When frontier towns talked about the most dangerous men in the Old West, the name Bill Longley carried a weight that even Billy the Kid and Jesse James rarely matched. Cold-blooded, unpredictable, and known for his speed with a gun, Longley built a reputation as one of the most feared figures of the era. William Preston Longley was born on October 6, 1851, near Mill Creek in Austin County, Texas. He was the sixth of ten children born to Campbell and Sarah Longley.
When he was two, the family moved to a farm near Old Evergreen in what is now Lee County, where he grew up handling firearms from an early age, a common skill in frontier communities. By the time the Civil War ended in 1865, Longley stood six feet tall with a slender build and jet black hair. Texas was placed under military authority through the Reconstruction Acts of 1867, a period of deep social and political tension. Like many young men of his generation, Longley drifted away from structured life and toward the saloons and unsettled edges of frontier society.
In December 1868, three formerly enslaved men named Green Evans, Prior Evans, and another man identified only as Ned passed through the community of Evergreen. Longley and some companions confronted them and directed them into a dry creek bed. When Green Evans attempted to leave, Longley fired multiple shots, killing him. Longley later searched Evans’s belongings while the other two men rode away.
Longley was held responsible for the death, but he later claimed others also fired their weapons. Some accounts alleged that Evans may have been affiliated with the Texas State Police, but this detail remains uncertain, as that organization was not formally established until 1870, two years after the incident. By 1869, Longley had partnered with his brother-in-law, John Wilson. The two traveled through southern Texas and were involved in the killing of a freedman named Paul Bryce in Bastrop County, after which Bryce’s horses were taken.
Reports also suggest a freed woman in Evergreen lost her life under similar circumstances involving the pair. In March 1870, a $1,000 reward was issued for the capture of Longley and Wilson, reflecting the seriousness of their crimes. Longley later claimed Wilson was killed by outlaws in Brazos County in 1870, but historical records conflict with that account, with some sources suggesting Wilson may have actually died in 1874 in Falls County. To avoid legal trouble, Longley headed north.
In May 1870, he joined a group of gold seekers departing from Cheyenne, Wyoming, heading for the Black Hills. The region was protected under a treaty with the Sioux Nation, and when a US cavalry unit discovered the expedition, it was quickly disbanded. On June 22, 1870, Longley enlisted in the US Army, joining Company B of the Second Cavalry Regiment under a five-year contract at Camp Stambaugh in Wyoming Territory. But military discipline did not suit him.
Within two weeks, he left his post without permission. He was brought back, court-martialed, and sentenced to hard labor. Though the sentence called for two years, he was released after four months and returned to duty. His skill with firearms did not go unnoticed, and he was frequently assigned to hunting parties that supplied the post with fresh game.
But his dissatisfaction with army life persisted, and in May 1872, Longley deserted for a second time. By February 1873, Longley had returned to Texas. Not long after, he was accused in connection with the death of a freedman in Bastrop County. He sought refuge with his family in Bell County, but in the summer of 1873, Sheriff J.
J. Finney of Mason County arrested him and transported him to Austin to claim a federal reward. When state officials failed to honor the payment, Finney released him. Some accounts suggest Longley’s uncle, Alexander Preston Longley, helped secure his freedom.
On March 31, 1875, Longley killed Wilson Anderson, a boyhood friend. The act was reportedly prompted by a long-standing family grievance. According to some sources, another uncle, Caleb B. Longley, believed Anderson was responsible for the death of his own son Kyle and urged Bill to take matters into his own hands.
Longley fled north with his brother James, who was arrested and stood trial but was later acquitted. A fresh reward was issued for Bill Longley’s capture. As pressure mounted, Longley moved from town to town under false names. In November 1875, he was on the run again following the death of George Thomas, a hunting companion, after a heated argument turned fatal.
In January 1876, Longley was involved in another deadly encounter in Atascosa County, this time targeting Lou Shroyer, a man with a similarly troubled background. An attempted ambush turned into an armed standoff when Shroyer shot Longley’s horse, but Longley ultimately prevailed. It was the only documented instance in his life where someone he targeted fought back. Longley fled to East Texas and secured work as a sharecropper for a local preacher named William Arlsey.
