Days of Darkness (8 page)

Jonathan K. Bailey and his happy family, shown in Mt. Pleasant around 1884. The Baileys were generally allied with the Turners. Will Jennings, a leader of the Howards, went to prison for killing John Bailey, though Wilse Howard probably did it while shooting at a Turner.

the “Turner Mansion” in Harlan, home of the George Turner family, in 1884. Two of the Turner sons bled and died on the front porch. Both from R. C. Ballard Thruston Collection, The Filson Club Historical Society.

Curtis Jett, the infamous and reckless gunman convicted in the 1903 killing of J. B. Marcum in the Marcum-Hargis-Callahan feud in Breathitt County. He was just as mean as he looks in this retouched newspaper photo. After prison, he became a preacher of sorts, like a lot of the old gunmen. From the
Courier-Journal
, Louisville.

J. B. Marcum, a power in Republican politics and one of the most prominent attorneys in Eastern Kentucky. He tried to end the feud and save his own life with an appeal through the press, but failed. From the
Courier-Journal
, Louisville.

A sketch of Judge James Hargis of Breathitt County, from the
Kansas City Star
, January 25, 1931. Hargis, a wealthy merchant, a power in state Democratic politics, and leader of the Hargis-Callahan forces in their feud with the Marcum faction, helped make William Goebel governor and survived the feud, only to be killed by his son, Beach. Courtesy of
Kentucky Explorer Magazine.

Devil Anse Hatfield (seated, second from left) surrounded by his lovely and lovable family, some carrying domestic implements, about 1897. Among Anse's descendants was a governor of West Virginia. Courtesy of the West Virginia State Archives.

Rose Anna (Rosanna, Roseann) McCoy, the bogus Juliet of the bogus Romeo and Juliet fable concocted by the press in its off-target reporting of the Hatfield-McCoy feud. Her life was about as happy as she looks. Courtesy of the West Virginia State Archives.

Johnse Hatfield, one of Devil Anse's sons, who took part in the burning of the McCoy home and the killing of Alifair and Calvin McCoy. He courted Rose Anna but later left her and married her cousin Nancy, who gave him a reputation for being henpecked. Courtesy of Leonard McCoy and Jimmy Wolford.

Randolph (Randall, Old Rannel) McCoy, head of the McCoys and a survivor of the feud with the Hatfields. Courtesy of Leonard McCoy and Jimmy Wolford.

Frank Phillips, deputy sheriff and freelance gunman who single-handedly went into West Virginia, captured a jailful of Hat-fields, and almost caused a war between Kentucky and West Virginia. He later took up with the wife of Johnse Hatfield and eventually married her. Courtesy of West Virginia State Archives.

Devil Anse and his wife, Levicy (sometimes spelled Levisa or Louisa), taken in their later years, long after the feud ended. Courtesy of the West Virginia and Regional History Collection, West Virginia University Libraries.