Show TEXAS L FAST CRUMBLING Once Proud Se Seat t of Law West of Pecos I ls j Now Crumbling Crumbling Crumbling Crum Crum- bling Ruins WHERE JUDGE MIDGE BEAN PRESIDED Towns Town's Name Eagles Eagle's Nest Vanishes From Map and ard Only Memory aRc Re I mains of the Judge and His Rulings i San Antonio T With With its fo tion posts like old mens men's legs Its floors showing ugly gaping holes Its porch roof shorn of the last lingerIng linger Ing board scraggy bits of what was once white paint hanging to the outer walls and its door banging to a single rusty hinge hinge hinge-at at t Langtry Tex Ter once nce known as Eagles Eagle's Nest what Nest what remains what remains of on one of Texas Texas' most famous old landmarks landmarks land land- marks is succumbing to wind and rain It Is the once proud seat sent of the Law West of the Pecos the Pecos the old home and saloon and throne where not so many years ago Judge Roy Boy Bean lived and reigned supreme me as as dispenser of justice and red eye eve liquor and dared the world to interfere with his game But ut since Judge Bean went away there has been a great change Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps Per Per- haps it Is Just as well that he cash cashed d dinas In in ns as he himself probably w would would express express ex ex- ex press it before the the theda da days das s when nowhere nowhere no no- where in the whole of Texas can the traveler find a drop to drink In the Good Old Days I Many humorous and many semi semi- tragic stories regarding Judge Bean have been handed down by friends and relatives many of whom are living livIng liv Ii- Ing In or adjacent t to San Antonio to to- day It was in a day when enforcers enforcer of the law were were few few and far between and when the men with the quickest trigger finger a and d the steadiest nerve were monarchs of a large portion ol of what they surveyed Bean was justice of the peace ol of precinct No 6 and the ranking representative representative of the law for hundreds ol ot miles mUes north south east and west of ol him Equipped with a copy of the statutes of Ohio of the vintage of 1885 a sense sense sense-of of fair fall play and a strong conviction con of what the law should beven bt bE even though it were not so written down In the books he put up his sign Ign Judge Roy Bean Justice of the Peace Law West of the Pecos In addition to being chief magistrate magis over everything West of the th Pecos Judge Bean conducted a thirst thirst- quenching emporium typical of thE th thE day The saloon was In the hall ol ot justice and from b behind the behind the bar came bar came the voice of authority backed by a 8 brace of perfectly good six six shooters shooters Judge Beans Bean's Law Two Mexican men and Vom women n walked into Judge Beans Bean's court one day and Informed him that they wanted want od ed a change that they wanted to tc swap helpmeets The judge made diligent dill dili gent Inquiries of each of the four found all to be of the same mind charged each of the men 15 and a dozen b bottles of beer and called il it done When a state official from on a flying visit to Eagles Nest complained complained com to Judge Bean that he was exceeding his authority explaining that divorces should be passed up td tda n a higher court Bean is alleged to tc have retorted Why say 1 I Have I ever butted Into your affairs These people wanted to swap they paid me for em em around they're Uvin together happy an nobody round here has complained You Tou go on back to Austin an handle your courts like you want to but this Is out o 0 your jurisdiction Then there was Judge Beans Bean's famous fa fn moue IDOUS decision in the case of a man mn being tried for killing a Chinaman The judge after a careful search through the statutes of Ohio couldn't find h a single word against killing therefore there was noth noth- Ing ng to to todo do but release the party who did the killing kUUng Likewise the story of the judges judge method of disposing of th the 50 in money found in the pockets of a dead cled Chinaman A six-shooter six also had been een found on him so the judge fined the he deceased 50 for carrying a Ii deadly weapon |