In the fall of 1878, Randolph McCoy charged Floyd Hatfield with stealing one of his hogs, and the trial held here was presided over by local justice of the peace Preacher Anderson Hatfield. Because Preacher Anderson was Devil Anse Hatfield's cousin and did not want to appear biased, he assembled a jury of six Hatfields and six McCoys. When the jury reached its verdict, Selkirk McCoy, a nephew of Sarah McCoy and a veteran of the Virginia Confederacy, joined the six Hatfields in ruling for Floyd. The McCoys felt betrayed, and open hostilities soon broke out between the Hatfield and McCoy families. Later, Bill Staton, who had testified for his brother-in-law Floyd Hatfield, was killed while hunting by two of Randolph McCoy's nephews. They were tried and acquitted in a trial presided over by Valentine Hatfield, an uncle of Devil Anse. Violence between the families then continued, and the conflict eventually grew into the most famous family feud in American history.