WILD BILL WILSON
Mr. Williams told again about his uncle who was constable down in Falls
County having to shoot Wild Bill Wilson when arresting him, and now he
kept him under guard in his house, but found the wound was not serious as
he had thought. He told again about how Wild Bill had been shot in
Missouri Cove, near Evant And how Wild
Bill was thought to be one of the fellows harbored by Old Man Jim
Langford. Said that this was one of the things that they held against the
old man, Asa, that he kept these bad young fellows.
Evant near the corner of three counties, was originally called Langford’s
Cove, after Mr. Asa Langford, who came from I don’t know where, in
an early day. If he did harbor as was said reckless young fellows seems it
could have been partly out of feeling for them, for honest services as
well as possibly for other uses. The deed records show that once the old
man donated four acres to the town to establish "a literary
school" which is more than most of them did. One pretty bad shooting
of a young fellow was charged against him. Some of the early day people in
that community were from Ohio and other older states and very good people.
Some like old man Kingsberry were against
secession, he going to Mexico and changing his name to Thumb, I believe it
was. Once I suggested to Mr. Williams that perhaps one reason so many had
it in for the old Man was that he probably belonged to what they called
"The Houston Party," that is were against secession. He said he
did not think so. Mr. S. R. Allen, lawyer, described the old man to me as
thin and somewhat pallid and rather sunken cheeks. He did from the records
have rows with his people over property. Stanley Walker in his book
"Back Home to Texas." tells of one Mr. Henry Langford who was a
man of great courtesy and lordly gentility toward his wife, and so on. I
asked if he was a son of Asa Langford, and he said he was. Walker after
retirement from being City Editor of the New York Tribune, Herald-Tribune,
retired to the old family land just south of Evant in Lampasas County,
where I visited him. In the early twenties, I stopped at Big Spring, then
a rather small town. I sat on a bench at the courthouse yard, and met an
old gentleman with a pointed beard, who told me he was the county
surveyor. He said he came from down in my country around Evant. Glad I did
now say that they were pretty tough around there, for he later told me his
name was Langford.
Mr. Williams said he himself was standing near the courthouse corner of
the square when Kemp shot Smith.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
CHESLEY'S HAMILTON COUNTY INTERVIEWS
BY
HERVEY EDGAR CHESLEY, JR.
Born: 21 November, 1894
Died: 17 July, 1979