The Hatfields and the McCoys by Otis K. K. Rice Read Free Book Online

thirty-three children and that he did not marry the wives according to law, but apportioned his time among them.
    For several days the Hatfields remained the center of interest in Louisville. The Courier-Journal of February 17 devoted most of its front page to a feature that included an artist’s drawings of the nine prisoners and Randolph McCoy. Other inmates of the jail developed a fondness for the West Virginians, who soon dropped their initial reticence and began to converse freely. They especially liked Wall, whom they nicknamed “Judge.” The Hatfields in turn enjoyed the reading which other prisoners did for them and took part in divine services, particularly the singing of hymns, which they rendered with remarkably fine voices. They proved unable, however, to adjust to the schedule of the other inmates and continued their mountain practice of going to bed at dusk and arising noisily between four and five o’clock in the morning. 3
    Judge Barr called the habeas corpus case for Saturday morning, February 25. To the spectators who filled the courtroom, the Hatfields and their associates presented a stoical appearance throughout the proceedings. After seemingly endless debate between the attorneys for the two states, Barr recessed the court until Monday, February 27. When it resumed, Governor Wilson and his close associate, John B. Floyd, armed with books and official records, joined Gibson and his associate, J. W. St. Clair. The small, slender Wilson, who nibbled almost constantly at his bushy red mustache, conferred frequently with the West Virginia attorneys and impressed those present as a remarkably able man.
    The counsel for the Commonwealth of Kentucky based their arguments upon the claim that a prisoner could not escape prosecution by pleading illegality or irregularity of arrest; that Frank Phillips had acted as an individual and upon his own responsibility and not as an agent of the Commonwealth in arresting the West Virginians; and that Kentucky was not responsible for his actions or those of the men who accompanied him. Citing a number of cases to support their points, Hardin and Knott maintained that the violation of proper procedures did not suspend the right of a state to arrest a wanted person found within its borders.
    Gibson insisted that the cases cited by Hardin and Knott did not apply to the issue at hand. In none of them, he declared, had prisoners been deprived of their liberty until they have been found by an officer with proper authority to confine them. The Hatfields, on the other hand, had been held for more than twelve hours before the legal execution of warrants upon them. Gibson maintained that Phillips himself had stated that he acted under the authority of Kentucky and accused the Pike County prosecuting attorney of summoning all the magistrates as witnesses to prevent them from hearing the case. Finally, he charged the attorneys for Kentucky with “mere fiddling.”

    Hatfield family c1897. coutresy of the west virginia Department of Archives and History. Front: Tennis Hatfield, Louvisa or Midge Hatfield, Willis Hatfield, “Watch,” Devil Anse’s coon and bear dog. Middle : Mary Hatfield Simpkins Hawes and daughter Louvisa Simpkins, Devil Anse and Levicy Hatfield, Nancy Clenn Hatfield and son Robert, Louisa Hatfield, Cap Hatfield, Troy Hatfield, Betty Hatfield Elias Hatfield, Tom Chafi, Joe D. Hatfield, “Ock” Dameron, Sheppard Hatfield Levicy Hatfield.

    Devil Anse Hatfield Courtesy of the West Virginia Department of Archives and History

    Devil Anse and his wife, Levicy, in later years Courtesy of the West Virginia Collection, West Virginia University Library

    Randolph McCoy Courtesy of Leonard McCoy and the Preservation Council of Pike County, Kentucky

    Frank Phillips Courtesy of Leonard McCoy and the Preservation Council of Pike County, Kentucky

    Rose Anna McCoy Courtesy of Leonard McCoy and the Preservation Council of Pike County,