OUTLAWS Ep. 6 | “Bill Longley”

Legends of the Old West

Black Barrel Media

Arts, History, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.8 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 27 May 2026

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the 1870s, Bill Longley adds his name to the list of infamous outlaws of the Old West. He roams his home state of Texas, adopting different names and robbing and killing. In the summer of 1876, while on the run after a murder in Uvalde County, Longley lands in a small-town love triangle which leads to his downfall. Thanks to our sponsor, Quince! Use this link for Free Shipping and 365-day returns: Quince.com/lotow Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join Apple users join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes, bingeable seasons and bonus episodes. Click the Black Barrel+ banner on Apple to get started with a 3-day free trial. On YouTube, subscribe to LEGENDS+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: hit “Join” on the Legends YouTube homepage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	A man using the name William Black was installed in what would certainly have been a tiny jail in the tiny town of Cooper, Texas, on June 6, 1876. Cooper was and still is,
0:25.3	the county seat of Delta County, northeast of Dallas, on the road from Dallas to Paris, Texas.
0:31.7	In 1876, the county was only six years old, and it would have been much like it is today,
0:38.6	either farmland or wilderness. Cooper's population was probably no more than 300 people, so its jail was
0:45.0	probably pretty small. William Black sat in jail for six days. With nothing to do during
0:51.4	the long days and nights of his incarceration, William could only brood about his situation.
0:57.4	The more he brooded, the more he knew who to blame. Reverend William Lay.
1:03.2	Without wanting to or intending to, William Black had landed in a classic plot of countless plays and novels,
1:10.3	and movies and TV shows when
1:12.3	those came around many years in the future. It was like something from Shakespeare or
1:17.9	Western novels, which would start to become popular in the 1940s with the classic setup,
1:23.3	A Stranger came to town. The stranger calling himself William Black, which wasn't his name,
1:30.0	who said he was from Missouri, which was also a lie, had been riding past a farm in Delta
1:35.3	County when he spotted a girl. He was instantly smitten, and he decided to stay a while.
1:41.6	When William Black stopped to meet the girl, he unknowingly created a small-town
1:46.3	love triangle, which created a small town feud between two families, which led to murder.
1:57.2	The girl was Rachel Jack. Her father, Thomas, owned a farm outside of the village of Ben Franklin in Delta County.
2:04.6	When William rode by in mid-February, 1876, he claimed his horse was lame, and he stayed at the farm for a few days.
2:12.6	He got to know Rachel, and he decided to stay in the community to pursue a relationship.
2:21.8	Her father, Thomas, recommended a nearby farm for work.
2:27.2	William signed on as a sharecropper with William Lay, a farmer and local preacher who lived one mile down the road from Rachel and Thomas.
2:31.4	And that was how the trouble started.
	...

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