Volume 14 , Issue 23

Thomas Hatfield Bound To Tree (1908)

It was reported Friday, 28 February 1908, in Mt. Vernon, Rockcastle county, Kentucky newspaper, Mount Vernon Signal, that Thomas Hatfield of Pike county, who was caught by feud enemies, in the mountains along Trigg river, in West Virginia two weeks ago, bound to a tree and left to die of exposure, died at a hospital there, having been found and brought to Louisa from West Virginia. Hatfield was a member of the Hatfield clan in the famous Hatfield-Mccoy feud.

James Hatfield Hoists Flag of Truce Forever (1909)

The Adair County News, dated 3 November 1909, reported that James H. Hatfield, of Cynthiana, Kentucky, one of the last survivors of notorious Hatfield-McCoy feud of the mountain district of Eastern Kentucky fleeing from bullets that have begun to whizz between factions again, is on his way to British Columbia, as it was reported that He stopped off at Minneapolis, Minnesota, long enough to give a bit of feud history in the mountains.

James H. Hatfield told reporters, wistfully back in 1909, "I sold out the little grocery store in Cyntiana, left enough money with the old woman and children to keep them, and I am going far away from Kentucky - to British columbia - to begin life all over again," Hatfield continued on, "The reason I am leaving my native State, never to return, is that feud which we thought all over year ago, when most of the Hatfields and most of the McCoys has been killed by each other, is that Jim Mccoy has just shot to death another Hatfield, a distant relative of mine My woman couldn't sleep nor eat for fear that I would be the next killed, or that I would kill some McCoy who tried to kill me, so at 67 years of age I am on my way to make a new home for my family.

"The McCoys won't kill women or children any more than Hatfields would kill Mccoy women and children but I don't think the life of either a McCoy or a Hatfield will be safe down there now for some time. Just a few weeks ago Jim Mccoy up and shot a Hatfield. Didn't give him a chance to defend himself; just shot him in the back and killed him.

The Hatfields and McCoys began oiling up their guns, and I left. There will a lot more blood shed down there in that feud, but none of it will be mine. It's going to be just like it was 20 years ago, when old 'Bad Anse' went to Court at the county seat, and carried a grip filled with six-shooters. I'll tell you, its hard on women folks, this killing."   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

---