A graduate of Knoxville University, a former attache of the Philadelphia Press and other prominent journals, and a clerk in the office of the Superintendent of construction of National Custom houses at Washington (all prior to 1888), McCoy continually battled alcoholism throuhout his life.  After being fired from one job in January 1888, he moved to Erie, PA where he attempted suicide after buying a gun at a hardware store.  In a letter to his only sister, Cora T. Read of Cincinatti, he said he was a victim of an uncontrollable desire for whiskey and that he was just sane enough to save himself from becoming an inmate in a drunk ward or insane asylum; however, Augustus lived several more years before finally his liver gave out.  In Dec 1897, while an editor of the Minnesota Union Advocate of St. Paul, MN, he was robbed in Chicago of $130.  In late October 1900, he was arrested for being a drunk in Atlanta and fined $5.75, which he was unable to pay.  While on his way to jail, he attempted to sever an artery with his teeth; at the time, he was described as "a man who looks as if he might have been strong and robust in years gone by."  A complete stranger (male), who insisted upon remaining anonymous paid McCoy's fine, and McCoy was released.