Some feud story writers try to justify the murder of Jim Vance on the basis that his killers knew that he had led the New Year’s raid, and were therefore simply unable to restrain themselves when they came upon the man responsible for burning the McCoy home and killing two innocent people. Dean King lays that allegation to rest when he says of the Phillips gang: “None of them had any idea that Jim Vance was even involved in the house burning (let alone that he led it).”[i]
When a writer who has called the man “Crazy Jim” for one hundred sixty-five pages makes such a startling admission, a reader should pay attention.
This story can be read in my book, “Lies, Damned Lies, and Feud Tales.” https://tinyurl.com/ycqlg3oy
[i] Governor Simon B. Buckner Papers, Folder 4, February 6, 1888.
[ii] Charles Gillespie was quoted in newspapers as saying that Mounts clubbed Sally, while Mounts’ confession says that Johnse Hatfield clubbed Sally. Sally, in her testimony, did not say who bludgeoned her, but Mr. King says that it was his fictional “Crazy Jim.”
[iii] King Dean, The Feud, 177-78.
[iv] New York Sun, October 21, 1888, p.8.
[v] King, Dean, 73-4.
[vi] Hugh Toney, Floyd Hatfield, J.R. Browning and P.H. Dingess all signed a bond for $2,500 guaranteeing Vance’s good conduct in office. That is equal to $150,000 in gold today. Logan County Court Orders, 1883, p. 394.
[i] King, 202.
[ii] Governor Simon B. Buckner Papers, Folder 3, January 13, 1888.