Judge Roy Bean - Law West of the Pecos

Judge Roy Bean - Page 2

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On one occasion when the body of a dead cowboy was found in the area, which held $40 and a six-gun, he charged the corpse with carrying a concealed weapon and fined it $40. On another case, when an an Irishman named Paddy O'Rourke was going to be tried for shooting a Chinese laborer, a mob of 200 angry Irishmen surrounded the courtroom and threatened to lynch Bean if O'Rourke was not freed. In response, Bean ruled that "homicide was the killing of a human being; however, he could find no law against killing a Chinaman" and the case was dismissed.

Despite the protest of Texas Rangers, Bean thought it preposterous to forbid a man to carry a weapon. One man who was arrested and accused of carrying concealed weapon was released by Bean with the following logic.

Judge Roy Bean's Jersey Lilly Saloon today, Kathy Weiser, February, 2011.

This image available for photographic prints and downloads HERE

"That charge won't stick," pronounced the judge. "If he was standing still when he was arrested he wasn't carrying weapons because he wasn't going no place. And, if he was not standing still, he was traveling, and it's legal for travelers to carry weapons. Case dismissed."

Jurors for his cases were chosen from his best bar customers and

Bean

allowed no hung juries or appeals.

Because

Langtry

had no jail, all cases were settled by fines, most of which just happened to be the amount the accused had on his person.

Of these fines collected, he was never known to have sent any of the money to the state, but, rather pocketed the cash.

Though later portrayed in Western films and books as a "hanging judge," Bean only sentenced two men to hang, one of which escaped. And, in fact, when it came to horse thieves, who were often sentenced to hang, they would be let go under Judge Roy Bean if they returned the horses, and of course, paid a fine. Bean also made money from granting divorces, which he didn't have the jurisdiction to do, and married numerous couples, always ending the wedding ceremonies with the words, "and may God have mercy on your souls."

Bean

was defeated in the election of 1886, but the very next year a new precinct was created after

Langtry had become part of Val Verde County and he was appointed once again as the new justice of the peace. He continued to be elected until 1896, when he was finally defeated. However, in typical "Bean" fashion, he refused to surrender his seal and law book and continued to try all cases north of the railroad tracks.

In 1896, Judge Roy Bean made national headlines by setting up a boxing match in Langtry. Because Texas had outlawed boxing, he scheduled the heavyweight fight between Robert James Fitzsimmons and Peter Maher, to be held on a sandbar on Mexico's side of the Rio Grande River, just south of Langtry. Bean then made arrangements for the press, spectators, and Texas Rangers to travel by train from El Paso to Langtry. Fitzsimmons knocked Maher out in 95 seconds, winning the heavyweight title.

For years, he boasted of his "acquaintance with Miss Langtry," telling anyone and everyone that he would one day meet her. When he built a home for himself behind the saloon, he even called it the “Opera House” in anticipation of a visit by the famous actress. Though he never met Lillie Langtry, he often wrote her, and she allegedly wrote him back and sent him two pistols, which he cherished for the rest of his life. He also claimed credit for naming the town after her, even though it was not the case.

As he aged, Bean spent much of his time on his porch with a shotgun in his arms and doing a lot of drinking and boasting. However, he was also known to help the poor in the area.

After a heavy bout of drinking, Bean died in his saloon on March 16, 1903 of lung and heart ailments without ever having met his fantasy woman Lillie Langtry. He was initially buried in Westlawn Cemetery in Del Rio, Texas, but due to the numerous visitors to his grave, he and his son, Samuel, were later re-interred behind the Whitehead Memorial Museum.

Almost a year after his death, Lillie Langtry finally visited his old home. En route from New Orleans to Los Angeles, she stopped to listen to the townspeople tell the stories of Judge Roy Bean. Of the visit, she would later write, "It was a short visit, but, an unforgettable one."

The Jersey Lilly Saloon still stands in Langtry, Texas today, along with his home and a museum.

Roy Bean also built the Opera House and Hall of Justice, which served as his home and never as an actual "opera house." Kathy Weiser, February, 2011.

This image available for photographic prints and downloads HERE

Roy Bean and his son's grave at the Whitehead Museum in

Del Rio, Texas Kathy Weiser, February, 2011.

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