For a short time, he appeared to be settling into a stable routine. But he found himself in a rivalry with Arlsey’s nephew, both men seeking the attention of the same young woman. Longley allegedly assaulted his romantic competitor and was jailed, though he soon escaped. He later blamed Reverend Arlsey for his incarceration.
On June 13, 1876, Longley returned to the preacher’s farm and confronted Arlsey while he was tending to his chores. The confrontation ended in the preacher’s death. Arlsey is believed to have been the final person killed by Longley. Longley may have then traveled to Grayson County, where two acquaintances, Jim and Dick Sanders, were in prison.
He reportedly helped them escape and disarmed Deputy Matt Shelton during the incident. Nearly a year later, Shelton confirmed he had encountered Longley during the jailbreak. Longley then fled east to Louisiana. On June 6, 1877, law officers located Longley living under the assumed name Bill Jackson in De Soto Parish, Louisiana.
Nacogdoches County Sheriff Milt Mast and two deputies apprehended him without resistance. He was taken back to Texas and stood trial in Lee County for the death of Wilson Anderson. The court found him guilty and sentenced him to capital punishment. Longley pursued an appeal, but it was denied in March 1878.
On October 11, 1878, the sentence was carried out in Giddings, Texas, not far from Evergreen, the community where he had spent his childhood. He is buried in Giddings City Cemetery, where a historical marker recognizes his life. Though Longley was confirmed to have taken part in seven fatal encounters, he later claimed responsibility for as many as 32 deaths, most of which he said involved African-American individuals. Historians view these claims with skepticism, as many remain unverified.
Years after the execution, Longley’s father, Campbell Longley, publicly claimed the hanging had been staged and that his son had actually escaped. The claim drew attention for decades. In 2000, the grave was exhumed and the remains were transferred to the Smithsonian Institution. Forensic experts conducted DNA testing and facial reconstruction, and in June 2001 it was officially announced that the remains were indeed those of Bill Longley, settling the long-standing rumors.
Many stories about Longley originate from accounts he shared while incarcerated in 1877. Some are likely exaggerated or untrue, while others lack independent evidence. His tendency to embellish seems partly driven by a wish to match the notoriety of John Wesley Hardin, another well-known Old West figure. Longley reportedly reacted with anger upon learning of his death sentence, while Hardin received a 25-year prison term rather than capital punishment.
One clearly disproven tale involves Longley claiming he was captured and lynched in 1869 alongside a member of Cullen Baker’s outlaw group, surviving after a fortunate shot cut the rope. Since Baker had already died and his group had disbanded by that time, the story cannot be accurate. Similarly, claims that Longley killed a Black militiaman in 1866 or shot eight Black individuals in Lexington in 1867 remain unsupported, and Longley would have been only 14 and 15 years old during those alleged events. These stories nonetheless reflect the racial attitudes Longley expressed, as he admitted he was taught to believe them.
Longley is traditionally believed to have carried a pair of Dance . 44 revolvers, Texas-made copies modeled after the Colt Dragoon pistols. However, for the two confirmed killings attributed to him, those of Wilson Anderson and William Arlsey, he used a shotgun. These are the only cases where the specific weapon is clearly documented.
Longley’s legend has persisted in popular culture. He appears in Louis Sanders’s 1959 novel “The First Fast Draw,” and in James Carlos Blake’s 1995 novel “The Pistoleer. ” On television, he was portrayed by Douglas Kennedy in a 1954 episode of “Stories of the Century,” by Steve McQueen in a 1958 episode of “Tales of Wells Fargo,” and was the title character in “The Texan,” a CBS series starring Rory Calhoun that aired from 1958 to 1960, which depicted him as a noble wanderer.
Bill Longley’s name still echoes through the legends of the Old West, not just as a deadly gunman, but as a symbol of the brutal and chaotic era that shaped America’s frontier.