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Appalachia, Bob Hatfield, Cap Hatfield, Charles Gillespie, Christmas, Court of Appeals, crime, Daniel Whitt, Devil Anse Hatfield, Elias Hatfield, Elliot Hatfield, feuds, Frankfort, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Henry Mitchell, history, Jim McCoy, Jim Vance, Johnse Hatfield, Kentucky, Pike County, Pocahontas, Randolph McCoy, Tom Chambers, Tom Mitchell, true crime
Daniel Whitt’s testimony in the Johnse Hatfield murder trial provides one version of the Hatfield raid upon Randolph McCoy’s home on January 1, 1888:
Q. “Do you know Randolph McCoy?”
A. “Yes sir.”
Q. “Do you know Cap Hatfield?”
A. “Yes sir.”
Q. “Do you know Robert Hatfield, Ellison Mounts, Elliot Hatfield, Charles Gillespie, Thomas Mitchell, and Anderson Hatfield?”
A. “Yes sir.”
Q. “Do you remember of the old man McCoy’s house being burned?”
A. “Yes sir, I heard of it.”
Q. “Where were you a short time before that occurred?”
A. “Three days before Christmas I was in the neighborhood of the Hatfield’s.”
Q. “Who was with you?”
A. “Ance Hatfield, Jim Vance, Johnson Hatfield, Cap Hatfield, Charles Gillespie, and Tom Mitchell, I believe about all of the bunch.”
Q. “What were you doing together and how long had you been together?”
A. “About three days and nights.”
Q. “Were all of you armed?”
A. “Yes sir.”
Q. “What were you doing armed and together?”
A. “Just traveling in the woods most of the time.”
Q. “What did you sleep on?”
A. “We carried our quilts with us.”
Q. “Who was your captain?”
A. “Jim Vance.”
Q. “What was the purpose of your getting together?”
A. “They claimed the purpose was to get out of the way of the Kentucky authorities.”
Q. “What else did they claim?”
A. “When I left them we came to Henry Mitchell’s to get dinner. They wouldn’t let me hear what they had to talk about. Cap asked me if I was going to Kentucky with them. Said they were going to Kentucky to kill Randolph and Jim McCoy and settle the racket. He asked me if I was going with them and I said that I was not. He said that I would go or I would go to hell. I said that I would go to hell. Elias came and took me off. We slept in a shuck pen. When he got to sleep I ran away and went to Pocahontas and was there when this occurred.”
Q. “Was Johnson present when Cap was talking?”
A. “He was in the yard close enough to hear, and he came up to me when Cap was talking and took Cap out and had a talk with him.”
Source: Bill of exceptions at the office of the Clerk of the Court of Appeals in Kentucky, Frankfort, KY.
Brandon Ray Kirk 