Just over the mountain toward Mingo County, the Hatfield Clan and allied families had begun their move into Logan, in effort to leave the Mingo County area along the Tug River, where there was constant tension between the Hatfields, and their extended family factions, and the McCoys, and their factions, on the Kentucky side of the River.

Many written accounts, backed up by Thompson family stories indicated that
Devil Anse, the Hatfield patriarch, had tired of the strife and had made a concerted effort to avoid trouble.

The younger men of his, and his children's families, did not always feel the same way, and on occasion, would behave in less than a peaceful fashion, as did many of the younger generation of that time. This according to Altina L. Waller in her excellent book "Feud - Hatfields, McCoys, and Social Change in Appalachia 1860-1900".

In "Wavolene's Letter" she states that the Hatfields
"were a fine family and had always be good to us". <

But for what ever the reason, there was an exchange of ill will between Jimmy Thompson and
John Totton Vance, husband of Nancy Hatfield, Devil Anse's daughter.

The family story told to me by my mother and other older family members, explains that they believed Jimmy Thompson owned a piece of landlocked land in the middle of John T Vance's land, or at least land located in such a location, that it required, that Jimmy cut across Vance's land.

Apparently, there had never been a problem for Jimmy, prior to this, getting to his fields. This was said to have been a common practice for him. But, it was also apparent that the trouble between the two had been festering, because my grandfather, Dow, 12 years old at the time, heard the shots ring out while in the school house, and knew just where to run to, because he did run out of school when he heard the shots.

Oral history tells us that Jimmy Thompson and his wife Mary were crossing John Vance's land and he, and it is said, his wife Nancy, were waiting for them. As they crossed the land, shots were fired and Jimmy received fatal injuries to his abdomen, and Mary received permanent maiming injuries to her elbow and arm. The Thompsons were not armed, having left their weapons at home, contrary to their usual practice.

Dr. Sidney B. Lawson attended the couple and tried in vain to lift out Jimmy's gut and wash the 'shot' from it. He died within hours, leaving an injured wife to support and raise their 10 young children.

John T. Vance was tried and convicted for the murder. He served time for this. I know some of the details of his arrest and the found documentation that he did leave for prison. It is also known that he received a ten year sentence for the murder.

After recently talking to Wavolene Bloss (Nettie Thompson's daughter), she stated that she had been told that a Thompson pig had been rooting in the freshly planted corn of the Vance fields. Apparently the Thompsons had been warned about it and were told that they would shoot if the Thompsons couldn't control their pigs. The pig returned to his rooting in the Vance's fields and the Vances followed up on their threat.

NOTE:Wavolene, in our recent talk, said she understood that John Vance did not serve out his time, because someone else confessed to doing the actual shooting. She had also been told, (as we were) that it was supposted to be a Hatfield woman that actually did the shooting. Whether it was Nancy Hatfield Vance or another member of her family, is completely unknown at this time. All we have is oral history. In this one instance though it agrees. Wavolene had been raised away from the Logan Thompsons because of her mother's experiences (dealt with in "Wavolenes Letter"). The Logan Thompsons had been told the same basic story about the possiblity of a Hatfield woman being responsible for the actual shooting.

On the day that Vance returned home, Dow got wind of it and left work early that day, came straight home, went directly upstairs to get his gun. He was going to kill his father's murderer! All in the house were frozen with fear at what he was about to do. Dow was a strong willed man, and would not be talked out of doing what he thought he had to do.

But strangely, he stayed upstairs for a very long time. Suddenly he came down and with a light mood behaved like nothing was wrong. Later, he told his family, he spent the time thinking about what he was about to do and what it would do to his own family and all that he was working so hard to attain.

Dow Thompson (Sr.) went from a boy of 12 who had to start working in order to help support his widowed, injured mother and family, to a man, that through his own self-determination, studied via correspondence school, to become an electrician. He accomplished this, and eventually became the man responsible for first electrifying Island Creek Coal Company's #22 mines in Holden, & mines in Mudfork among others. He advanced to become Chief Electrician.
He and Malinda eventually finished raising most of his younger siblings.
Thankfully, he put the gun down, and let the matter end.

If anyone can offer more information of these events I would very much appreciate your input!
We would like to understand the full scope of this dispute. This can only be accomplished by placing as much info as possible on this page and letting the reader be the judge of what actually took place.