16. Ellison Mounts was hanged for the murder of Alifair McCoy
The only member of either the Hatfield or McCoy families to face the death penalty for the crimes committed during the legendary feud was Ellison Mounts, known as “Cotton Top” to members of both families. Mounts entered a guilty plea when charged with being involved in the attack on Randolph McCoy’s home, which led to the death of his son and daughter. Despite accepting the guilty plea, the jury recommended the death penalty, and on February 18, 1890, he was hanged in the Pike County Jail in Kentucky. Officially by that time, Kentucky had ceased public executions, but several hundred people, some accounts say thousands, surrounded the jail on that day so to claim they saw the hanging.
Ellison Mounts was of uncertain parentage, though many accounts of the feud claim he was the illegitimate son of Ellison Hatfield, the brother of Devil Anse who was killed in the second of the Election Day confrontations between the families. Ellison’s mother was Harriet Hatfield, a first cousin of Ellison Hatfield, who later married Daniel Mounts. Ellison was described as being mentally handicapped, and following the trial, rumors began that he had been bribed to confess to the murder of Alifair McCoy, encouraged by the belief that a confession and his known mental illness would lead to a lenient sentence. It was not to be. Ellison’s final words, according to witnesses, were, “The Hatfields made me do it”, although whether in reference to the killing or the confession was unclear.