anything toward seeing fair play
the Deacon, by last desperate effort, threw
Talbot Mccoy to the ground, and, picking
up Il stone, raised it aloft to crush the skull
of his enemy.
Among the spectators was Farmer
Mccoy, another brother of Talbot. He
had drawn his pistol, as he said, to see fair
play. Now he could stand the sight no
longer, and shot the Deacon in the back.
That ended the fight. The deacon fell TO
the ground dying, while Farmer Mccoy
fled up the road with lot If bullets from
Hatfield pistol flying past him, while young
Budd threw his knife into the creek and
slipped away unseen.
AT the same moment Randolph Mccoy,
Jr., the boy of Is. came running up from
spring some hundred yards below, where he
had been playing with a companion. he
had heard the shooting and arrived just in
time to see his brother, Farmer, arrested
and brought back, and Talbot also arrested.
Then the Hatfield who had seen Budd stab
hing the deacon'S legs pointed out Randolph
to the officers and accused him of the
crime of which little Budd was really
guilty. 1t was an awful mistake, but
natural one People could not be expected
to distinguish between two small brothers
in a family of fifteen.
Young Randolph, made wild by an intui-
ton of his coming fate, an intuition that
did not yet oppr IS his older brothers, pro-
tested his innocence, but his eagerness and
fear only convinced the officers that he was
guilty.
The officers kept the three prisoners IN a
house near by over night and next morning
started for Pjkevllle to put them in Jail to
await trial. 5ut they ever got there. Old
Anderson Hatfield, Deacon ElliSon's brother
Bad Anse, he was and still Is called-witn
a great mob of relatives and friends, took
the D. isoners from the officers and carried
them over Fog river to West VIr-
ginia, and put them in a school house,
there to await the result of the deacon'S
wounds.
Tho deacon had been carried over the
river also, and lay in the house of Anderson
Ferr Id, at the mouth of Mate creek. The
school house where the prisoners were kept
was half a mile away. The surgeon who
- as summoned found twenty-Seveu wounds
in the deacons' ody, one of which split his
left lung half in two, and several others
were as deadly, but still the wounded man
did not die until Wednesday afternoon at 3
o'clock
Meantime the prisoners were kept lying
on the school hou SO floor, bound with rope
so securely that their arms swelled to double
size, and 1t was impossible for hem to rest
or sleep. Hattields, armed with all sorJs of
weapon stood guard and discussed with
each other the parts of he bodies Of the
prisoners that would be most painful when
''shot full of lead.n The mother of the
I, isoners and Talbot's wife, with baby
months old in her arms, came TO see then.
There were tears and pfeadings, such as
might have melted the he TT Of any one
but a savage But they were vain. The
women were even brutally tainted with
the fate these boys'were to suffer. AT last
the hour arrived when the deacon ceased to
ureathe. A messenger on a mule rode
madly up 10 the scnool house with the
news, and then VITA cries like wild beasts
many Of the younger Aa5feldS ran around
the school house peerng through the cracks
III the hope Of getting q shot at the priso-
ners without endalGering their own
friends. But Valentine Hatfield, another
brother of tie deaco1 and justice of the
peace witnal, stopped that by telling them
to wait till ight and then they could have
their revenge. 36s
Worn out by their long sufferiugs, the
prisoners broke down and wept, but Talbot,
who was, after all, q manly sort of a fellow
for mountaineer, soon recovered his com
posture. Turning TO o:d Bad Anse and to
Valentine Hatfield, he said
'Geutlemen, when you shoot me want
yon to look me in the face" Then he
pleaded for the lad. Randolph. 1t appears
that at this time both Bad Anse and his
brother Valentine .Aad, been convinced that
they had got the wrong one of the two little
boys, and had detetmlncd to spare Ran
dolph's life, but to te;tch him lesson they
meant to make hun Witness the death of his
older brothers. 'l"H
As mig came onthe prisoners were taken
out of the school and driven down the road
toward Tug river, the dividing line between
Kentucky and West Virginia. As they
reached ths river, Farmer Mccoy, over
me by fear, tainted and fell on the sand,
but water was sprinkled GU his face in order
that he might be revived and reallz3 his
fate. The three were driven then over into
Kentucky, and there, on the edge of the
woods, were tied to some paw-paw bushes.
Talbot, VINO had Femalnep silent aud
proud, was tied with his back to his execu-
TONERS. Farmer, who was half dead with
fear. was tied facing them. and the lad,
little Randolph, was tied kneeling and fac
ing his older brothers. Then the gang
formed in line a few feet away, with their
arms pointed at Inc two older broth
ers. Old Bad Anse shouted to his brotGer
Valentine, who stood over on the Virginia
side:
All ready"
Take aim, tirem shouted Valentine.
There was a roar of guns and rifles. and
Talbot and Farmer were no more. Their
bodies were shot full of bullets.
The boy on his knees could only gasp with
horror at the awful see lie. The men formed
i'll line and marched down the path few
rods on their way back across the river.
Thea one Of the gang, named Alexander
Messer, thought of the possibility of tue boy
becoming a witness against them should
they ever be brought to trial for what they
had done. Speaking to Bad Anse, who
commanded the gang, he said:
Dead mon tell no tales"
go, you" said Bad Anse.
He obeyed. Loading both barrels of his
shotgun with heavy charges of powder and
rifle bullets, he went back. The boy did
not notice him till he was but few feet
away, aud co Id only give one waiting cry
for mercy, which was heard by an elder
brother quarter of a mile away and then
Messer fired both barrels of the gun. The
whole of the boys head was shot off, and
piece of the skull was afterward picked up
ten feet from where he k cit.
Young as was little Budd, he fully real
lied that it was his act that had caused the
Six months later he was attacked with a
sort Of fever common in the mountains.
From the first, he told his mother that he
should not get well, and he did not. Within
seven days the disease had run its course,