John Cavalier recounts the previous events in his history of Smithers West Virginia (41-43).  His summary includes the events in the previous posts as well as explaining some of the business reasons behind them.

…there had been a bitter rivalry between the Hatfields and others who operated saloons in the restricted area. Elias Hatfield owned a fourth interest in the only saloon between Cannelton and Gauley Bridge. M. J. Simms, one of the members of the Fayette County Court, owned the other three-fourths of this saloon. The place of business was yielding its owners a monthly profit of one thousand dollars each, according to reports. A competitor opened a saloon on the south side of the Kanawha river at Eagle. Then someone else started another liquor establishment just over the Kanawha County line near Cannelton. While the “Black Diamond” Saloon at Eagle, by means of a free ferry it was operating, was cutting in on the Simms-Hatfield business, it was Carl Hanson’s saloon at Cannelton, in Kanawha County, that was really hurting the Hatfield’s trade.

       Hanson cut the price of beer from $3.00 per case of three dozen to $2.25 and employed Gerone to solicit orders and make deliveries.

        There was a large Italian settlement in this area and Gerone was quite popular, so he was able to work up a large business…It was said that the Hatfields had put their competitor to route several times by forcible means and also driven him away by threats and menaces.

 Cavalier based his account on recollections of older residents and newspaper reporting from the time.  

Newspapers across the state and across the nation carried the story. Some reported a territorial agreement, others that the Hatfields had been intimidating to enforce control of the area liquor trade.  Some report Hatfields as upstanding citizens and others as ex convicts. 

 Below is one of many sources with a different version of the story. Octavia Gerone’s name was reported as “Geromie” by many papers.  It is clear from other accounts that the first ‘passerby’ was Joe Hatfield who was probably not there by chance.

The Fairmont West Virginian takes a peaceful businessman view of the Hatfields.

Just the facts Ma’am

Well, maybe we did get some of them wrong.  Elias was 32 and Troy was 30.  What difference does a decade or so make anyway? The Fairmont West Virginian had them at 40 and 24–Eh, age is just a number right?

Joe, who no one bothered with, was 28.  Just for completeness, I’ll let you know that I’ve found no records to tie down the ages of Octavia or Angelo.

There are more articles if you’re really interested–but these are enough to get the feel of it.

  Extra story, history, news articles, and pictures are on Patreon!

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