The son of Randolph McCoy Sr. and his wife, Sarah McCoy. Killed along with his brothers Tolbert and Randolph "Randall" McCoy, Jr. also known as "Bud" by the Hatfields in retaliation for the murder of Ellison Hatfield. Ellison was the younger brother of Hatfield patriarch, William Anderson "Devil Anse" Hatfield, a prosperous timberman of West Virginia.

At Election Day on August 7, 1882, in Blackberry Creek, Tolbert McCoy got into a heated argument with a Hatfield cousin, Elias Hatfield. Ellison Hatfield got involved and Tolbert wound up stabbing Ellison. Ellison was also shot once and was mortally wounded. The three McCoy brothers were arrested but intercepted by the Hatfields before being taken into Pikeville for trial. Devil Anse claimed he was going to hold the boys prisoner himself in an old schoolhouse on Mate Creek, Logan County, West Virginia and would decide their fate depending upon that of Ellison recovering from his wounds. Devil Anse allowed the boys mother, Sarah McCoy and Tolbert's wife to visit them. Ellison died on August 9th and the boys were taken by the Hatfields across the Tug River into Kentucky. Devil Anse said to them, "Boys, if you have any peace to make with your Maker, you had better make it." He then ordered them to be shot. Randolph McCoy would find his boys bullet riddled bodies, still tied to the bushes, on August 10th. Sarah's testimony at the trial of Cotton Top Hatfield: Tolbert was shot twice in the head, three to four times in the body. Pharmer was shot in the head and ten to eleven times in the body and the top of Bud's head was shot off and was down on his knees hanging on to the bushes. Tolbert had one arm over his face. Tolbert was 21, Pharmer 19 and Randall(Bud) 15 years old. They were hauled home on a sled and buried in one coffin.