Franklin "Bad Frank" Phillips (17 July 1861-12 July 1898) was an American deputy sheriff, freelance gunman, logger, and outlaw who lived in Pike County, Kentucky at the time of the Hatfield-McCoy feud.
Biography[]
Franklin Phillips was born in John's Creek, Pike County, Kentucky in 1861; his father was killed during the American Civil War. He rode with the James-Younger Gang during his younger years, and he was indicted in three states for various crimes. However, Republican political boss John Dils, who had taken care of him on his father's death in the Civil War, shielded Phillips from prosecution, and Phillips became a freelance gunman. During the Hatfield-McCoy feud, Phillips - at the time a Pinkerton agent - was sent to arrest Bob Levinger for squatting, only for Ed Levinger to interfere; in the ensuing saloon shootout, Phillips killed both men, although a dying Ed shot Phillips in the back, leaving him with a limp. Hatfield patriarch Devil Anse Hatfield, who had been pressured by his family to avenge the deaths of their Levinger kinsfolk, met with Phillips and bribed him $100 to leave West Virginia, threatening to kill him next time. However, Phillips became a bounty hunter once the feud escalated in 1887, and he claimed Hatfield family associate "Skunkhair" Tom Wallace's scalp and delivered it to Perry Cline for a bounty. While Cline paid the bounty, Randolph McCoy told Phillips that he would refuse to do business with him anymore due to his cruelty.
Phillips' death
After Cat Miller's death and other reverses, however, Cline and McCoy were forced to resort to making Phillips the leader of their posse. He became a deputy sheriff in June 1887, and he led a foray into West Virginia that resulted in the Battle of Grapevine Creek and the capture of several Hatfields. Sheriff Basil Hatfield disapproved of Phillips' raids and removed him from his title of deputy sheriff. However, he went on to marry Nancy McCoy, who was already married to Johnse Hatfield, in 1895 while residing on land he bought in Pikeville, Nancy having moved in with him after Johnse abandoned her for the Pacific Northwest. In 1898, Phillips got into an argument with a friend, Ransom Bray, over a woman and was shot in the hips after threatening to stab his friend; he lost his leg to amputation, and he died of gangrene a few weeks later.