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Phantly Roy Bean (Mason County, Kentucky, 1825 – Langtry, 16 marzo 1903) è stato un giudice statunitense. Egli si proclamava "La Legge Ovest del Pecos", nonostante fosse solo l'eccentrico proprietario di un saloon. Secondo la legenda, il giudice Roy Bean presiedeva la corte nel suo saloon in riva al Rio Grande in una zona desolata del Deserto di Chihuahua presso Langtry, in Texas.

Infanzia e giovinezza

Roy Bean nacque a Mason County, in Kentucky, nel 1825, terzo dei tre figli di Francis e Anna Bean. La famiglia era estremamente povera, e all'età di sedici anni Bean lasciò la casa per guidare una chiatta fino a New Orleans. Qui, andò a cacciarsi in un guaio e scappò a San Antonio, Texas, dove suo fratello Sam era un carrettiere che trainava carichi fin al Messico. Nel 1848, i due fratelli aprirono una stazione commerciale nello stato messicano di Chihuahua. Poco tempo dopo, Bean sparò e uccise un desperado messicano che aveva minacciato "di uccidere un gringo". Le autorità messicane avrebbero condannato Bean a morte, perciò egli e suo fratello scapparono nello stato di Sonora. Nella primavera del 1849 Bean si spostò a San Diego per vivere col suo fratello maggiore Joshua, che fu stato eletto primo sindaco della città l'anno successivo.

Bean era considerato giovane, bello e conteso da numerose ragazze locali. Uno scozzese di nome Collins gareggiò con Bean in una sfida a colpi di pistola sul dorso di un cavallo. A Bean fu permesso di scegliere i bersagli, e decise che si sarebbero sparati a vicenda. Il duello fu combattuto il 24 febbraio 1852, che vide Collins ferito al braccio destro. Entrambi gli uomini furono arrestati e pesantemente accusati di tentato omicidio. Nei due mesi in cui fu in prigione, Bean ricevette molti regali come fiori, cibo, vino e sigari dalle donne di San Diego. L'ultimo dono che gli fu recapitato conteneva coltelli dentro un tamale, che furono usati per scavare una fossa con la quale uscire dalla cella. Dopo essere scappato, il 17 aprile, Bean si spostò a San Gabriel, in California, dove divenne il barista del saloon di suo fratello, conosciuto come il Saloon Quartier Generale. Suo fratello venne assassinato a novembre, e Bean ereditò il saloon.

Nel 1854, Bean corteggiò una giovane donna, che venne rapita e obbligata a sposare un ufficiale messicano. Bean sfidò il novello sposo a duello e lo uccise. Sei amici del morto misero Bean su un cavallo e gli misero un cappio attorno al collo, per poi lasciarlo impiccato. Il cavallo non si mosse, e dopo che gli uomini lasciarono la sposa, che si era nascosta dietro un albero, tagliò la corda. A Bean rimase una permanente bruciatura sulla gola e i muscoli del collo divennero per sempre irrigiditi. Poco tempo dopo, Bean decise di lasciare la California e si diresse nel Nuovo Messico per vivere con Sam, che era diventato il primo sceriffo dello stato.

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Move to Texas

During the Civil War, the Texas army invaded New Mexico. After the Battle of Glorieta Pass in March 1862, the Texans began retreating to San Antonio. After first taking money from his brother's safe, Bean joined the retreating army. For the remainder of the war, he ran the blockade by hauling cotton from San Antonio to British ships off the coast of Matamoros, then returning with supplies. For the next twenty years, Bean lived in San Antonio, working nominally as a teamster. He attempted to run a firewood business, cutting down a neighbor's timber. He then tried to run a dairy business, but was soon caught watering down the milk, and later worked as a butcher, rustling unbranded cattle from other area ranchers.

On October 28, 1866, he married eighteen-year-old Virginia Chavez. Within a year after they were married he was arrested for aggravated assault and threatening his wife's life. Despite the tumultuous marriage, the two had four children together, Roy, Jr., Laura, Zulema, and Sam. The family lived in "a poverty-stricken Mexican slum area called Beanville".

By the late 1870s, Bean was operating a saloon in Beanville. Several railroad companies were working to extend the railroads west, and Bean heard that many construction camps were opening. A store owner in Beanville "was so anxious to have this unscrupulous character out of the neighborhood" that she bought all of Bean's possessions for $900 so that he could leave San Antonio. At the time, Bean and his wife were separated (they later divorced), and Bean left his children with friends as he prepared to go west.

Justice of the peace

Roy Bean holding court in 1900, trying a horse thief.

