It was an eventful time, those last decades of the 1800's, when the railroads were being built across the country. New towns and tent camps of construction gangs sprang up. They were wild, lawless places, crowded with railroad workers and those who preyed upon them - thieves, card sharks and tainted women. By 1882 the situation was so bad that the railroad asked help from the Texas rangers. With the closest legal authority in Fort Stockton more than 500 miles away, both the rangers and the railroad urged appointment of a Justice of the Peace.

Roy Bean, a saloon keeper, was elected the first Justice of Peace for Pecos County (now Val Verde County) on August 2, 1882. The situation was so desperate for legal authority that Bean tried his first case the week before. In 1883 Roy Bean moved his court to the new railroad sponsored town of Langtry. With the railroad and Texas Rangers to back him up he established a colorful brand of justice that made him "The Law West of the Pecos."

Justice was swift in his court. When an accused was brought in Judge Bean removed his apron, hauled out his law book and notary seal, and called a jury from among his customers. Occasionally he based a ruling on his single law book, the 1879 Revised Statutes of Texas, but more often he applied his own sense of frontier justice backed up by the six-shooter on the table beside him. Some legends cite Judge Bean as a hanging judge but there is no record that he ever sentenced a man to be hanged. Rather, one of the harshest sentences in this wilderness outpost was expulsion. In the case of a horse thief Judge Bean would fine him of every cents and valuable including his gun, the expel him from Langtry under the threat of the noose if he ever appeared again. The hazards of reaching another place of civilization afoot with no money or gun were enough to convince the toughest character to change his ways.

One of the more interesting events in Langtry during Judge Bean's tenure was the World Championship prize fight between Australia's Bob Fitzsimmons and Ireland's Peter Mahar. Prize fighting was illegal in the United States, Mexico and much of the world. Judge Bean invited the contestants to Langtry and word reached the Texas Rangers who sent men to stop the fight. Mexico sent troops north to make sure the fight did not take place in their country. The Judge out-foxed them by holding the fight on a sandbar in the middle of the Rio Grande River in February 1896. He built a bridge to the sandbar for spectators and had the fight recorded on film. Fitzsimmons won the fight in one minute, 35 seconds.

Judge Bean had a fascination with English actress Lillie Langtry, internationally known as "The Jersey Lily," and he used much of his spare time to pen her letters. So great was his admiration for her he named his town after her and named his establishment (a combination saloon, pool hall and courthouse) "The Jersey Lilly." The Judge's residence behind his business was named "Opera House, Town Hall and Seat of Justice," so named in hope the actress would perform there someday. After years of writing to Ms. Langtry she accepted his invitation to visit the town that bore her name. Judge Bean died in 1903, ten months before Ms. Langtry arrived.

The Judge's business and house still stand and is a free tourist attraction operated by the State of Texas. The town of Langtry never flourished and has a present population of eighteen people.