The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 52, July 1948 - April, 1949 Page: 117
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Texas Collection
speak the language of his toughest customers and knew how to handle
them. One prisoner is said to have talked back to him, saying, "Judge,
you can sit on the bench and use strong language toward me because
I am unarmed and in shackles."
At that, Williamson adjourned court for a few minutes. He had
the prisoner released, handed him a pistol and, looking him steadily
in the eyes, said, "Shoot."
The prisoner made no move.
While many of the stories that lawyers still tell about Three-Legged
Willie are apochryphal, Robinson confirms one of the more celebrated
ones. Holding court in Shelbyville in 1837, with a dry-goods box for
a bench, Willie was faced by a ruffian who told him an assembly of
citizens had resolved that court should not be held.
"What legal authority can you give for such a procedure?" asked
the judge.
The frontiersman's answer was to draw a bowie knife from his belt,
slam it on the box before the judge and snarl, "This, sir, is the law of
Shelby Countyl"
Just as quickly, Willie whipped out a long-barreled pistol. "If that
is the law of Shelby County," he thundered, "this is the constitution
that overrides all lawl"
Born in Georgia in 1804, Williamson had a normal boyhood until
an ailment, probably polio, struck him at fifteen. This left his lower
right leg useless. After being confined to his bed for months, he
learned to walk with crutches and a wooden leg fastened to his knee
cap. He soon discarded the crutches but kept the peg. Williamson
came to Texas a young lawyer about 1836 and in the following year
joined the colonists at San Felipe de Austin.
In that frontier village of log cabins, almost everyone had a nick-
name. There were "Mustang" Brown, who captured wild horses;
"Waco" Brown, who had been captured by the Waco Indians, and
"Varmint" Williams, who captured animals for museums in the States.
It was almost inevitable that the young attorney with a peg leg should
become known as "Three-Legged Willie." As a lawyer and a news-
paper editor, Williamson soon became one of the leaders of the
independence movement.
Williamson served as an alcalde under the Mexicans and helped
draft some of the revolutionary documents. Despite his physical
handicap, he became the first major of the Texas Rangers and took
an active part in the revolution, riding off in a coonskin cap to the
battle of San Jacinto. The Texas Congress elected him as one of the
first district judges and as such a member of the Texas National
Supreme Court. He also gave long service as a legislator.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 52, July 1948 - April, 1949, periodical, 1949; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101121/m1/125/: accessed March 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.