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Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Part 3

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Part 3 of the Hatfield-McCoy Feud, from West Virginia: A Film History (2:28)

Narrator: Frank Phillips struck back, leading raids into West Virginia and seizing 11 more prisoners. Phillips shot two of them in the head.

"We have been tried, convicted, and sentenced by the press before they knew the fact of our case. You will find us all different people from the general ideas entertained of us." —Valentine Hatfield

Narrator: Eight Hatfields were tried for murdering the McCoy brothers, found guilty, and given prison terms. Ellison Mounts was convicted of killing Randolph McCoy's daughter and sentenced to death. Mounts boasted that Cap would free him at the last minute.

Governor Buckner set the hanging for February 18, 1890. Five thousand spectators gathered in Pikeville despite a Kentucky law forbidding public executions. As a black hood was placed over his head, Mounts cried out, "They made me do it. The Hatfields made me do it."

Then, he fell to his death. Later that year, construction began on the Norfolk and Western Railroad through the Tug Valley. Devil Anse Hatfield missed out on the economic boom that followed the arrival of the railroad. Hatfield moved his family out of the Tug Valley to a high mountain ridge. Yet, he continued to place lookouts in the windows of his home to guard against an attack.

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  • Company: West Virginia Humanities Council
  • Filmmaker: Mark Samels
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