El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-08-28
RESIDENCE OF E. G.. PEW.

wedding again. Judge T. A. Falvey,
of the d strict court of Ell Paso, learned
that Bean had granted the two
couples divorces, and he wrote Bean a
letter calling him to account for ex-
eeding his authority. Bean replied
that he saw no reason why he
should not be allowed to grant di
vorces if he had the authority to mar
ry people. In closing the . letter Bean
said:
"When 1 give decision in Ivy court
and am later con WINGED that an error
has been made, l have the right to cor
| rect that error That was the case in
marrying these Mexicans. They found
out after they had b en- married a
while that an error had been COM
mitted, and | believe il was right to
correct it. Then, another thing-they
paid me $40 each for marrying them
and $40 each for given them divorces. "
Judge Falvey replied: ct is all
right this time, Bean, but for God s
serious trouble.''
in his marriage ceremony. He has a
special buckskin suit OF clothes which
he dvnes for it, aud placing a chair on
| top of the bar he sits there in state and
| weds the awestricken MeXicans.
| ''Both of you hold up your right
hands,' he orders. Tois being doae
he says: by the auth GRITTY of the
Constitution of the United States and
| the law west of the Pecos and the great
State of Texas, l, Roy Bean, Justice
of the Peace of this great district.
| hereby pronounce you man and wife.
| May God have mercy on your souls"
Recently Mexican went to Bean
and told him that he desired to get
married. Bean told the man that he
would write for license and that if
he would come back in a day or two
with his intended bride he would per-
form the ceremony The Mexican re-
turned on the following day, bringing
with h N a pretty Mexican girl. But
the license had not arrived, and Bean
told the couple that they would have
to wait until it arrived The Mexican
protested against the delay, stating
that his ''boss' gave him only a day
off, aud that he could not wait any
longer. Bean studied over the matter
a few minutes and then told the couple
that he guessed he could marry them
without the license. At his command
he couple stood up in the saloon, and
B an welded them with the following
words:
by authority of the marriage license,
which will arrive by tOmorrOw's mail,
1 hereby pronounce you man and
wife,
He pocketed the So fee and the happy
couple disappeared and are living to-
gether as husband and wife in perfect
50 tisfaction that the ceremony was as
biz ding as it could be made.
One of the cases that made Bean
famous was the trial of man in his
court on the charge of murder. 1t was
while the Southern Pacific was in
course of construction. A Chinaman
10 wi
who was foreman of a construction
gang, and the white man shot and
xii. ed the Chinaman. The murderer
was captured by company of rangers
and taken before Bean for a prelimin-
airy examination. A crowd of 100 or
more white men who were employed
on the railroad work went to the little
saloon to witness the trial and see that
their comrade was acquitted. 1t was
a drinking crowd and the saloon did a
rushing business all the afternoon.
Seeing that the longer he kept the
crowd the more money he would get
out of 1t, Bean postponed the trial until
the following day. The prisoner was
arraigned aud he pleaded guilty, and
testimony was taken showing that it
was a plain case of murder. Bean took
down his musty law book from its shelf
and slowly turned its pages. He went
through the book carefully and then
rendered his decision, as follows:
81 have heard the evidence in this
case and have made careful investi-
CATION of the law on the subject and
find that there is no law against man
killing a Chinaman. The prisoner is
discharged
There is another saloon in Langtry
besides the Jersey Lily" 1t is run
by Mexican name d Torrono. Bean and
Torrono are bitter rivals. Some time
ago Torrono was arrested on charge
| Of assault and was taken before Justice
Bean for trial. Torrono demanded
| jury trial. and after some difficulty
| jury of six persons was secured and the
| trial begun. When the evidence had
all been submitted the jury retired and
after few minutes returned a verdict
of guilty aud fined the accused two
dozen bottles of beer. The prisoner
was elated to getting off so easily, and
spriugjng up he cried:
"All right; come on, boys, right
over to my saloon and have the
beer"
mo you DON'T" responded Bean;
1.-THE fines imposed in this ere court
are paid right here; and don't you for
| get it.'' And he compelled his rival to
| walk up to his bar and buy the two
I dozen bottles of beer, aud made him
pay the full retail price for them,
too.
: A railroad contractor named Howard
was visiting at Lang lry not long ago,
al 4 had some trOu bic which caused his
arre-t He was taken before Bean and
fined. He is something of lawyer,
and happened to have copy of the
latest revised statutes with him. He
objected to the fine and commended tn at
there was no law for it. He stated
taat he could prove that the decision
was wrong, Bean allowed him to read