Roy Bean

Phantly Roy Bean, Jr. (1825-1903), self-styled “Law West of the Pecos,” was an eccentric American saloon-keeper and Justice of the Peace in Val Verde County, Texas. According to legend, he held court in his saloon along the Rio Grande on a desolate stretch of the Chihuahuan Desert of southwest Texas.

Southwestern historian and folklorist, C. L. Sonnichsen, lived near Judge Bean’s house for several ...