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feud Hatfield, Tom NYT1908

20250607GHLn-
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1908/02/24/104849183.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0

Feb. 24, 1908 page 5
HATFIELD-M'COY FEUD HAS HAD 60 VICTIMS;
It Started 48 Years Ago Over a Pig That Swam the Tug River.
TOM HATFIELD DIED LATELY
Found Tied to a Tree -- Governors of Kentucky and West Virginia Have Been Involved in Mountain War.
Credit...The New York Times Archives

The death of Tom Hatfield, the famous mountain feudist, at Louisa, Ky., makes about the sixtieth victim of the Hatfield-McCoy feud that began forty-eight years ago as the result of one of the McCoy razor-back pigs swimming Tug River from the McCoy place on the Kentucky side to the ancestral home of the Hatfields in West Virginia. Tom Hatfield, a descendant of the terrible "Devil Anse" Hatfield, was the one member of that murderous family who had been supposed to have a charmed life. He always escaped without a scratch in the scores of murderous battles between the Hatfield and McCoy clans. As they tell it on the Tug River, the war between the Hatfields and McCoys began just before the outbreak of the civil war, and it all started over the ownership of a Kentucky razor-back hog. The McCoys at the time were loading a boat with razor-backs that were consigned to a Cincinnati pork packer, when one of the pigs jumped over the boat railing into Tug River, and swam straight for Hatfield territory. The McCoy negroes were sent over to capture the pig, but they soon returned and told old Randolph McCoy, the head of the McCoy clan, that the Hatfield negroes had chased the animal into a ravine and held it. Old "Rand" sent word to "Anse" Hatfield that he wanted his hog back. "If you think you have boys enough,” *Old Anse" sent word back, "why don't you come and git the old pig?”

Civil War Delays the Feud.

It is said that the McCoys were laying out a plan of battle for the recapture of the pig when the news that the civil war was on reached the West Virginia-Kentucky mountains. All the McCoys shouldered their guns and enlisted for the South, as did most of the Hatfields. Some of the Hatfields, however, it is said, fought for the Union. When the war ended the Hatfields that had not been killed in battle and the surviving McCoys came back to their homes, the Hatfields to the West Virginia side and the McCoys to the Kentucky side of the Tug River, and the incident of the pig, as was rapidly proved, had not been forgotten.

Soon after the warring families returned there was an election in West Virginia, and the McCoys went across the river to help one of the candidates. In the course of the day three of the McCoy boys, the youngest only 10 and the eldest about 20 years, met some of the Hatfields, one of whom was "Bad Anse." There was a fight, and when it was over Anse was dead from thirty-one stab wounds. Later the Hatfields captured the three McCoys, took them to a secluded spot, tied them to trees, and shot them dead.

The McCoys being Kentuckians, the Governor of that State demanded that their murderers be returned to Kentucky for trial. Thereupon the Hatfields got up a petition and made all the neighbors sign it. When some refused to do so, the Hatfields made them do so at the muzzle of Winchester rifles. The Governor of West Virginia read this petition and decided that the McCoys had treated the Hatfields very shabbily, and they stayed in West Virginia. A few weeks later John Logan and Sam Bird, followers of the feudists, were found dead on the banks of the Tug River, each with a bullet hole in his head.

So the war went on, and every now and then news that a Hatfield or a McCoy had been killed reached the outside world. In 1887 came the bloodiest battles in the history of the feud. In that year the McCoys, led by Frank Phillips, raided the Hatfield strongholds. The fighting lasted a week, and when it was over there were several dead on both sides. A few weeks later the Hatfields returned the compliment, and raided the McCoy territory in Kentucky.

Hatfields Burn McCoy Home.

They went to old Randolph McCoy's home at night, and set the house on fire. The smoke drove the McCoys out of the house, and when old Randolph opened the door he met a shower of bullets. With his son Calvin the old man retreated into the garret, where they opened a window and began firing through the smoke. In the meantime Miss Alophane McCoy, a young woman, ran out of the house with a churn full of milk to try and put out the fire. She was shot dead. Later old Mrs. McCoy, the girl's grandmother, was also shot, as was also Calvin McCoy. "Old Rand" escaped. French Hatfield also met his fate here, while others of his clan were desperately wounded.

A week later thirteen McCoys met thirteen Hatfields, and this time the aim of the McCoys was so good that they secured a temporary victory. Among the Hatfield victims was the notorious Jim Vance. In 1890 the law got Ellison Hatfield, and he paid the penalty of his misdeeds on the gallows, the McCoys witnessing the execution. In February, 1890, "Uncle Joe" Johnson, a member of one of the gangs, was killed while out on bail for killing Phil Tumbler.

In the Fall of 1890 there was a story printed to the effect that the Hatfields had hung Green McCoy and Milt Haley. Later the McCoys retaliated and killed two of the enemy. Then Mrs. James Brown, before marriage a Hatfield, was killed. Next John Hatfield killed Rutherford McCoy. John was sent to prison for life, but was later pardoned. The next most famous battle resulted in the death of Deputy Sheriff "Doc" Ellis. Ellis was trying to make an arrest, when Elias Hatfield killed him. For this Elias Hatfield got twelve years, but was soon pardoned, the doctors saying he had consumption. He got well and married a coal operator's daughter, and a few months later he was run over and killed by a train.
Now comes the death of Tom Hatfield, who was found tied to a tree by the McCoys and left to die. His friends rescued him, but exposure necessitated the amputation of both legs. He then lived but a short time.

It is said that one of the Hatfield girls wrote on one of the white pillars in front of the Hatfield home this line:

"There is no place like home."

Underneath a stranger afterward wrote:

"At least this side of hell."

PRISONER ON OCEAN LINER.
Syrian Who Killed Countryman Is Brought Over on the St. Louis.
Moses Ferris, a' Syrian, 19 years old, was brought here yesterday on the American liner St. Louis a prisoner, charged with murder. The crime was committed in March of last year, when Ferris met and stabbed to death on the streets of Roanoke, Va., Frank Essaid, a fellow-countryman. The killing was the outcome of a factional fight.
Ferris went from Virginia to Canada, and from there to Argentina, where he has relatives living. He was living with cousins at Rioja when, six months ago, he was arrested. A detective agency, spurred on by a three-hundred-and-fifty dollar reward, had printed and sent broadcast a description of the man. One of these fell into the hands of the local authorities, and after some investigation Ferris was arrested and the Virginia authorities notified.

Detective D. O. Baldwin, who went down to Argentina, had to fight to extradite his prisoner. The latter's relatives fought the case through four courts, and it took four months before Ferris was surrendered to Baldwin. The prisoner says the killing was done in self-defense. He says he met Essaid at noon on March 22, 1907. The latter, he declares, pulled a knife and stabbed him twice. He stabbed back and killed his man.

THREW KISSES AT BAKERY.
Long-Distance Annoyer Caught and Trounced by Mother and Daughters.
Mrs. Mary Weber, who has a bakery at 1,419 Myrtle Avenue, Williamsburg, and her two daughters, Marguerite and Anna, have been annoyed recently by a young man who would take up a position in front of the store or on the opposite side of the street, and at every opportunity throw kisses at them.
At first the women paid no attention to the man, but when he became more persistent they decided to put an end to it, and yesterday morning the three women made a rush for the man and gave him a sound thrashing. While he was pleading for mercy one of the daughters got a policeman, who arrested the kiss thrower. At the Hamburg Avenue Police Station the prisoner said he was Karl Cordier of 382 Bleecker Street. Mrs. Weber made a charge of disorderly conduct, on which the man was locked up. In the Manhattan Avenue Court later he was held in $500 bail for a hearing.

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