The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 22, 1899, Page 25

THE SUNDAY CALL. 23 HETFIELD-MA'COY FEUD REACHES CALIFORN YEY (/1M Bfesn SEAZY . Porasy Z d McCoys. e now West iike along is looking g fight They have for killing nig- for the spruc the services of when there , more or es. e of his ap- 4 them yet, and the ; when a partisan ped at the allur- rs to be killed.” then not even r cartridg: Bang! What a time! n red and no dis- rt proceedings Bothe: t i men whose ch other. They did not tart- ach and dis- met then on meditate sudde West P as the me articular reasons fc stop any United States magaz p th their three-mile . 2 y promised that there should be nothing but good beh served for Fil r, with all bul- It he t the feud com- fi menced when the atficlds and Mo Coys were born, but the first time it ap- pears in authentic history was when citi- of Pike County, in the of Kentucky, agked the Gov Btate to provide them with arms and am- munition with which they might defend themselves from an expected attack upon th arious members and friends of the M family, which was to be made by oy an armed force consisting of nearly 100 of the Hatfleld family and adherents, who were coming from West Virginia under the leadership of “Devil'” Anse Hatfield and Cap Hatfield. This contemplated expedition of the Hatfields lacked only Government sanc- tion to give it the title of war, for there were as many men and as much method in their preparations as in many of the Government’s military exploits during the early history of our country. It was the culmination of an election fight that took place in.Pike County in 1852, when a McCoy shot a Hatfleld, but even back of this there seemed to be faint shadows of beautiful faces and bold hearts that loved not wisely, for like all of the sons of Mars they were no lag- gards in love. Law was laxly administered in that wild mountain region, where the moonshiner defies even the Goverpment’s most wily secret service men and the power of the military combined, so the Hatfields, in order to prevent any miscarriage of jus- tice and also to give a salutary warning to any other men who might be inclined to send bullets trespassing within their anatomies, captured four members of the McCoy family who had been con- cerned in the disturbance and forelbly carried them as prisoners to West Vir- ginia. With the prisoners once in their power, however, it seemed to them that to execute them In West Virginla was a sort of “killing sheep too near home.” Besides the laws of West Virginia were more actively enforced. So by secret mountain trails and through wild forest paths the unhappy prisoners were re- turned to their native State and shot by thelr captors. The Governor of Kentucky thereupon made & requisition on the Governor of West Virginia for some Hatflelds. The West Virginia Governor was evidently well acquainted with his citizens, and not desiring to suddenly leave his office va- cant, firmly but politely refused the request. This unusual proceeding caused a storm of popular feeling. Large re- wards were offered for the Hatflelds, and the Sheriff of Pike County finally ex- tended his strong arm and his jurisdic- tion into the State of West Virginia until 1t embraced three Hatflelds. The Hatfields now considered that not only thelr own honor and feelings were * outraged, but also that their State had been insuited. Another Hatfleld foray was organized to raid the McCoy home in Pike County. Agaln the Hatfields crossed the border and succeeded in attacking and burning the McCoy house and killing while con- fined in the burning house McCoy’s wife, daughter and son. The elder McCoy escaped, persuaded thirty of his relatives and friends to join him, Invaded Logan County, West Vir- ginla, killed two Hatflelds and captured 8ix, whom they took back with them and turned over to the authoritles of Pike County. It was now the turn of the West Vir- ginla Governor to plead for the return of his citizens, but the Governor of Kentucky not only refused but under the authority vested in him by law for the suppression of crime offered a reward of $5000 aplece for each and every one of the West Virginia Hatflelds who had been engaged in trespasses on Kentucky soll. The size of this reward made the Hat- fields much-sought-after people, and, d siring to be somewhat more retiring’ and exclusive than formerly, like all who at- salp prominence, they withdrew them- 0N THE-. JWARPATH selves from active circulation in socisty. In order to secure their privacy they commenced the construction of an im- pregnable stone fortress on the top of a thin cliff or wall of rock known as “Devils Backbone,” that jutted out into the valley of the Tug River above Hun- tington, W. Va. Here for Seven years they defied law or MoCoys to take them. The fortress was entirely of stone, even the roof being of that material. It may seem strange that men could exist practically in a state of slege dur- ing that time, but it must be remembered that the friends and neighbors do not forget them, for there Is always some- thing attractive in assisting fugitives, and again there are many Ways of profitable action open to those who have succeeded in placing themselves securely beyond the reach of the law. But confinement and lack of exercise finally told upon the Hatflelds and they longed for something more than a mere defensive existence. In November, 18%, “Old Cap” Hatfleld went down to Matewan to vote. Not that he cared particularly, but there is no nicer place to look for trouble than around the polls. It is a tradition of the race that leaders should be chosen by force 2nd the old spirit still feebly shows when election day comes around. It was not long before he was In a ais- pute with Hutchinson, one of the men whose family he had broken up in former years, and who was a member of the Mo- ide of the feud. tfield had .o flee for his life, pursued by a nephew of Hutchinson, who fired at him repeatedly untll “Cap” Hatfeld practiced aim turned and with his dropped the young man in his tracks. The whole of Mingo County was now stirred as no war had ever excited it be- fore, Hatfleld and tweniy of his feudists retired to their fort on Tug River and one hundred more of his adherents pre- pared to go to the assistance of the stronghold on the Devils Backbone to prevent the arrest of Hatfleld. Something had to be done by the legal authorities if the power of the legal gov- ment was to be maintained. The fort could not be taken, for it was only to be reached