Wild Bill Longley - A Dangerous Man in Dangerous Times

Wild Bill Longley - Page 2

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He returned to Texas and Bell County, where his parents had moved, and worked as a cowboy in Comanche County. During this time he allegedly killed a black man and engaged in a gunfight at the Santa Anna Mountains in Coleman County.

In July 1873 Longley was arrested in Kerr County by Mason County Sheriff J. J. Finney and was taken to Austin so that Finney could collect the reward. After several days, when the reward money had not been paid to Finney, he released Longley. According to legend, Finney was paid off by a Longley relative.

In late 1874 Longley and his brother James Stockton Longley rode from Bell County to the Lee County home of their uncle, Caleb Longley, who implored Longley to kill Wilson Anderson for allegedly killing his son. On March 31, 1875, Longley shot gunned Anderson to death while Anderson was plowing a field, and the two brothers fled north to Indian Territory. In July, James Longley returned to Bell County and turned himself in. James was later acquitted of any part in Anderson's murder; however, Bill Longley remained a wanted man.

In November 1875 Longley killed George Thomas in McLennan County, then rode south to Uvalde County, where, in January 1876, he killed William (Lou) Shroyer in a stand up gunfight.

February 1876 found Longley sharecropping for the Reverend William R. Lay in Delta County, Texas. A dispute with a local man over a girl led to Longley's arrest; however, the jail couldn’t hold Longley. Soon, he started a fire and burning himself out, he escaped. For unknown reasons he was angry with the Reverend Lay and on June 13, 1876, he shot and killed him while he was milking a cow.

Longley then headed to Louisiana to hide until things cooled off in Texas. However, the long arm of the law reached out and he was captured in DeSoto Parish, Louisiana, by Nacogdoches County Sheriff Milton Mast. Longley was returned to Lee County to stand trial for the murder of Wilson Anderson.

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.

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.

John Wesley Hardin

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A gallows hanging

A gallows hanging, courtesy Library of Congress

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

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Wild West Photo Art - Images include collages, photographs with with watercolor and poster effects, colorized black & white photos, and digital enhancements to improve the composition of the finished product. Prints are available in photos, giclee fine art, and canvas. Artwork by Kathy Weiser-Alexander.