13. Frank Phillips committed at least one and possibly more murders but was never charged
According to the accounts of several historians regarding the feud, Kentucky Special Officer Frank Phillips captured a deputy named Bill Dempsey who had been supporting the Hatfields, and executed him on the spot, an act of outright murder, though he was not held accountable for the crime. Other accounts have Phillips similarly executing Uncle Jim Vance rather than taking him into custody. Phillips referred to himself as “Bad Frank”, and claimed to have ridden at one time with the James-Younger Gang. Whether or not true, he did name one of his sons Jesse James Phillips, and he was indicted at various times in several jurisdictions.
In 1888 Nancy McCoy, who had married Johnse Hatfield, left her husband to live with Phillips, remaining with him for the rest of his life, and marrying him in 1895. Phillips however continued with the behavior he had exhibited all of his adult life; heavy drinking, womanizing, fighting, and gambling. In 1898 he argued with a friend over a woman, and the argument led to the friend shooting him in the hip. The wounded festered, he developed gangrene, and despite an operation to amputate his leg, he died as a result of the wound. Nancy died three years later of tuberculosis and the two are buried side-by-side in Pike County, Kentucky.