It was about that time, as the story goes, that the law in Florida required everyone to have a license to carry a rifle and of course Railroad Bill had no such permit. He had been warned repeatedly by the local constabulary about the matter but to no avail. His only reply to each warning was, “I don’t think so.” Historically, lawmen before and since, have never taken kindly to such impudence and this time period would be no different. In October 1892 when Oscar was just a little over one-year old, Deputy Allen Brewton decided to force the issue concerning Bill’s rifle license. Learning of the deputy’s intentions several of the local white boys decided to leave their perch on the front porch of the general store and go along to watch the fun. As Brewton approached, Bill turned and walked off without saying a word. To avoid a confrontation Bill kept walking faster until he had put as much distance as he could between himself and the approaching deputy. Brewton yelled at Bill to halt but when he refused to stop the infuriated deputy raised his pistol and fired a single round at Bill’s back missing him entirely. Hearing the whine of the bullet Bill began to run in a zigzag course trying to keep from being hit by a fusillade of shots fired by Brewton and his companions who had joined in the pursuit. Suddenly, at about one hundred yards Bill turned and fired a single shot from his rifle clipping the ear of one of his pursuers. As the man grabbed his ear and began wailing Bill emptied his rifle at the feet of the others who scattered and fled for their lives. With his immediate threat eliminated Bill turned and fled into the swamps of the upper Escambia River and into the pages of history.
The bloody rampage and subsequent manhunt would last over four years before Railroad Bill was run to ground and into legend. In preparation for the coming manhunt Railroad armed himself with two Colt .45 pistols to accompany his .44 Winchester rifle together with a bandoleer of ammunition. He also knew that since he was going to be on the run, normal employment was out of the question. So to obtain food and money Bill began robbing trains that traveled the rails between Hurricane Bayou near Mobile Bay and Williams Station, later renamed Atmore. Since there are no stories of his actually robbing the passengers on the trains, where did he obtain his cash resulting from his outlaw deeds? An example occurred on one occasion when Railroad Bill jumped onto one of the slow moving trains traveling between the two stations and began throwing boxes of canned goods out of the boxcars. He then jumped off the train and carried each of the boxes to a place of safety where he sold them on the black market for a little hard cash. Thus, he was able to support himself without actually robbing any of the passengers. However, the legends of his exploits grew totally out of proportion with the actual deeds committed by the daring outlaw.
