The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-05-10

The constable pretended TO arrest TAI
bot Mccoy. but the generally peaceful
whisky. dared the other fight man his
size, and Talbot drew out a knife like
that held by the Deacon. The two
closed and fought for a long time. After
cutting Mccoy once Hatfield's knife
closed on his hands, and he threw IL
away and used only his fists, while Nc
Coy used his knife with terrible eneci,
and little Budd Mccoy, only nine years
old, stood in the crowd and used another
knife on Hatfield whenever he had
chance.
In spite of this, however, Hatfield
threw Mccoy to the ground and seized
large jagged stone. He was noidins
this. and about to strike Talbot wnen
Farmer Mccoy shot him and Knocked
him over.
Farmer Mccoy Immediately dropped
his pistol and fled up the road. Elias
Hatfield shot at him five times. and then,
with constable Hatfield. pursued him on
foot. They overlook him and arrested
him. with Talbot and young Randolph
Mccoy, who was accused of having cut
Ellison Hatfield, though it was afterward
proved that he was mistaken for his
brother Budd
Ellison Hatfield died the following
Wednesday. He had been cut twenty
seven times, besides being shot. The
three McCoys were taken to the house OF
John Hatfield Monday night by the Of
ficers. but in the morning about seventy
Hatfields gathered and took them away
from the officers, drove them along TO q
secluded cabin. tortured them in many
ways, and waited to see IL Ellison Hat
field would die. -s4s s,,.4-y. 4
When his death came Wednesday a
swift messenger took the news to, the.
Hatfield party and they notified their
prisoners of the fate that was In store.
The pleadings Of the mother and wife of
| Talbot Mccoy had no effect on their cap
| tors, while the men of the Mccoy family
did nothing to help them. That night
| they were taken to the Kentucky side.
| tied upright, and the men were shot,
| while the boy was left there to moan.
1t occurred to the party afterward.
| however, that the boy knew them all.
| and one was sent back to kill him. A
| man, supposed to be Alex. Messer. re-
turned to the boy and fired two barrels
of buckshot into his head.
The coroner's jury next day, under
| Coroner Joseph Hatfield, brought in
verdict that the men had come to their
| death at the 'hands of persons un-
known" and the bodies were delivered
to the McCoys. who had them decently
buried. They made no attempt, how
| ever, to take vengeance.
| The Hatfields seemed now possessed of
a determination to kill old Randolph,
| the head of the Mccoy family. They
made an ambush for him in June, 1884,
| when he was known to be attending
court, and only mistake as to the
| identity of the men prevented their sue
cess. Two witnesses at the trial hap
| pened to be dressed precisely the same
as Randolph and Calvin Mccoy, and to
| bear very much the same appearance.
| In the dusk they were the recipients OF
the bullets from the Hatfield rifles, and
| were manned for life.
| A WOMAN KILLED.
Soon after this Hatfield raid was be-
trayed to the McCoys, and they es-
| capped. The wife and mother-in-law of a
j Bill Daniels, one Of the Hatfield faction,
were suspected of betraying the secret.
Consequently, one night Captain Hatfield
and Tom Wallace went to Daniels's
house, cowed him by covering him with
a loaded shotgun, and brutality beat both
women, breaking ribs and other bones,
| so that one died and the other suffered
| the rest of her life.
| AS a result of this another Mccoy was
killed, this time jeff, brother of Mrs.
Daniels. He was enticed into an ambush
by Bad Anse" Hatfield, who agreed to
help him catch Tom Wallace. He was
taken prisoner, and was being led along
| by mounted man, when he saw a
| chance to escape. He ran across fields,
/ crossed the Tug river, and was escaping
| on the hillside, when one Of the several
shots fired after him killed him.
4 The Governors of the two States now
became mixed in the affair. Governor
Buckner, Of Kentucky. offered large re-
| wards for the Hatfields chiefly con-
| cefned, and asked for a reQuisition from
the Governor of West Virginia Gov
ernor Wilson. however, refused to grant
1t for long time, and it was not until
the close of 1887 that the real work of
suppressing the feud was begun. In
that year. however noted character,
| one Frank Phillips, deputy sheriff, took
the matter in hand, revived the spirits of
some Of the McCoys and their friends,
and began raiding West Virginia.
Phillips had supposed that a requisi-
| ton was coming from the Governor of
| West Virginia, but he did not wait for
| 1t. He set out for the heavy rewards
that had been offered for the Hatfield
| leaders. His first raid was made Dec. 8,
1887, in company with some of the Nc
| Coys, and he brought to Virginia one
| Tom Chambers. The second raid was
made Dec. 20, and Selkirk Mccoy and
jeff Christian, two of the Hatfield fac
| ton, were taken from Mcdowell county,
West Virginia, to the Pike county jail,
IN Kentucky.
made In revenge for this action New
Years night nine Hatfields, led by old
| Jim Vance, attacked the house of old
Randi Mccoy. Two girls were In one
end of the house. and one, Allaphare
Mccoy, who answered the knocking at
che door, was shot by Ellison Mounts by
| order Of Vance.
The house was then set on fire and
| the door on the other end was shot to
| pieces. Old Randi put out the fire with
| buttermilk from churn, and shot off
| the four fingers from the hand of Tom
| Mitchell as he was reaching up with the
| torch under the roof. Calvin Mccoy
from the attic also shot at the attacking
party and drove them under cover. rsi
Mrs. Mccoy started from the door to
go to her daughter who had been shot,
but Jim Vance broke two ribs with the
butt Of his gun and struck her on the
head with his pistol, stunning her. Cal
| win Mccoy was driven from the attic by
the fire, and ran for corn crib one hun
dred yards away. He was killed when
he had almost reached it. The old man
ran the gantlet in safety. however. Then
the gang went away, and two girls and
little Melvin Mccoy, the son of Jonce
Hatfield, ran out.
Phillips led another raid six days later
and killed old Jim Vance after a hard
fight and captured several of the Hat
fields A number of raids followed, until
the Hatfields were driven to take refuge
in the mountains, and the feud was prac-
tically ended. There were a number OF
incidents afterwards and complications
between the Governors of the two States