Constable William Oscar McCarty

William Oscar McCarty

On Saturday, April 11, 1942, around 9:45 p.m. Burnet County Precinct 4 Constable William Oscar McCarty, 57, attempted to quiet a disturbance outside a motion picture theater in Marble Falls, Burnet County, Texas. He asked Robert Felder, 35, to leave the front of the theater. Felder and the constable exchanged words. Felder and Constable McCarty each fired two rounds at each other. McCarty was shot in the heart and died at 10:05 p.m. A stray bullet struck a female bystander in the hand. Felder fled the scene and surrendered to sheriff deputies at the county seat in Burnet. On June 25, 1942, Felder was convicted in a one-day trial and sentenced to 25 years in the state prison. His appeal was denied.

William Oscar McCarty had been elected Constable of Precinct 4 on November 5, 1940 and commissioned on February 17, 1941. His earlier occupation had been listed as a farmer. He was survived by his wife, Katie, and four children – Mary, William, Josephine and Oscar. He was buried in the family plot in the Marble Falls Cemetery in Burnet County.