by dizzy climbing single file. Ar- tillery could not be brought in to those wild cliffs, so the Sheriff finally deter- mined on blowing up the whole promon- tory with nitro-glycerin. Tons of the ex- plosive were plled at its base In a spot sheltered by overhanging rocks from the fire of the fort. The slow match that was to fire the mine was necessarily very long in order to enable the Sheriff and his at- tacking forces to retire to a safe distance. After lighting it, in thelr haste to get away before the mountain fell, they ex- posed themselves to view of the Hat- flelds and three of the posse were shot. The besieged force now looked for the cause of the close approach of the in- truders. They saw the smoke from the burning fuses, recognized the peculiar tarry sulphurous smell and knew at once that some sort of an explosion was in store for them, and that instant escape only might save their lives. The re- mainder of the Sheriff’s posse, having by this time placed themselves in ambush, began with their rifles to pick off the Hatflelds as they clambered in wild frenzy down the cliff trail. Sure death awalted every one, so they determined to await the uncertain, rather than take the certain death, and returned to th top of the promontory to hurl v stones below in vain attempts to strike and extinguish the torturingly slow fuses that sputtered out their dense folds of smoke. Then came a burst of thunder sound, the air was filled with rocks, trees and blinding dust that fllled the valley like a fog. Before it had cleared away and while the Sheriff was still looking for his game, a rifle shot was heard up the val- ley and another of the posse fell. That was Hatfield's farewell to the Sheriff. The invested forces had been missed by the force of the explosion and the dust of the explosion that was to have been his death conceaied his escape until safe on the mountain above. Hatfields and McCoys and their active partisans were now scattered far and wide, always Shoolinfi on sight, usually killing and seldom suffering any penalty. About six months after the destruction of the fortress, Johnson Hatfield planned a grand coup, by which the McCoys were nearly exterminated. New Year's eve he fired a McCoy house. Hatfields had been posted all about the place. The McCoys, not suspecting the cause of the fire, were endeavoring to pack up and save some of their possessions. Beautiful Alifair McCoy ran out of the house followed by her brother. Shots were fired. He fell, and as she stooped to lift him Johnson Hatfleld shot her frall body through and through. The rage of McCoy made him like a demon, and In his fury the Hatfields, superior in numbers, were routed with loss. The trial of Johnson Hatfleld did not occur until the beginning of this year, and the population of Prestonburg trembled at the assemblage of Hatfields, who were called out by their leaders but kept in submission by officers of the law. For the present the feud is quiescent in the Itast. The stone fort is destroyed and the bodies of its ‘defenders carr: many bullets that pain and call rorlg curses as the moonshiner toils up stony mountain trails. The DMcCoys seek I far away lands to live in peace and es- cape the bloody death that walts them, but now under California’s bright sun and over her summer parched hills the feudal bullets whistle and sing, for when the Thirty-first Infantry was discovered to be smallpox infected and sent into quarantine on Angel Island, the space became too small to hold the two bellig- erent soldiers, whose traditions did not allow them within forty miles of each other. The detention camp at Angel Isl- and has been placed as remote as pos- sible from civilization and far away from sight of human habitation. Surrounded by the great bay to the north and moun- tainous ridges, guarded along their crests by armed men on the southeast and west, this condnement be insupportable to Y J // 7 ey 4 SIATSIELD o7 115 T oy A0 THROC Gy the two feudatorie: ed to the freedom of their mot and they met in a furious qu > they had been long confined and were with difficulty A solemn warning was given e of the regi- ment are mainly West Pointers and the (H:«r'ilpl ne there is on the whole noticeably good. The trouble still smoldered between the two men, and one day one of them fancied that life was in danger if he/ did_not it. With him_fore- warned was in¢ To his tent he rushed, and with malice afore- thought secured his gun and came out to fire upon his fellow soldier. At the first shot the victim was struck in the arm. The second struck him in the leg and crippled him hopelessly. No chance for him to win glory now in the ars. When his regiment salls he must adly stay behind, and with the Thirty- first that is the saddest thing in life, Once, when th were Kentucky volun- Tampa, order came for them to glee when the E away for Cuba. But v had she cleared the land when after her came a flying arrow of a torpedo boat to say that it was a mistake, and that they should return. The tage of the regiment could scarcely yield Itself to discipline. To fight was their only ambi- tion, and to be pulled back was worse to them than facing death. Again, in San Francisco they wers or- dered on board the Grant; their baggage was on board when the smallpox was dis- covered among_the men, and away they went to Camp Detention, at Angel Island. But while they sail away happy and fres to fight. the wounded man and his assail- ant will suffer more in being left behind than from the wound or the punishment inflicted for the crime. But there will be an atonement. When the snow comes again at the-old Ken- tucky home kind frien redden it with the blood of his enemy’s family, to make sorrowing women weep over a Now- erless mound beneath the silent hemlocks. So the patient nurses his wounds and his wrath. “Serious but not necessarily fatal” the surgeon sald. Not fatal to the wounded man. But have a care, you innocent chfl- dren, clambering on the barnyard gate back' there in old Kentucky. Somewhere, somewhere there is a bullet,long and slim like the stub of a lead pencil, and some day from an ambush will come a rifle crack and your golden curls will tumble in the dust, and ere your mother can wipe the blood from your foaming mouth and close the whitening eves her blood will be mixing with yours in the littla ools in the hollows of the dust. and a all, quite serious-faced man wili throw another sho!ld|ln hf Fe.‘PM‘! M; ha“ng over the handle of his pistol and w away, through the darkening forest,