VAN DE WATER, Frederic.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

The Real McCoy. First edition, first impression, inscribed by the subject of the book on the frontispiece, "To Bob Davis, the man who suggested that this yarn be put in print. Bill McCoy".McCoy was probably the most famous of the rum runners, who would bring liquor to the edge of American territorial waters and offload it onto small craft in order to elude the authorities. Rum runners were famous for watering the liquor that they illegally imported during Prohibition. McCoy apparently never did so, and handled only high quality brands, hence popularizing the phrase "The Real McCoy".The recipient Robert H. Davis wrote for the New York Sun, where he published interviews with McCoy, who was always hostile to the gangs and corruption of prohibition, and saw himself as justly breaking an unjust law. One such interview was published in his 1928 book, Bob Davis Again.Van de Water's book was based on interviews with McCoy, who had left the smuggling game following his eventual capture and imprisonment.

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