The Controversial life of the "Law west of the Pecos"

As a saloonkeeper, he was called his own best customer He ran afoul of the law more often than many of the men before his own court Like so many of the early law figures of the frontier who lived on the edge of the law themselves, Judge Roy Bean became a legendary figure in the West

Roy Bean was born in 1825 in Mason County, Kentucky, near the Ohio River. He was the youngest of five children in a poor family. As a young man eager for opportunity and adventure, he went to New Orleans to find work Finding only trouble, he followed his older brothers to the Far West instead

He had a reputation for charm but also a reputation for a sharp temper While in San Antonio in 1852, he was imprisoned for fighting a duel – fought while on horseback However, he escaped from jail and ran to California

During the Civil War, he worked on boats running against the

Union blockade In 1866, he settled down in San Antonio and married the 16-year-old daughter of a prominent rancher. The couple had four children and a stormy marriage. Reports surfaced of Bean stealing cattle and selling stolen firewood He also operated a saloon in a San Antonio neighborhood that became known as “Beanville ” In 1882, he left his family for work with the railroad under construction between San Antonio and El Paso When construction crossed the Pecos River, Bean’s fortunes suddenly changed

At Vinegarroon (later renamed Langtry, reportedly at Bean’s behest), a railroad camp, Bean set up a new saloon, the “Jersey Lilly.” Meanwhile, Pecos County was desperate to organize the area along the Rio Grande as settlers trickled in and the railroad neared completion. Pecos County took up a large region of West Texas when it was formed by the state legislature in 1875 In August 1882, county commissioners named Roy Bean as justice of the peace for the southeastern reaches of the county Val Verde County was formed in 1885 from portions of Pecos and took in Langtry

Today, a Texas justice of the peace mostly handles small claims disputes between two parties, traffic violations, and the most minor misdemeanors For Pecos County and the wild frontier region of far West Texas in the

1880s, a justice of the peace like Judge Roy Bean was effectively the only court available for miles. Fort Stockton, the county seat and the site of the next major court, was a difficult ride of nearly 150 miles away.

Judge Bean set up his courtroom in a room next to his thriving saloon, dispensing his own colorful form of justice Twice he sentenced men to death, but one escaped and the other had his sentence commuted He illegally granted divorces for $10 each He fined a dead man the $40 he had on him so the county could pay for the funeral Reportedly, he kept almost all the fines he assessed in his court room However, he gave generously to the with firewood in the winter He was twice voted out of office, but he came back and served until he retired in 1902.

Bean died in his bar in 1903. In 1956, a short-lived television show on the life of Bean aired In 1972, Paul Newman starred in the popular movie The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean Today, Langtry is a tiny, unincorporated community of 150 residents kept alive mostly by the Judge Roy Bean legend A museum in the community honors the life of the “Law West of the Pecos ”

Dr Bridges is a Texas native, writer, and history professor He can be reached at drkenbridges@gmail com