New Year’s Massacre of 1888
In the cover of night, the Hatfields surrounded the McCoy home. They attacked the family, crushing Ole Ran’l’s wife Sarah’s skull and killing McCoy’s adult children, son Calvin and daughter Alifair in the crossfire. The Hatfields set the cabin on fire. Patriarch Ole Ran’l managed to escape the fire. Nine Hatfields were convicted for the New Years Night Massacre. McCoy bounty hunter Frank Phillips killed Devil Anse’s uncle and massacre leader Jim Vance and brought nine Hatfields to jail. Four Hatfields were indicted for the massacre. One would hang for it. After that final burst of violence, the families gave up actively feuding. Ole Ran’l became a ferry operator. Devil Anse found religion and was baptized, living out the rest of his days believing himself absolved of all his wrongdoing. The twenty-year feud ended, but it lives on as a symbol of hillbilly hotbed tempers and grievances solved with violence.