The Devil's Children: the Hatfield Lawyers
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LH&RB Newsletter of the Legal History & Rare Books SIS of the American Association of Law Libraries Volume 21 Number 1 Spring 2015 The Devil’s Children: The Hatfield Lawyers Stewart Plein As a fragment of American history, the Hatfield-McCoy Feud is one of those legendary events that become more shrouded over time yet linger in our collective imagination. We are boggled by a family conflict that today seems to have nebulous beginnings; alternatively described as an argument over free ranging hogs, divided loyalties within families that emerged during the Civil War, and most popularly, the Kentucky - West Virginia Tug River border crossing romance of Roseanna McCoy and Johnson, the eldest son of Devil Anse Hatfield, called Johnse. Continued on Page 4 Hatfield In This Issue LH&RB The Devil’s Children: The Hatfield Lawyers Stewart Plein Page 1 Officers Peeping Under the Judge's Robes: Preliminary Chair Results of a Reputational Study of Nineteenth Sabrina Sondhi Century Kentucky High Court Justices Special Collections Librarian Kurt X. Metzmeier Page 7 Columbia Law School Arthur W. Diamond Law Library John William Wallace (February 17, 1815- 435 West 116 Street January 12, 1884): An Appreciation Upon the New York, NY 1027 Two Hundredth Anniversary of His Birth (212) 854-5244 Joel Fishman, Ph.D. Page 11 [email protected] From the Chair Sabrina Sondhi Page 21 Vice Chair/Chair Elect Kasia Solon Cristobal Editor’s Corner Reference Librarian Mark Podvia Page 22 Tarlton Law Library The University of Texas School of Law Book Reviews 727 East Dean Keeton Street Austin, TX 78705 Joel Fishman, Ed. Page 22 (512) 232-3801 [email protected] Karen Wahl Elected SIS Vice-Chair Page 27 Secretary/Treasurer and Webmaster Member News Laurel Davis Mike Widener Page 28 Legal Information Librarian/Lecturer in Law Curator of Special Collections Exhibits 885 Centre Street Kasia Solon Cristobal Page 29 Newton, MA 02459 (617) 552-4410 Recent Acquisitions [email protected] Linda Tesar Page 30 Immediate Past Chair Jennie C. Meade Director of Special Collections George Washington University Jacob Burns Law Library 716 20th St., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20052 (202) 994-6857 [email protected] -2- Joel Fishman, Ph.D., Book Review Editor Assistant Director for Lawyer Services Duquesne University Center for Legal Information Allegheny County Law Library 921 City-County Building 414 Grant Street Pittsburgh, PA 15219 Phone (412)350-5727/Fax: (412)350-5889 E-mail [email protected] Michael Widener, Member News Editor Rare Book Librarian Lillian Goldman Library, Yale Law School LH&RB PO Box 208215 New Haven, CT 06520 Phone (203)432-4494/Fax (203)432-7940 LH&RB is published three times each year [email protected] by the Legal History & Rare Books Special Interest Section of the American Association Kasia Solon Cristobal, Exhibits Column of Law Libraries. Editor Reference Librarian Submissions for publication are strongly Tarlton Law Library, The University of encouraged. We have been known to beg. Texas School of Law Correspondence can be sent to the 727 East Dean Keeton Street appropriate editor at the following address: Auston, TX 78705 Phone (512)232-3801/Fax (512)471-0243 Mark Podvia, Editor-in-Chief [email protected] Head of Public Services and Special Collections and Instruction Librarian Linda Tesar, Recent Acquisitions Column West Virginia University College of Law Editor Library College of William & ary P.O. Box 6130 Wolf law Library Morgantown, WV 26506 P.O. Box 8795 Phone (304)293-6786/Fax: (304)293-6020 Williamsburg, VA 23187 Email [email protected] Phone (757)221-3244/Fax (757) 221-3051 [email protected] Jennie Meade, Articles Editor Director of Special Collections Sarah Yates, Sp. Coll. Cat. Column Editor George Washington University Cataloging Librarian Jacob Burns Law Library University of Minnesota Law Library 716 20th St, N.W. 229 19th Ave. S. Washington, DC 20052 Minneapolis, MN 55455 Phone (202)994-6857/Fax (202)994-2874 Phone (612)625-1898/(612) E-mail [email protected] E-mail [email protected] Kurt X. Metzmeier, Articles Editor Associate Director University of Louisville Law Library Belknap Campus 2301 S. Third Louisville, KY 40292 Phone (502)852-6082/Fax (502)852-8906 E-mail [email protected] -3- HATFEILD Continued from Page 1 Today the feud is largely known to us through myth and legend. We are simply too far from the events to know the truth and what was known and understood has been sensationalized to such an extent by the media of the day and embellished over time that fact