Devil Anse Tells The True History, by Anderson Hatfield
Origin Of The Feud:
When the war ended we all went home and were goods friends, until in 1873 or ’74, when a
difficulty arose between my cousin, Floyd Hatfield, and Randolph McCoy, who had married
sisters, over a sow and pigs. A lawsuit followed. McCoy was loser, and accused his brotherin-law of swearing falsely, for which he struck McCoy with a stone. Soon after Stratten was
waylaid and killed by Paris and Sam McCoy. His brains were shot out. My brother Ellison
prosecuted them for murder. He swore out a warrant for their arrest and asked me to
execute it. I refused to do it because the McCoys and I had always been good friends.
Some time subsequently my son Johnston and Rosanna McCoy, a daughter of Randolph
McCoy, ran away from home to get married. The McCoys headed off the fleeing couple, and
Rosanna, bare-footed, bare-headed, riding a bare-backed horse, made her way to the
Hatfields under cover of darkness and informed them that Jonse Hatfield had been scooped
in by the McCoys. The Hatfields formed an armed posse, headed by Anse, who went a near
way through the woods, caught up with the McCoys, overpowered them without a fight, and
rescued Jonse, returning home with him. They were then happily married. In a few years,
however, Rosanna deserted Jonse, and is now living with Phillips, the leader of the McCoy
outlaws, in Pike county, Kentucky.
Murder of Ellison Hatfield:
Some twelve months after the above occurrence, Tolbert Farmer, and Randall and Floyd
McCoy, who were still angered over the hog suit already described, and more so on account
of the prosecution for the murder of Stratton, went to the election precinct where my brother
Ellison voted, and murdered him by cutting and shooting him literally to pieces.
For this offense they were arrested, and when they were taken to the mouth of Blackberry
creek for trial, by the Hatfields as guards for the officers, the McCoys gathered a posse to
rescue them. They were taken across Tug river in a skiff to keep them from being rescued by
the McCoy mob. Charles Carpenter, Alexander Messer, Daniel White and some others were
the guards. To get them in a still safer place, they were taken to a point up Mate’s creek in
Logan county. They were ordered by the Hatfields to take the prisoners to the Pike county
jail in Kentucky. After they got them across Tug river, while Charley Carpenter was bossing
the job, on the Kentucky side of the river, three of the men were killed, Floyd was the only
one who made his escape. Soon afterward Alex, Messer, Ellison Mounts, three of the
Mahones, and Valentine Hatfield were arrested for the murders.
Mounts has been tried and sentenced to be hung, but the time has not been fixed as yet for
the execution. Four others were sentenced to the penitentiary for life; among the number is
Valentine Hatfield, who was absolutely not on the Kentucky side of the river when the
murders were committed, but the McCoys swore him through.
Knew Nothing of the Murders:
Seventeen other West Virginians have been indicted on the charge of being parties to that
murder, myself and my sons, Jonse and Cap, being among the number, although as a
matter of fact we knew nothing of the murders until several days after they had been
committed.
Nothing was done with these indictments for five years or more, until a lawyer named P.H.
Cline, of Pike county, got up a petition, carried it to Governor Buckner, and induced him to
offer a reward of $1,500 for the arrest of the Hatfields. We know what the McCoys will swear
to if they should ever get us. They will do anything to accomplish their purpose, and that is
why we don’t intend them to catch us. We never intend to be taken by any such a crowd.
You hear that!
Frank Phillips gathered up a posse of upwards of twenty men, armed to the teeth. They
came across into West Virginia and killed an old man by the name of Vance, whom they
claimed had killed Harmon McCoy some time during the war. Deputy Sheriff Thompson
summoned a posse and started in pursuit. They met on Grape Vine creek, near the State
line. The Phillips men refused to surrender and opened fire on the officers. Little Bill Dempsy,
one of the Sheriff’s guards, was shot in the leg. McCoy was wounded in the shoulder.
Dempsy crawled into a shuck pen with his broken limb, and was crying for water, when Dave
Stratton, James McCoy, Sam Miller, Frank Phillips and two other men came up. They began
to abuse the wounded man. He told them he was summoned by the Sheriff as a guard, and
had to pursue them. Frank Phillips walked up close to where he was lying, drew his revolver
and shot his brains out with one shot from his revolver. This is a straight statement of the
feud up to this day, (November 21, 1889). Every man in Logan county who knows me will tell
you I am a peaceful, law-abiding man, and no man will say I ever told a falsehood. In this
contest I have only defended myself, as any man would do under similar circumstances.
(Signed)
Anderson X. Hatfield
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