Voting Station

Wild Bill Longley

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Outlaw

The Resume

    (October 6, 1851-October 11, 1878)
    Born in Mill Creek, Texas
    Birth name was William Preston Longley
    Aliases include Tom Jones, Jim Paeeson, Jim Webb, Bill Black, Bill Henry, and Bill Jackson
    Gunfighter claimed to have killed 32 men
    Arrested in DeSoto Parish, Louisiana and charged with murder
    Foundy guilty and executed in Giddings, Texas at age 27

Why he might be annoying:

    He killed his first man at age 16.
    He despised the government’s Reconstruction policy, Yankee sympathizers and freed slaves.
    He murdered several black men just for being black, most of them unarmed.
    Though he was a fast and deadly shot, killing unarmed folks hardly makes him a legit gunslinger.
    Occasionally when he got liquored up, he would purposely pick fights with men so he could kill them and add more notches to his belt.
    He did so because of his jealousy toward John Wesley Hardin, and wanted to overtake him in kills.
    In June 1870, he enlisted in the U.S. cavalry, then quickly deserted.
    In July 1873, he was arrested by a Kerr County sheriff and taken to Austin for reward money, but when the bounty was not paid a relative bribed the sheriff and he was set free.
    Sharecropping for a Delta County minister in February 1876, he was angered and shot the reverend in the back while milking a cow, his last known victim.
    During his trial, he claimed to have only killed eight men (lessening his murder ratio by 75%).
    On the day of his execution he converted to Catholicism and was baptized (nothing like getting in good with God at the last minute).

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was known as one of the fastest draws in the Wild West.
    Some gunfighters called him out just so they could get bragging rights of besting him (all ended up dead).
    In 1869, he was in the process of being lynched by a mob as a horse thief, but somebody from the group fired at him, one bullet hitting his face and breaking a tooth, another fraying the rope around his neck, causing it to snap, and he scurried away.
    Before his trial, he asked for clemency from the Texas governor, stating John Wesley Hardin only received 25 years for his 40 killings (his plea went unanswered).
    Showing a sense of humor, as he was led up the gallows stairs he noticed a loose step and said it should be fixed because he didn't want to fall and break his neck.
    His hanging was botched by the rope slipping (his feet touching the ground), and he was grabbed by the legs so the noose could strangle him slowly (taking 11½ minutes).

Credit: Scar Tactics


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 8 Votes: 87.50% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 7 Votes: 85.71% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 7 Votes: 85.71% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 9 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 22 Votes: 45.45% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 10 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 9 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 13 Votes: 53.85% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 23 Votes: 47.83% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 17 Votes: 58.82% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 16 Votes: 62.50% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 69 Votes: 72.46% Annoying