cannot be separated from fiction. Even the death toll is relatively unknown: fifteen members of both the Hatfield and McCoy families died in the feuding, but it is estimated that the toll could be much higher, with as many as 100 deaths from the larger conflict that lasted over a twenty year time period. Many conflicting reports concerning information that comes down to us today about the Hatfield’s often center around Devil Anse’s son, William Anderson (Cap) Hatfield, the second child out of thirteen, who would grow to play a major role in the feud. One example of this conflicting information refers to how “Cap” got his nickname. According to the family history, Hatfield’s Tale of the Devil, (81) as Anse’s namesake, Cap was referred to as “the little captain,” in deference to Anse’s military service, where he served as a captain in the Confederacy during the Civil War. In another confusing instance, Hatfield (91) and King (77) describe an eye injury that led to partial blindness in Cap’s right eye when he was ten. King says the nickname stems from this injury, the result of an exploding cap while loading a rifle, causing his eye to turn a milky color. The first suggestion, in reference to his father’s military service, seems to be the more accurate of the two, as photos of Cap made throughout his life do not show a milky eye. However, he did lose sight in the eye. Also up for negotiation is the gunshot wound that would lead to Cap’s death. It is said that Cap received a wound at age 16. (Hatfield & Spence 91) Whether that gunshot wound was received in the head, as some say or in the stomach, as others report, is up for debate. What is believed to be true is that this wound, suffered as a mere teenager prior to the beginning of the feud, led to cancer which developed around the wound area and finally, after many years, took his life. Described by his son, the family biographer, Coleman A. Hatfield, as a man of “strange and mixed emotions” (Hatfield & Spence 91), Cap was believed to be among the leaders of the feud’s activities. He was a young man of 25 when he participated in the most violent event, the New Year’s Eve Raid of January 1, 1888, that that took five McCoy lives. (Hatfield & Spence 169) What we can know with certainty is as interesting as what we are unable to determine and that is a shift in reasoning from one of the most notorious members of the Hatfield family to the law as a means to save himself, to support his family, and as a legacy to pass on to his children. William Anderson (Cap) Hatfield, a known participant and some contend, leader (King 186) in at least two of the feuds most violent conflicts, a prison escapee who left his family behind to hide from the law for extended periods including jaunts in Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado, in the end, turned to the law as his saving grace. Having grown up without many opportunities for education and little encouragement, Cap Hatfield was an illiterate man, a farmer who also worked in timber and made moonshine. As bounties on his head reached $1, 250, (King 239) and with bounty hunters in constant pursuit of their prize, Cap grew weary of his inability to provide for his family. While he was constantly on the run and in hiding in Oklahoma (King 216, 329) Cap’s second son, Shepherd, died of malnutrition. (Hatfield & Spence 221) The fear of capture, exhausted from evasion, and the death of his son must have made an impact on Cap. Tired of the violent life that had consumed his youth, he was only 18 when the feuding began, Cap sought an alternative from his criminal past and a future of fear and anguish. Cap’s fortune turned when he allowed his educated wife Nancy to teach him to read. From that point on, Cap came to enjoy reading and with this skill came a yearning to better himself. The feud -4- had drawn to a close over the intervening years and Cap left his family once again, this time traveling to Tennessee to enroll in a law class. (King, 168, 338) Though this course of study lasted only six months, its short duration made a significant impact on Cap’s life, changing its course and eventually inspiring his son and a granddaughter to follow in his legal footsteps. (Hatfield & Spence, 221) From this small step, Cap entered a new profession. At home in Logan County, a county that served as the West Virginia side of the feud that stretched across the Tug River Valley into Kentucky, Cap brought not only his newfound legal skills to his new job as Logan County Deputy Sheriff, (Hatfield & Davis, 144) but also his ability to track and hunt criminals on the run, as well as his mastery handling a gun.