7. The Cline family became heavily involved in the feud after the deaths of the McCoy brothers
Perry Cline was a politically connected cousin to the McCoys, who married Martha McCoy, widow of Asa Harmon McCoy, who was killed at the end of the Civil War. In the 1870s Cline was involved in a dispute over the timber rights of a large tract of land with Devil Anse. The dispute was settled in court in favor of the Hatfields, and Cline nursed a grudge over the loss of 5,000 acres. When the indictments against the Hatfields over the murder of the three McCoy brothers were ineffective in obtaining their arrests, the outraged McCoys turned to Perry Cline, who had reasons to avenge himself against Devil Anse of his own.
Cline had the indictments reinstated and announced rewards for the arrest of Devil Anse, Jim Vance, and others of the Hatfield clan, hoping to attract bounty hunters to the region to apprehend the fugitives in West Virginia and bring them back to Kentucky for trial. The Hatfields decided to take action of their own to bring the feud to an end before the McCoys could receive the help which was coming. The feud was by then becoming known nationally as newspapers reported of the events, depicting the Hatfields as predatory outlaws roaming the woods along the Tug and Big Sandy rivers. The sensationalist newspapers of the day did much to create the legend of the Hatfield – McCoy feud out of what had been a series of brutal murders.