Life and Crimes of Railroad Bill : Legendary African American Desperado

“Fascinating. Massey brings to life the stories and mysteries surrounding this legendary figure of the nineteenth-century Southeast and shows how the outlaw has influenced our cultural heritage.”—Susan Reynolds, associate editor,Alabama Heritage

“A compelling and highly readable account of the life of a notorious figure in Florida and Alabama history and how he became the subject of legends and a folk ballad that is still sung today.”—John Burrison, editor ofStorytellers: Folktales and Legends from the South

“Gives us a glimpse of how the early railroads—the heart of everyday life at the turn of twentieth century—set the stage for the dramatic exploits of desperate criminals such as Railroad Bill.”—Thomas E. McMillan Jr., Escambia County Historical Society

For over a year, Railroad Bill eluded sheriffs, private detectives hired by the L&N line, and bounty hunters who traveled across the country to match guns with the legendary desperado. The African American outlaw was wanted on multiple charges of robbery and murder, and rumor had it that he stole from the rich to give to the poor. He terrorized busy train lines from east of Mobile to the Florida Panhandle, but as soon as the lawmen got close, he disappeared into the bayous and pine forests—until one day his luck ran out, and he was gunned down inside a general store in Atmore, Alabama.

Little is known about Railroad Bill before his infamy—not his real name or his origins. His first recorded crime, carrying a repeating rifle without a license, led him into a gunfight with a deputy and made him a wanted man throughout Florida in 1894. His most celebrated escape—a five-day foot chase with scores of men and several bloodhounds—led to tales of Railroad’s supernatural ability to transmogrify into an animal or inanimate object at will. As his crimes progressed from robbing boxcars to wounding trainmen to murdering sheriffs, more and more reward money was offered for his capture—dead or alive.

Today, Railroad Bill is the subject of many folk songs popularized by singers such as Paul McCartney, Taj Mahal, Gillian Welch, and Ramblin’ Jack Elliot. But who was he? Where did he come from? What events led to his murderous spree? And why did some view him as a hero?

In Railroad Bill, Larry Massey separates fact from myth and teases out elusive truths from tall tales to ultimately reveal the man behind the bandit’s mask.