Sometime around 1880 there was a fracas between two or three of the young "Mangum" sons of Archibald & Martha (Parham) Mangum and some members of another family where were termed 'ruffians'. The end result was that one of the ruffians ended up dead and two of the Mangum boys headed to Arkansas and took their mother's maiden name, "Parham". Those two sons were named Henry Woodson Mangum and George Col. McKinley Mangum. This incident has been a very well kept family secret for nearly a hundred years. The immediate family, of course, all knew the secret although maybe not the details. Maturing children, when the time came for them to be told, were cautioned not to tell outsiders because of the possibility of a range of unspecified but highly undesirable consequences. We have uncovered many stories of the incident. The North Carolina side of the family was the most open with many versions of the incident, most which differ only in minor details. This should not have been unexpected because the incident did not affect that side of the family directly. The family of Henry Woodson (Mangum) and George Col. McKinley (Mangum) Parham had only muddled, incomplete accounts and many considered it "embarrassing" even after a hundred years of having to hide it from the outside world. One side of the family was actually hostile to the idea of digging into this particular family secret.

The tale has several versions, most differing only slightly from each other. It seems the Mangum boys were at a barn dance. Someone came running in and told Henry and George that some ruffians were killing Ben. Ben was a younger brother. When George & Henry came out, they saw that the ruffians were beating Ben's head up against a barn door, using his feet to hold him. The two Mangum boys entered the fight and one of the ruffians was stabbed. He later took pneumonia and died. Other accounts say that George was the one being given a good going-over. Immediately word got around that the ruffians would get revenge by killing George and Henry. The Mangum brothers left the community in order to let things cool off and to avoid a feud a la the Hatfields and the McCoys. It was always assumed that the Mangums would have been found not guilty of any wrong doing by any jury in a court trial.

The Mangum boys probably went first to Western North Carolina where they stayed with William Person Mangum their uncle. Wm. Person Mangum and wife Mary D. previously had a factory at Kittrell, 8 miles south of Henderson. They sold out and moved in 1873 to Western North Carolina.

The family say that Henry was very bitter about the exile and vowed never to return. He seemingly regretted the unfortunate incident more than the others. None of the tales told by the family give any hint as to which brother wielded the knife and struck the fatal blow. It must have been a very painful memory for the brothers.