Murderous Gunman

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As wild as the days were in the Wild West I could say that the last thing anyone needed was a sadistic and murderous gunman. Unfortunately there was one such man named William Preston Longley who was born on October 16, 1815 in Austin County, Texas. Longley was nicknamed “Wild Bill” and before he was even 20 years old he had already killed several men. Today most likely they would have referred to him as a psychopath. He never killed for a really good reason but simply because he had a very short temper. One guy met his demise just for arguing with him over a card game. He was well-known for his murderous activities but little was known about his life. One legend has it that at one time Longley was put up to hang along with a horse thief but as the posse was departing some shots they fired back cut his rope and so his life was saved. At one time he fled to Louisiana so he wouldn’t get punished for killing a minister but as luck would have it they caught him and he was returned to Lee County, Texas. Longley was tried and sentenced to hang. In his final days he became a Catholic, wrote long letters about his life and stated that he had actually only killed eight men. His execution was set for October 28, 1878 and as he climbed up the stairs to the gallows he had a cigar in his mouth. He told the gathered crowd that his punishment was just and that God had forgiven him. He then proceeded to kiss the sheriff and the priest. He said farewell to the crowd, the noose was put around his neck and he was hanged. However it appears that God had not forgiven him as he thought because the rope slipped causing Longley to fall to the ground on his knees so that he was denied a quick and painless death. Once the hangman pulled the rope taut again, the notorious gunman slowly chocked to death and it took a full eleven minutes before he could be pronounced dead. Know any psychopaths?