On August 7, 1882, an election day in Kentucky, residents of the Tug Valley gathered at polls in Pike County. Late in the afternoon, Randolph McCoy's son Tolbert attacked Ellison Hatfield, Devil Anse's brother, with a knife. Two of McCoy's brothers joined in stabbing Hatfield 20 times before shooting him in the back.

Friends carried Hatfield back to West Virginia and laid him in a cabin near Mate Creek. Devil Anse captured the three McCoys and told them their fate depended on whether his brother lived. Two days later, Ellison died at dusk.

At dusk, a band of Hatfields, led by Devil Anse, took the McCoys to the Kentucky side of the river, where they were blindfolded and tied to pawpaw bushes. Then the Hatfields opened fire. The sound of gunshot echoed from miles down the valley.

Pike County indicted Devil Anse and 19 others for murder but made no other effort to have the Hatfields extradited to Kentucky.

Randolph McCoy badgered officials to arrest Devil Anse to no avail. McCoy's family urged him to drop the matter. In a way, they said, justice had been served.