There are different versions of the legend, but it usually goes something like this:  In the year 1817, Abner’s daughter Betty ran off with Lewis Horton.  In September, Horton brought her home and dropped her off in the yard with some rude comments.  Abner demanded that Horton marry the girl, but Horton refused. So Abner grabbed his gun in a rage, and shot Horton in the back as he tried to flee across a creek on horseback. Abner fled into the wilderness, where he remained in hiding for two years, and somehow managed to claim thousands of acres of land for his descendants while hiding from the law. But he got tired of living alone and turned himself in, thinking that he would get off easy because the judge owed him a favor.  But he was mistaken, and was sentenced to death. Just before the hanging, he made an hour and a half long speech in front of the crowd, and sang a song that he had written in jail.  A pardon arrived an hour after the hanging, too late to do any good. Abner’s daughter Betty gave birth to Horton’s posthumous child, a daughter named Nancy who married Ephraim Hatfield and was the mother of Devil Anse Hatfield.

The available records tell a different story.  The surviving documents suggest that the real cause of the murder was a legal dispute; that the killing was premeditated; that Abner really wanted to shoot Lewis’s brother Daniel, but shot Lewis instead because Lewis was physically present and Daniel wasn’t. Abner didn’t flee into the wilderness; he was arrested immediately, and remained in jail until his execution. His efforts to “play” the legal system were worthy of a modern-day lawyer. He did give a long speech in front of the crowd that had gathered to watch him hang, but apparently did not sing the song he had written.  Some paperwork did arrive after the hanging, but it wasn’t a pardon or anything else that would have delayed the execution. There’s no indication that Horton was involved with Abner’s daughter Betty, whose reputation was a moot point because she already had two out-of-wedlock children at the time of the shooting. Betty did have a daughter Nancy who was the mother of Devil Anse Hatfield, but DNA evidence reportedly indicates that most or all of Betty’s children were fathered by John Ferrell, who was married to someone else.

Abner is commonly said to have been a preacher, a Revolutionary war veteran, and an Indian scout.  There’s no evidence for any of that; the court records described him as a laborer.

Our best source of information about the testimony at Abner’s trial is a letter written by Judge Peter Johnston. It was submitted to the Virginia House of Delegates in December 1818 as part of a request for a change in trial law because of the difficulties caused by the Vance trial. Excerpts from this letter are reprinted below.  The judges in Washington County found no evidence of prejudice on behalf of Judge Johnston.

Judge Johnston describes the impediments that existed to a proper trial, then says:

“For the purpose of exhibiting the character of the offense committed by Vance, give me leave to state in substance, but with precision, the testimony of the witnesses examined in his trial.

“The prisoner lived near Clinch river and walked down to a ford at no great distance from his dwelling on the morning of September 22, 1817, carrying his rifle, and declaring he had loaded it for the special purpose of shooting Daniel Horton, the brother of the young man afterwards slain; and, that he would not only kill him, but three others whom he named.

“Lewis Horton soon appeared in view, riding along the road which leads across the river near the place where Vance was waiting, as he said, to shoot Daniel Horton. As soon as the young man came within such a distance that his person was identified, Vance said ‘yonder comes Lewis Horton, and I have a mind to kill him.’

“He [Horton] approached Vance and saluted him with civility. Vance charged him with having sworn his life away; language, which had reference to a deposition given a few days before by Lewis Horton, in a suit in Chancery depending before Chancellor Brown. Horton expressed his astonishment at this charge and inquired what Vance had understood to be the purport of his deposition. Upon hearing Vance’s reply, Horton assured him he was mistaken or misinformed, and proceeded to repeat what he really had stated in the before mentioned deposition.

“Vance then expressed himself fully satisfied, declared to Lewis Horton he had nothing against him, and asked, ‘Have you anything against me’…’Nothing,’ said the young man, in a mild language and manner, ‘except that I do not like to see you have drawn your gun upon me’. ‘Help yourself as you can, I believe I will shoot you now,’ said Vance.

“Horton and a certain Joseph Fowlkes who was present, observing from the tone and countenance of Vance, the horrid purpose which he meditated, began to implore his mercy; but he raised his gun, leveled it at Horton, while he was endeavoring to make good his flight across the river, and tried when he was not a greater distance than thirty paces, shooting the ball through the body of this victim, near the back bone, and a little below the shoulder blade.

“As he [Horton] fell from his horse into the water, Vance poured forth execrations too bitter and horrible for repetition, and threatened with death an old man from the opposite shore, who advanced into the river, hoping that Horton’s life might yet be saved. But in this, he was mistaken. Although the young man was rescued from immediate death by drowning, he survived his wound but a short time expiring on the sixth day after its infliction.

“It is not only probable, but certain, that other instances will arise under the present judiciary system of this State, requiring the special interference of the Legislature, unless some general law should be enacted, the provisions of which may be adequate to the prevention, of remedy of evils and difficulties, such as have occurred in the case of Abner Vance.”