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.

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