Eva Coo

Overview

Eva Coo was an American murderer who was executed by electric chair at Sing Sing Prison on June 27, 1935. She was born on 17 June 1889 and was executed on 27 June 1935.

Background

Eva Coo was born as Eva Curry in Haliburton, Ontario, Canada. She moved to Toronto while a teenager, where she met and married William Coo. In 1921, the two moved to upstate New York.

Coo later ran a business associated with prostitution, operating a brothel known as “Little Eva’s Place.” She employed a staff of local people who worked as bartenders and kept the bar.

Coo was described as 5’ 7” and weighing 170 pounds. She was described as boisterous and outgoing with a quick sense of humor, and as someone who could always be counted on for a good time.

The offence

Coo was entrusted with the care of an employee, Henry Wright, after the death of Wright’s mother. Wright was described as slow-witted. The source also refers to Wright as “Harry ‘Gimpy’ Wright” and says he had a nickname and a different set of details, including that he was 52, a farmer whose mother passed away in 1931, and that he came to live with Eva in exchange for $2,000 of his mother’s inheritance money.

Coo embezzled Wright’s inheritance and burned down Wright’s house for insurance money. After purchasing several life insurance policies on Wright, Coo then conspired to murder him with another employee, Martha Clift.

On June 14, 1934, Coo and Clift drove Wright to an isolated location outside Oneonta, New York. Coo allegedly hit Wright with a mallet, and Clift ran over him with a car described as a Willys-Knight. The women then dumped Wright’s body beside a road to simulate a hit-and-run accident.

After investigators found Wright’s body, police initially suspected a hit-and-run driver. Later, the investigation became focused on insurance and Coo’s role as beneficiary of multiple life insurance policies taken out on Wright.

During the period leading up to the killing, Coo reported that “Gimpy” was missing and police searched. Wright’s body was found off Route 7.

Investigation

After Wright’s death, police found the death suspicious following insurance-related questions. An autopsy was conducted and a coroner ruled the death suspicious. The police suspected homicide, and Clift confessed following interrogation.

According to the account, deputies went to Coo’s home and broke in without a warrant, then searched. Officers found dozens of insurance policies on Coo’s friends, acquaintances, and employees, with Coo named as beneficiary in many of them. The source states that both women soon confessed after confronting this evidence.

The confession described in the source said Coo and Clift took Wright to an old farmhouse near Crumhorn Mountain outside Oneonta, where Wright was smashed in the head with a hammer and then run over using a friend’s car, after which Wright was thrown into a highway ditch where he was found. The source also states that each woman named the other as the one who actually did the killing and would not relent.

The sheriff then took Coo and Clift to Crumhorn Mountain to clarify their statements. The source states that Wright’s body was exhumed and brought to the site, and deputies moved the corpse around in various spots in front of the women during hours while they argued about who did what.

A chief of police later testified about evidence at the scene, including that no hat was found when Wright’s body was discovered, but a green cap known to belong to Wright later turned up in a conspicuous location.

The source also states that when Harry Wright was buried, police noticed that his family tombstone had been vandalized. The source says this was done to make it easier to insure Wright by using a more recent birthdate.

On the night Wright’s body was discovered, Coo told another boarder to “keep still about the insurance policies” and told her she would have to serve as an alibi. The source records the following:

• “Edna, there’s going to be a lot of trouble over this, and I may need you to prove I was home on the 14th,” the witness, Edna Hanover, told the court. “You were there when I was there.”

The source further states that Wright’s lover, Harry Nabinger, left the roadhouse after hearing that he was being followed, and Edna and Eva caught up with him. Edna testified that Coo threatened Nabinger. The source records:

• “Walking and staggering all over the place, you’ll get hit with a car,” shes said ominously.
• “If I get hit with a car you won’t have to hire someone to kill me,” Nabinger replied.

Arrest

Coo and Martha Clift were arrested after police attention focused on homicide and insurance.

Martha Clift was said to have turned state’s witness in return for an agreement not to seek the death penalty. The source states that Clift admitted that Coo paid her $200 to help kill Wright.

Trial

The source states that the trial began in August 1934 in Cooperstown, New York, and lasted almost three weeks. It also states that during proceedings Wright’s body was exhumed again so police could check on his wounds.

The source describes media coverage outside the courthouse and characterizes the trial as turning into a circus.

The source records that the jury took just one hour to bring in a verdict.

Coo was found guilty of Murder 1st degree and sentenced to death at Sing Sing. Martha Clift was found guilty of Murder 2nd degree and sentenced to 20 years. The source also states that the judge encouraged the all-male jury, recording the judge’s remarks:

‘Don’t think we are locking you up; enjoy yourselves, laugh and talk among yourselves, get lots of exercise. You are good sports and citizens, and I appreciate what you are doing.’

Sentencing

Coo received a death sentence. The source states that half-hearted appeals were filed by her attorneys, who often fought with each other and tried to make money from her story.

Appeals

The source states that appeals were filed and dismissed.

Outcome

Coo was executed by electric chair at Sing Sing Prison on June 27, 1935.

Before execution, the source states that a last-second request was made to Governor Herbert Lehman to spare her life, but he refused. Coo ate her last meal before execution.

The source provides details of her final moments at the death chamber:

• Two matrons, one on each side of Eva, escorted her to the chair.
• Her posture was erect and her shoulders pushed back.
• She sat unassisted, her white hands gripping the ends of the chair.
• “Goodbye, darlings!” she said to the matrons.
• The source states that she was dead several minutes later.

The source also provides an executioner’s journal notation from Robert G. Elliot:

“New York June 27-1935-11 P.M. 9 Amp. Eva Coo #89508-42 years” (Elliot, p. 279).

The source further describes public and prison-related reactions after the execution and includes statements attributed to Warden Lewis E. Lawes:

“I don’t know if she was innocent or guilty. But I do know that she got a rotten deal all around, rotten… And I’m not defending her-she may be guilty as well, but she got a raw deal. Her trial attorneys-do you know what they did to help her lately? Know what? One of them wrote to me, saying he’d like four invitations to her execution. That’s the kind of defense she had” (Nash, 1981, p. 96).

The source also records a statement from her sister, Mrs. William Baker, in Haliburton, Ontario:

• Eva “has been dead to her family for seventeen years” ( New York Times , June 28, 1935).

Coo’s body was not claimed. The source states she was buried in a potter’s field whose exact location was unknown, and her grave had never been found.

Aftermath

The source states that Martha Clift was apparently paroled after serving 13 years behind bars.

The source also states that Coo’s defense handling drew criticism, including that at the time of execution her attorneys fought with each other and tried to make money from her story.

The source includes an invitation letter authorized by Warden Lewis E. Lawes for execution attendance:

In accordance with Section 507 of the Code of Criminal Procedure you are hereby invited to be present as a witness at the execution by electricity of Eva Coo which will occur at this prison on 27 June 1935. The hour of 11 p.m. has been designated by me for such execution and you will arrange to be at my office in this prison not later than 10 p.m. I would thank you to treat this communication as confidential and advise me immediately upon its receipt of your acceptance or otherwise, so that I can make arrangements accordingly. Under no circumstances is this invitation transferable. Very respectfully, Lewis E. Lawes, Warden