Wild Bill Longley

<<Previous  1 2 Next >>

Longley promptly began writing letters to the newspapers telling them of his life adventures and claiming to have killed 32 men. He also wrote the governor, asking for clemency.  He stated in his letter that John Wesley Hardin, the most infamous gunman Texas ever produced, received only twenty-five years in prison for his forty killings.  Why then, Longley wanted to know, was he being sent to the hangman?  The governor did not respond.

On September 5, 1877, the jurors of Lee County deliberated only 1 ½ hours before they sentenced William to death by hanging.

While appeals were being made, Longley was transferred to Galveston, Texas where the authorities felt he would be safer from a mob of Longley's victim's survivors. In March, 1878, the Court Of Appeals  affirmed his conviction and soon Wild Bill was returned to Giddings, Texas to be hanged.

John Wesley Hardin

This image available for photographic prints and downloads HERE!

A gallows hanging, courtesy Library of Congress

After having been baptized into the Catholic Church on October 11, 1878, before a crowd of thousands in Giddings, Texas, Longley was led to the hangman’s noose by Lee County Sheriff James Madison Brown.  Having a sense of humor, Longley told them to repair a board before they went up the steps, stating that he would hate to trip and break his neck.  Before the crowd of some 4,000 people Longley claimed that he had only killed eight men.  Before Brown sent him downward to his death, Longley held up his hand, saying:  “I deserved this fate.  It is a debt I have owed for a wild and reckless life.  So long, everybody!”  Then he nodded to the executioner and was sent downward through the trap to his death. 

However, as fate would have it, a novice hangman cut Longley too much slack and he landed feet first beneath the gallows, extending his life for the few minutes it took to correct the embarrassing situation.  Immediately the sheriff and several of the guards rushed downwards and held Bill's feet off the ground so the rope could strangle him.

The Galveston Daily News on October 12, 1878 described the hanging:

The black cap was drawn, the rope adjusted, the words "All ready" given and at 2:37 the drop fell. The body fell eight feet, as was intended. The rope slipped on the beam , and the body continued until the feet touched the earth, when Sheriff Brown and an aid caught and raised it up and refastened it, leaving the body properly suspended. Two moans escaped the lips, the arms and feet were raised three times, and after hanging eleven and one half minutes life was pronounced extinct.

Bill Longley's life is best summarized by the historical marker that identifies his grave.

Texas outlaw Bill Longley was from a respectable family, but his hot temper, his fondness for liquor, and unsettled conditions during reconstruction led him to become one of the most daring gunslingers of his day. He is said to have killed 32 persons before his capture in 1877. Before Longley died, he repented and urged others to avoid his example. His grave was once outside the cemetery bounds.

Bill Longley is buried in the Giddings Cemetery west of Giddings, Texas on the south side of U.S 290.

Bill Longley grave in Giddings, Texas

<<Previous  1 2 Next >>

From the Rocky Mountain General Store

Photo Print Shop - Travel the trails of the American West with our many photographs!  Just take a look at our galleries or purchase prints at very reasonable prices!  Here you'll see photographs of Route 66, ghost towns, scenic and historic views, and roadside stops.