With his earnings, Bean purchased a tent, some supplies to sell, and ten 55-gallon barrels of whiskey. By the spring of 1882, he had established a small saloon near the Pecos River in a tent city he named Vinegaroon. Within a 20 mi (32 km) stretch of the tent city were 8,000 railroad workers. The nearest court was 200 mi (321 km) away at Fort Stockton, and there was little means to stop the illegal activity. A Texas Ranger requested that a local law jurisdiction be set up in Vinegaroon, and on August 2, 1882 Bean was appointed the Justice of the Peace for the new Precinct 6 in Pecos County.

One of his first acts as a Jusice of the Peace was to "shoot[...] up the saloon shack of a Jewish competitor". Bean then turned his tent saloon into a part-time courtroom and began calling himself the "Law West of the Pecos." As a judge, Bean relied on a single lawbook, the 1879 edition of the Revised Statutes of Texas. If newer lawbooks appeared, Bean used them as kindling.

Bean did not allow hung juries or appeals, and jurors, who were chosen from his best bar customers, were expected to buy a drink during every court recess. Bean was known for his crazy rulings. In one case, an Irishman named Paddy O'Rourke shot a Chinese laborer. A mob of 200 angry Irishmen surrounded the courtroom and threatened to lynch Bean if O'Rourke was not freed. After looking through his law book, Bean ruled that "homicide was the killing of a human being; however, he could find no law against killing a Chinamen". Bean dismissed the case.

The Jersey Lilly saloon in September 2005

By December 1882, railroad construction had moved further westward, so Bean moved his courtroom and saloon 70 mi (108 km) to Strawbridge. A competitor who was already established in the area laced Bean's whiskey stores with kerosene. Unable to attract customers, Bean left the area and went to Eagle'sNest, 20 mi (31 km) west of the Pecos River. The site was soon renamed Langtry. The original owner of the land, who ran a saloon, had sold 640 acre to the railroad on the condition that no part of the land could be sold or leased to Bean. O'Rourke, the Irishman Bean had previously acquitted, told Bean to use the railroad right-of-way, which was not covered by the contract. For the next 20 years, Bean squatted on land he had no legal right to claim. Bean named his new saloon The Jersey Lilly in honor of Lillie Langtry. He sent for his children to live with him at the saloon, with youngest son Sam forced to sleep on a pool table.

Langtry did not have a jail, so all cases were settled by fines. Bean refused to send the state any part of the fines, but instead kept all of the money. In most cases, the fines were made for the exact amount in the accused's pockets. Bean is known to have sentenced only two men to hang, one of whom escaped. Horse thieves, who were often sentenced to death in other jurisdictions, were always let go if the horses were returned. Although only district courts were legally allowed to grant divorces, Bean did so anyway, pocketing $10 per divorce. He charged only $5 for a wedding, and ended all wedding ceremonies with "and may God have mercy on your souls".

Bean won re-election to his post in 1884, but was defeated in 1886. The following year, the commissioner's court created a new precinct in the county and appointed Bean the new justice of the peace. He continued to be elected until 1896. Even after that defeat, he "refused to surrender his seal and law book and continued to try all cases north of the tracks".

Later years

In 1890, Bean received word that Jay Gould was planning to pass through Langtry on a special train. Bean flagged down the train with the danger signal; thinking the bridge was out, the train engineer stopped. Bean invited Gould and his daughter to visit the saloon as his guests. The Goulds visited for two hours causing a brief panic on the New York Stock Exchange when it was reported that Gould had been killed in a train crash.

In 1896, Bean organized a world championship boxing title bout between Bob Fitzsimmons and Peter Maher on an island in the Rio Grande because boxing matches were illegal in Texas. The fight lasted only 1 minute, 35 seconds, but the resulting sport reports spread his fame throughout the United States.

As he aged, Bean spent much of his profits to help the poor of the area, and always made sure that the schoolhouse had free firewood in winter. He died March 16, 1903, peacefully in his bed, after a bout of heavy drinking and was buried at the Whitehead Museum in Del Rio, Texas.

Legacy

Jersey Lilly historical marker.

In 1939, the Texas Legislature bought Bean's saloon and restored it. Langtry is now the home of a Judge Roy Bean Visitor Center. Two movies have been based partly on his life. The 1940 film The Westerner earned an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for Walter Brennan (as Bean) and received two other Oscar nominations. the 1972 film The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean was also loosely based on his life, as well the 1955-56 syndicated television series Judge Roy Bean, starring Edgar Buchanan.