Mrs. William L. Totten, a 45-year-old woman, was killed on Sunday afternoon, April 6, 1924, at Deer Creek near Cass, West Virginia, in a sudden eruption of violence rooted in the troubled marriage of her daughter, Hallie Totten McCoy, and Hallie’s husband, Tiny McCoy. Hallie and McCoy had reportedly not been getting along, and she had left their home at Durbin and returned to the Totten family home at Deer Creek. McCoy had tried to persuade her to return to him, but relations had deteriorated to the point that he had been forbidden to come to the Totten home.
On the day of the killings, McCoy came down from Hosterman looking for Hallie and found her at the nearby home of Laven Wolfe. Mrs. Totten and her son, Hobert Totten, soon arrived there as well. McCoy again tried to persuade Hallie to leave with him, but she refused. A disagreement followed, although Wolfe managed to quiet the confrontation for a time.
McCoy then appeared to be preparing to leave and asked Hallie to step outside so he could say goodbye. When she came through the doorway, he drew an automatic pistol and shot her above the ear, killing her almost immediately. Mrs. Totten came to the doorway moments later, and McCoy shot her in the head. Hobert attempted to grapple with McCoy and was shot twice, suffering one wound to the breast and another through the mouth. Contemporary reporting stated that all three victims died almost instantly.
The violence nearly claimed additional victims. Laven Wolfe and Calvin Neighbors attempted to disarm McCoy, and McCoy tried to shoot them, but his weapon jammed. McCoy also turned the gun on himself and shot himself in the head, but the wound was not fatal. He fled the scene, crossed the river, and continued toward Sitlington. There, Charles P. Adams and others stopped and detained him until law-enforcement officers arrived. Because of his self-inflicted injury, McCoy was initially taken to the hospital at Marlinton. Within several days he was removed from the hospital and placed in the Pocahontas County jail to face prosecution for the three deaths.
The case moved into Pocahontas County Circuit Court in June 1924. McCoy was indicted three times for murder, reflecting the deaths of Hallie McCoy, Mrs. Totten, and Hobert Totten. Jury selection proved extensive enough that thirty additional prospective jurors were summoned before a panel could be obtained. Although McCoy faced indictments arising from all three killings, the trial that proceeded to verdict concerned the indictment charging him with murdering his wife, Hallie. The prosecution presented the events at Deer Creek as a deliberate shooting following Hallie’s refusal to resume the marriage. The jury convicted McCoy of first-degree murder and did not recommend life imprisonment, leaving the death penalty as the required punishment. Judge Sharp sentenced him to be hanged on September 12, 1924.
Before being transferred from the Marlinton jail to the state penitentiary, McCoy sent a written confession to the local newspaper. In it, he acknowledged responsibility not only for Hallie’s murder but also for killing Hobert and Mrs. Totten. He expressed remorse, sought forgiveness, and wrote about turning to religion while awaiting punishment. The surviving historical accounts identify McCoy as the sole gunman and the only person arrested or prosecuted in connection with the killings; no accomplice or alternative suspect is identified. Thus, although the conviction that directly sent him to the gallows was for Hallie’s murder, his own confession explicitly accepted responsibility for Mrs. Totten’s death as well.
Tiny McCoy was transferred to the West Virginia State Penitentiary at Moundsville and remained there under the death sentence. On September 12, 1924, a little more than five months after the killings near Cass, the sentence was carried out. McCoy was hanged at approximately 4:56 in the afternoon and was pronounced dead by prison physicians at about 5:07 p.m. His execution brought the prosecution to its final conclusion: Mrs. Totten had been one of three members of the Totten family circle killed during the April confrontation, McCoy had been captured shortly after fleeing the scene, confessed to all three killings, was convicted of first-degree murder in the prosecution for his wife’s death, and ultimately paid the state-imposed penalty with his life.
