The Life and Crimes of Railroad Bill:
Legendary African American Desperado

Larry L. Massey

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"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 of Storytellers: 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


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.

Larry L. Massey is an independent writer and researcher living in Mobile, Alabama, and DeLand, Florida. His great-great-grandfather once worked at a Bluff Springs turpentine camp with Railroad Bill.

You’ll be hard pressed to find a better book on Railroad Bill.
--Evergreen Courant

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