Judge Roy Bean
Bean was born in Kentucky and he started out as a trader in Mexico, in 1848. Bean was mining in New Mexico when the Civil War broke out. As a spy and scout, Bean joined the Texans in the Command of Gen. John R. Baylor during the 1861-1862 Arizona-New Mexico Campaign. Judge Roy Bean organized an irregular company called the Free Rovers. In a narrow canyon, Bean took part in capture of 800 federals by 250 Confederates. After 1862, Roy Bean was a Confederate freighter, hauling cotton to Matamoros from San Antonio and bringing wartime goods into Texas: guns, ammunition, medicines, cloth, shoes, food. In 1882, Bean began following with a tent saloon crews building railroad along the Rio Grande. Cooperating with the Texas Rangers, he was appointed justice of peace and nicknamed Law West of the Pecos. Judge Roy Bean tamed the rough frontier town of Langtry, where he spent rest of his life. Bean won fame in unique court decisions, such as in the trial and fining of a dead man for carrying a concealed wapon. The most widely celebrated show he staged was Fitzsimmons-Maher world championship boxing match, on a Rio Grande sand bar near his saloon in 1896. Court was held in the saloon, where Bean displayed pictures of The Jersey Lily—British actress Lily Langtry, whom he never met. Langtry later visited town at his invitation, but only after Judge Bean's death.
This page last updated: 7/15/2008 |
Judge Roy Bean Historical Marker Location Map, Del Rio, Texas
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Related Themes: Texas C.S.A., Texas Confederate States of America, Confederacy
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