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Hatfield, Troy FB230103LarryChafin_HMcCF

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Hatfield and McCoy Feud
Favorites · January 3 · 2023

Here is an extremely rare and weathered image, a cabinet card, of Troy Hatfield, (1881 - 1911), the son of William Anderson "Devil Anse" and Levicy Hatfield.
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October 17, 1911: Hatfield brothers killed in shootout

The violence of the Hatfield-McCoy feud was responsible for the deaths of five of Randolph McCoy's children. But "Devil Anse," the patriarch of the Hatfield clan, never had to grieve over the loss of a child as a direct result of the feud, although two of his sons were killed later in a gunfight with an Italian immigrant.

Before the gunfight with Octavo Gerome, the Hatfield brothers, Troy and Elias, recognized the enormous money making potential of the saloon business in the Fayette County coalfields. So they invested in one of the only bars in the area. In a 1950s article in the Charleston Daily Mail, a former bartender for the Hatfields said the Hatfield saloon often took in $3,000 on paydays and never less than $300 a night.

The Hatfields guarded their investment fiercely, so when Carl Hanson opened a bar at nearby Cannelton they took steps to protect it. They cut a deal with with Hanson to stay out of each other's territory. But despite warnings from the Hatfields, an employee of Hanson's, Octavo Gerome, continued to sell beer and liquor in the Boomer area.

On October 17, 1911, Gerome expected trouble when he saw the Hatfields approaching his home at Harewood, near the town of Smithers. Before the Hatfields had time to act, Gerome killed Elias and fatally wounded Troy. Before he died, though, Troy managed to shoot and kill Gerome.

Violent incidents like this fueled the debate over the immorality of drinking. West Virginians voted in 1912 to outlaw the sale and consumption of alcohol.

- Excerpt from Otis K. Rice, The Hatfield and The McCoys, 121-122; Charleston Gazette, October 10, 1975.

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-Photo from the Coleman C. Hatfield Collection
- Posted on the Hatfield and McCoy Feud Facebook page

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Comments
Betty Stagno
Troy Hatfield my Grandfather ??
44w
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