哈特菲尔德和麦科伊家族

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两个美国阿帕拉契山山居的家族,19世纪末这两个家族之间发生了一场粗野的争执事件。这两个家族各有至少十三个孩子和一些数不清的其他亲友。两家各住在州界河两侧--麦家在肯塔基这边,哈家在西维吉尼亚。世仇可能种因於南北战争时,两家各拥护的对象不同而产生敌对关系。1882年第一次发生流血事件,哈家一员被射杀,接着哈家为了报复而处决了麦家三个兄弟。从此两家不断突击、报复杀害对方,地方上的警察很少干预。1888年由一个副警长率领的麦家组成的民团逮捕了西维吉尼亚的九个哈家成员,并把他们带到肯塔基州以谋杀罪起诉和审判。西维吉尼亚控诉肯塔基州官员绑架罪名,全美报纸开始以头版新闻刊载两家世仇的故事。最後美国最高法院判肯塔基有拘留被告待审的合法权利,审判定谳,一人判吊死,另外八人坐牢。他们之间的战事一直到1920年代才逐渐消退。

Hatfield and McCoys

Two families of the U.S. Appalachian Mountains who engaged in a backwoods feud in the late 19th century. The families, each with at least 13 children and numerous other relatives, lived on opposite sides of a border stream, the Hatfields in West Virginia and the McCoys in Kentucky. The feud may have originated in opposing allegiances in the Civil War. In 1882 the first murder of a Hatfield was followed by the murder of three McCoys. Retaliatory raids and murders continued with little interference from local police. In 1888 a posse of McCoys led by a deputy sheriff captured nine Hatfields in West Virginia and took them to Kentucky to stand trial for murder. West Virginia officials charged Kentucky officials with kidnapping. Newspapers nationwide carried the story. The U.S. Supreme Court eventually ruled in favor of Kentucky. The trials resulted in one sentence of death and eight of imprisonment. Flare-ups gradually abated by the 1920s.