Will the “Real” McCoy Please Stand Up

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Joseph “Cowboy” McCoy - Charles "Kid" McCoy - Elijah J. McCoy
(United States Public Domain)

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Joseph "Cowboy" McCoy

Joseph Getting McCoy was born in Sangamon County Illinois on December 21, 1837. He briefly attended Knox College but was eager to begin his career. He went into the mule and cattle business first as a breeder of mules but by 1861 McCoy began to move into the business of the transportation of livestock. He saw at an early stage the flaws of shipping large herds for slaughter. Cowboy McCoy knew he needed to streamline the process to make a larger profit.

Opportunity came knocking in 1867 when the Kansas Pacific Railway headed through Abilene. McCoy had been searching for a location as a holding site for cattle. If ranchers could drive their cattle to Abilene then he could transport in bulk to the north for slaughter. As he described Abilene in 1867:

“was a very small, dead place, consisting of about one dozen log huts, low, small, rude affairs, four-fifths of which were covered with dirt for roofing; indeed, but one shingle roof could be seen in the whole city. The business of the burg was conducted in two small rooms, mere log huts, and of course the inevitable saloon, also in a log hut, was to be found.” {1}

McCoy purchased 250 acres of land in and around Abilene Kansas. On his land he built stockyards that could handle 2,000 head of cattle, stables for horses, a hotel named “The Drover’s Cottage”, and soon business was booming. The cattle were placed in railway cars and sent to slaughter houses. Twenty carloads of cattle headed to Chicago on September 5, 1867.

How does he claim to be the “Real McCoy”? Before leaving Chicago McCoy had bragged that he would bring 200,000 cattle into the Chicago meat market in 10 years.

His plan was considered a success when 35,000 head of cattle were brought into Abilene and shipped north. At the end of 1868 the cattle cars carried 75,000 heads and by 1870 that number had doubled. Actually he managed to bring in 2 million head of cattle in 4 years {*} - prompting many skeptics to say that Cowboy McCoy was “the Real McCoy”. By April, 1871 Cowboy McCoy was elected mayor of Abilene. When running for Mayor, he claimed he was “The Real McCoy”.

Was Joseph “Cowboy” McCoy (when he died in 1915, a husband and father of 7 children) “The Real McCoy” as he claimed?


Charles “Kid” McCoy

Norman Selby was born in Moscow, Indiana on October 13, 1872. By 1890 he changed his name to Charles “Kid” McCoy and entered the ring as a professional fighter. McCoy was a “scrappy” fighter. He looked like a young boy in the ring standing in at 5 feet 11 inches and a weight of 160 pounds. Kid was known as downplaying his ability by stressing that he never trained, when in actuality he trained like a madman. Sometimes he would pretend to be ill prior to a match only to be the fiercest fighter in the ring leaving some to question: “Is this the real McCoy”.

There was another story that claimed he was the “real McCoy” when this story made the rounds. While visiting a saloon (something he was quite fond of doing) he got into a fight with a drunk. According to reports:

"Beat it, I says, I'm Kid McCoy." And the drunk answers "Yeah? Well, I'm George Washington." McCoy then pops him in the jaw and he hits the floor. Once the drunk comes to, he says "Jeez, it was the real McCoy!” {2}

McCoy may have made a name for himself in the ring, in his “other” life he was not as successful. He had quite a few business ventures but he lost them all. He moved to Hollywood to try to make it into the movies although he had a few bit parts he went nowhere.

He married 9 times (3 times to the same woman). He was known as a hot-head and later in life had more fights in saloons than he ever had in the ring. On April 18, 1940, Charles “Kid” McCoy checked into a hotel in Detroit and wrote the following note and then took an overdose of sleeping pills. He died at 67 years of age.

“To Whom it May Concern: For the last eight years I have wanted to help humanity, especially the youngsters who do not know nature's laws. That is, the proper carriage of the body, the right way to eat, etc. … To all my dear friends, I wish you the best of luck. Sorry I could not endure any more of this world's madness. The best to you all. Norman E. Selby” {2}

He came into the world and went out as Norman E. Selby - but in-between was he “The Real McCoy”?


Elijah J. McCoy

This son of fugitive slaves who had escaped via the Underground Railroad to Canada Elijah McCoy was born on May 2, 1844 in Colchester, Ontario. In 1847, the family returned to the United States and settled in Michigan.

From a young age Elijah McCoy had an interest in all things mechanical. When he was 15 years old, he traveled to Scotland as an apprentice in mechanical engineering and his studies were so successful that when he returned to Michigan he was certified as a mechanical engineer. Due to racial barriers he found employment in his field of expertise impossible. He went to work as a fireman and oiler for the Michigan Central Railroad.

This job turned into the beginnings of his remarkable career. While studying the inefficient system of oiling axles, he invented a mechanism that distributed the oil evenly over the moving parts of the engine. This was his first patent and allowed trains to run longer without stopping for maintenance. He went on the receive almost 60 patents, however due to a lack of personal finances, his patents were signed over to his employer. It was only by 1920 that he was able to form the Elijah McCoy Manufacturing Company.

It was said that after developing his oil-drip cup invention others started copying his invention and people began demanding they only wanted the “Real McCoy oil-drip cup”. Although it can never been proven; the phrase has been associated with Elijah.

McCoy’s first wife Ann died 4 years after their marriage in 1868. He married Mary in 1873. Sadly in 1922 the couple were riding around in another great invention from the late 1800’s an automobile. They sustained a horrible automobile accident that claimed the life of Mary while Elijah was critical injured. He lived for another 7 years during which time he never fully recovered from his injuries he received from the accident. Could this inventive man be “The Real McCoy”?


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Will the "Real" McCoy Please Stand Up​




Sources
1. https://www.kshs.org/p/abilene-first-of-the-kansas-cow-towns/12833
2. https://www.indystar.com/story/news/history/retroindy/2014/02/26/kid-mccoy/5815829/\
3. https://www.biography.com/inventor/elijah-mccoy
{*} Wikipedia - Joseph/Kid/Elijah McCoy
 
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