Patrick County Virginia USGenWeb Archives News.....Bad Warfare in Patrick Results in Three Deaths February 9, 1927
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Ron Martin cindyandron@bellsouth.net September 9, 2021, 7:33 pm

The Danbury Reporter But Originally Published In The Reidsville Review February 9, 1927
  While the brothers of two of the participants looked on in horror, members of 
rival clans of Blue Ridge moonshiners, living in the Fayerdale section of 
Patrick County, just beyond the North Carolina state line, resorted to the age-
old mountain custom of settling their differences with smoking guns with the 
results that three men, one of them a youth only 16 years of age, are cold in 
death while three others are lodged in jail at Stuart awaiting trial upon the 
charge of murder.  The dead are Turner Hall, 30; Maynard Cox, 16, and Dave Cox, 
20, the last two being brothers.  The three under arrest are Ernest Shelton, 
Frank Chaney, and Ora Turner.   They were carried to Stuart by Sheriff S.B. 
Mays, who arrested them at their homes near the scene of the shooting.  None of 
them offered resistance, having sent word to officers that they were awaiting 
arrest.
  In the meantime, according to Commonwealth Attorney Frank F. Burton, feeling 
is running high between members of the rival factions and officers fear that the 
torch of feudism, which for many years has smoldered in the hill country, 
rekindled by Sunday’s tripe tragedy, may flare up anew to claim other lives.  
Maynard and Dave Cox are the brothers of Ewell Cox, who was killed in a gun 
battle about three years ago.
  Two others suffered wounds as a result of the shooting.
  John Chaney was shot in the foot when he rushed into the room when the guns 
began barking.   He also had a narrow escape from being the fourth victim when a 
stray bullet grazed his temple and nipped off a piece of his ear, rendering hm 
temporarily unconscious.   Mrs. Betty Chaney, his aunt, who was in an adjoining 
room, was wounded in the hand.
  Turner Hall, in company with Frank Chaney, Ora Turner and Ernest Shelton, 
according to information obtained from Mr. Burton, on Sunday went to the home of 
John Chaney at Fayerdale with a warrant for the arrest of Dave and Maynard Cox.  
The warrant had been obtained by Hall Saturday at Stuart, Mr. Burton said and 
charged the Cox brothers with felonies, in connection with operating a still and 
with having fired from ambush upon Banyan Nichols whom the brothers, it is 
explained had mistaken for Hall.
  The trio is said to have found Dave Cox at John Chaney’s home Sunday afternoon 
when they arrived about four o’clock.   Claud Cox was lying upon a bed, it was 
stated.   He was arrested and disarmed, according to Mr. Burton.
  While this was taking place, it is understood, other persons at the house, one 
of whom was said to be Ewell Nichols, left hurriedly, ran a short distance and 
informed Maynard Cox and his two sisters, Mrs. Josie Cox Williams and Miss Clara 
Cox, who were passing in an automobile, that their brother was under arrest.
  The three, according to accounts of the affair, entered the house and Maynard, 
the 16 year old brother of Dave Cox, drew a pistol as he entered the room.  
Turner Hall and Ernest Shelton are alleged to have had their guns levelled upon 
Dave Cox.
  Firing began and Dave Cox fell dead.  Almost at the same moment Maynard fell, 
wounded, and as he sank to the floor, he is said to have lifted his weapon, 
sending a bullet into Hall’s body.   Hall did not die instantly, while the 
younger Cox is said to have died instantly.
  Each of the three slain men are said to have had three or four wounds.
  The sisters of the slain brothers were in the room when the shooting took 
place and according to one version of the affair, Mrs. Williams exclaimed as she 
entered and found the men with their pistols pointed at her brother.
  “Don’t shoot Dave!”
  According to Mr. Burton, it was understood at Stuart when Hall secured the 
joint warrant that it was to be put in the hands of a deputy sheriff for 
service.  It was not known whether Hall had been deputized.  His three 
companions, it was stated, had not been deputized.
  The trouble between Hall and the Cox brothers began a short time ago, Mr. 
Burton said, when Hall’s still was destroyed by revenue officers, who are 
alleged to have been supplied with information by the brothers.
  Hall, with Shelton, his brother-in-law, it is said, retaliated by raiding a 
still belonging to the Cox brothers, destroying the outfit and a quantity of 
whisky at the same time driving the brothers away.
  This episode is said to have been followed a week ago by the ambushing 
incident when Bunyan Nichols was wounded.  It was as a result of this that Hall 
is reported to have sworn out the warrant charging, in addition to the shooting 
illicit whiskey making by the Cox brothers.


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