William McCoy (rum runner)
Bill McCoy | |
---|---|
carpenter, businessman | |
Years active | 1919–1923 |
Known for | Prominent bootlegger |
Criminal status | Defunct |
Conviction(s) | Violation of the Volstead Act |
Criminal penalty | 9 months |
William Frederick "Bill" McCoy (August 17, 1877 – December 30, 1948), was an American
Biography
McCoy was born in
Around 1900, the McCoy family moved to a small Florida town named
McCoy during Prohibition
During Prohibition (1920–33), the McCoy brothers fell on hard times. Their excursion and freight business could not compete with the new highways and buses being built up and down the coast and across Florida. Needing money, the two brothers made a decision to go into rum-running. They sold the assets of their business, traveled to Gloucester, Massachusetts, and bought the schooner Henry L. Marshall.
McCoy then began to
McCoy made a number of successful trips aboard the Tomoka, and – along with the Henry L. Marshall and up to five other vessels – became a household name through his smuggling activities. Capt. McCoy mostly hauled
McCoy became a main target of U.S. Assistant Attorney General,
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McCoy scrapbook image McCoy Family Papers Collection. J. Henderson Welles Archives and Library, Independence Seaport Museum
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Rum runners aboard Arithusa. McCoy Family Papers Collection. J. Henderson Welles Archives and Library, Independence Seaport Museum
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McCoy family in Holland. McCoy scrapbook image McCoy Family Papers Collection. J. Henderson Welles Archives and Library, Independence Seaport Museum
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Bill McCoy's Pennsylvania Nautical School Diploma. 1895. McCoy scrapbook image McCoy Family Papers Collection. J. Henderson Welles Archives and Library, Independence Seaport Museum
Capture and arraignment
On November 23, 1923, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Seneca, had orders to capture Bill McCoy and the Tomoka, even if in international waters. The New York Times article that reported on the capture and arraignment of McCoy described the incident:
The report to Collector Elting showed that the Tomaka was first boarded by Lieut. Commander Perkins of the Coast Guard cutter Seneca, who ordered the crew keep silent. The bow of the schooner then was turned out to sea, and when the commander of the cutter observed the movement, he sent a shot across the bow of the Tomaka. She returned the fire with a machine gun set up on her forward deck. The machine gunners ran to cover when the shells of the Seneca began to fall so close to their mark that they kicked the spray over the Tomaka's deck.[9]
McCoy described the chase that led to his capture:
When the Tomoka was boarded under cover of the Seneca's guns, I immediately set sail and ran away with the boarding party – one lieutenant, one bos'n and thirteen seamen – and only upon their pleas did I heave to and put them back on the Seneca. The damned radio was too severe a handicap for me. I surrendered after the Seneca had fired four-inch shells at me.[10]
When asked what defense he planned to make at the hearing before the trial, McCoy introduced the details of his operations by replying:
I have no tale of woe to tell you. I was outside the three-mile limit, selling whisky, and good whisky, to anyone and everyone who wanted to buy.[9]
Instead of a long drawn out trial, Bill McCoy pleaded guilty and spent nine months in a New Jersey jail. He returned to Florida and invested his money in real estate. He and his brother continued the boat-building business and frequently traveled up and down the coast.
In popular culture
In the HBO series Boardwalk Empire, Pearce Bunting portrayed Bill McCoy in nine episodes during the 2010-2013 run of the series.[11][12]
References
- ^ a b c John Kobler, Ardent Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition (New York: Da Capo Press, 1973), p. 257.
- ^ Rebecca Schlam Lutto, "50 Years Ago, 'Wet' Became Official," The New York Times, ProQuest Historical Newspapers, December 4, 1983, p. V_J_1.
- ^ The Real McCoy | PBS. Retrieved April 2, 2024 – via www.pbs.org.
- ^ U.S. Coast Guard, archived at web.archive.org
- ^ "Pennsylvania Nautical School. Finding Aid". 2016. Archived from the original on January 10, 2021. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
- ^ "William McCoy Papers. Finding Aid". J. Henderson Welles Archive, Independence Seaport Museum. 2016. Archived from the original on January 10, 2021. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
- ^ John Kobler, Ardent Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition (New York: Da Capo Press, 1973), p. 258.
- ^ Malcolm F. Willoughby, Rum War at Sea (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1964), p. 18.
- ^ a b "Sea Rumrunner Held on 2 Liquor Charges," The New York Times, ProQuest Historical Newspapers, Nov. 27, 1923, p. 21.
- ^ Philip C. Jessup, "No Reflection Intended," The New York Times, ProQuest Historical Newspapers, Nov. 6, 1932, pg. E2.
- ^ McPherson, Heather (August 15, 2012), "A Toast to Rum and its Central Florida History", Orlando Sentinel, pp. 5B, retrieved August 12, 2023
- ^ "Pearce Bunting", imdb.com, retrieved August 12, 2023
External links
- Halifax Historical Museum Archived June 28, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, in Daytona Beach, Florida
- Rum Runner at A History of Central Florida Podcast
- McCoy Family Papers at the J Henderson Welles Archives and Library Archived January 10, 2021, at the Wayback Machine, Independence Seaport Museum. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania