Roy Bean

Judge Roy Bean
Born
Phantly Roy Bean Jr.

1825 (1825)
DiedMarch 16, 1903 (aged 77–78)
Burial placeWhitehead Memorial Museum
Del Rio, Texas
29°21′06″N 100°53′53″W / 29.3517°N 100.8980°W / 29.3517; -100.8980
Other names"Only Law West of the Pecos"
OccupationsJustice of the Peace/Coroner/Notary Public
Saloon keeper
Years active1882–1903
SpouseVirginia Chavez (divorced)
Children4
RelativesJoshua Bean (brother)

Phantly Roy Bean Jr. (c. 1825 – March 16, 1903) was an American saloon-keeper and Justice of the Peace in Val Verde County, Texas, who called himself "The Only Law West of the Pecos." He held court in his saloon along the Rio Grande in a desolate stretch of the Chihuahuan Desert. Legend records his jurisprudence as thoroughly abnormal and in many instances comical. Although remembered as a hanging judge who said "hang 'em first and try 'em later," he never had anyone hanged.