The Hatfields and the McCoys by Otis K. K. Rice

Author:Otis K. K. Rice
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky
Published: 2011-09-25T22:00:00+00:00

9

THE GOVERNORS INTERVENE

EVENTS ALONG THE Tug Fork in January 1888 almost inevitably drew the governors of Kentucky and West Virginia more deeply into the problems relating to the feud. On January 9 Governor Buckner wrote Wilson that he had received reports of the attack upon the McCoys on the night of January 1 and inquired whether there was any good reason why the men indicted for the murder of the McCoy brothers in 1882 should not be rendered to Kentucky.1

Because of sickness in his family and his absence from office with the Board of Public Works, Wilson did not reply to Buckner’s letter until January 21. He reminded Buckner that more than five years had elapsed before any application had been made by Pike County officials for extradition of the men charged with the murder of the McCoys, that those charged had lived in the vicinity continuously, and that the application for requisition had not been supported by any official authority of Pike County. Nevertheless, he had directed the issuance of warrants for all the persons named with the exception of Elias Hatfield and Andrew Varney. Wilson suggested that “neither [Perry] Cline nor [Frank] Phillips, nor any of the persons engaged in the recent violations of the law, are proper persons to entrust with process of either Kentucky or West Virginia.” He requested Buckner to make further inquiry in order that warrants might be issued only against those for whom there was some evidence of guilt.2

News of the battle of Grapevine Creek reinforced Wilson’s decision to defer compliance with the request for extradition. He wired Buckner on January 25 that he had received information that “William Dempsey was killed while acting as deputy in assisting the officers of the law in arresting Frank Phillips and three of the McCoy boys on a warrant for the murder of James Vance.” Dismissing a return wire from Buckner, which stated that Buckner’s information differed from that of Wilson and that steps were being taken to prevent any aggression by Kentucky citizens upon those of West Virginia, Wilson, on January 26, addressed a letter to Buckner with further details. He declared that he now had “positive information” corroborating facts set forth in his earlier message to Buckner.

Taking a position that constituted a strong endorsement of the Hatfield claims, Wilson wrote Buckner, “Recently the hope of reward has prompted a set of men quite as lawless as either the Hatfields or McCoys to the commission of heinous crimes against the laws of this state and upon its citizens while discharging their duty as officers of the law.” He stated that he had been unofficially informed that a number of West Virginians had been forcibly seized and taken from the state by a band of Kentuckians and confined in the Pike County jail. He told Buckner that he had sent a reliable agent to Logan County to ascertain the facts and expressed the hope that Buckner would follow a similar course in order that they might concert measures for the suppression of lawlessness on both sides of the Tug Fork.

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