PIKEVILLE, Ky. (AP) – More than a century after the last shots were fired in America’s most storied feud, the Hatfields and McCoys went before a judge Wednesday to try to resolve a dispute over access to a graveyard. “Relatives have an unquestionable right to visit the graves,” said Della Justice, an attorney representing McCoy descendants who sued Hatfield descendants for the right to visit the small cemetery on an Appalachian hillside in eastern Kentucky. The graveyard holds the remains of six McCoys, including three who were tied to pawpaw trees and executed by the Hatfields in 1882. McCoy descendants claim they have not been able to visit the cemetery in more than three years because it is on land owned by a Hatfield heir and the driveway leading to the graves has been marked “No Trespassing.”
The feud between the McCoys of Kentucky and the Hatfields of West Virginia is believed to have begun in the 1870s over a stolen pig and escalated over timber rights. By 1888, at least 12 people had died as a result of the shooting war. The violence ended by 1900 and the two families have held joint reunions.
I think the Campbells and MacDonalds still hold a grudge.
I remember reading an article last year about how the MacDonald clan was upset that a Campbell was being put in charge of the visitor’s center at Glen Coe (site of the infamous massacre that left 38 MacDonalds dead–way back in 1692).
I’d have guessed there were still living descendants surely, but figured they’d have been worn out with the feudin’ by now. On a related, note this Far Side cartoon leaps to mind.