Not every American has heard of the Meadows and Bilyeus, but between the years 1898-1901, the violent feud between these families captured the American newspaper headlines. Yet despite previous writings, nobody has ever told the true and complete story of this legendary clash in the heart of the Missouri Ozarks. Drawing on years of original research, including the discovery of previously untouched and ignored evidence, author Randy Pace finally gives us the full, unvarnished tale, vastly more enthralling than the myth.
Pace begins in 1884 when a stranger becomes trapped in a winter storm and many of the subject families were still living in harmony. Theirs was a tough life of arduous farming and isolation in the Bull Creek region on the border of Christian and Taney counties in Missouri. Cut off from much of the outside world, these were some of the first settlers of the area and became well-established landowners who intermarried and worked closely with one another. It was the time of the infamous vigilante night riders known as the Bald Knobbers, of which some of their members would play key roles in the feud trials.
But then came the first in a series of violent, interconnected acts, and the viciousness became increasingly personal. By the time the violence culminated with the last murder in 1917, six people were dead and several more wounded. The resulting trials became a national spectacle and spawned legal battles that resulted in two Missouri Supreme Court decisions, a governor's pardon, and a change in state laws.
Filled with betrayal, a brutal bombing, bullying, murders, spectacular court trials, and acts of revenge, Blood Feud on Bull Creek is much more than the riveting account of feuding between Ozarks families struggling to survive. In it, we see reflections of our own family bonds and loyalties and the lengths to which we might go in order to defend our own honor.