Daddy was a little boy when his father took him to the Bay Minette depot to see the body of Railroad Bill. He told me about it while we were sitting on our front porch one evening.  Even though there were a few mismatched, creaky rocking chairs, Daddy preferred to sit in a straight-backed kitchen chair, leaning back on rear legs that had been worn down. He propped one foot on the cement porch railing and said, “Let me tell you a story about Railroad Bill.”

Railroad Bill is Baldwin County’s claim to a reallio, trulio outlaw. This story has its roots in true historical facts, but as legends do, when he became a folk hero the facts became blurred. His real name was Morris Slater, born to parents who were former slaves. He went to work early on to help put food on the table, but after his parents died he left home and joined a carnival. There he learned conjuring and all sorts of magic tricks. When he came back to Baldwin County, he worked in little turpentine stills, and, as most backwoodsmen do, always carried his rifle.  In fact, even while he was working, he carried the rifle stuck down his right pants leg. This made him walk with a straight-legged limp. One day he caught the attention of a deputy sheriff who was determined that Morris would either purchase the required permit or relinquish the gun.

The deputy came up to Morris and said, “Hand over that there rifle or else buy a permit.” Morris just turned and walked away. That got the deputy’s goat, and he was then even more determined. The next time he approached Morris, Morris once again just turned to walk away, and the deputy pulled his gun and fired in the air. Morris turned and fired, the buckshot shooting the deputy’s ear right off his head. Knowing he would be arrested and found guilty, Morris jumped a slow freight train and rode into a new way of life.

He hid out with some of his friends, and took his old circus name, Bill McCoy. Hitching rides on freight trains between Bay Minette and Brewton, he stayed on the move to elude the law. One time when he jumped on an open boxcar he found it full of canned goods. Figuring he was a fugitive anyway, he picked up a couple of crates and tossed them off. He then jumped the train, retrieved the booty, and took it to some locals in the nearby shantytown. Starving families were so thankful for the food that he continued this practice He even took to throwing goods off the train so people living along the tracks could come right along and pick them up. These people began to tell tales and sing songs about Railroad Bill, their very own Robin Hood. If Bill happened to be nearby and needed a place to hide out, he was welcome in the homes of his people, who always had canned beans, thanks to Bill’s escapades.

Now the railroad had quite a different outlook. There were Pinkerton agents and lawmen after him all the time, and large rewards were offered. Men on the hunt told of the many times they almost had Bill, but something strange would happen. Remember, he learned conjuring when he was young, and he could often turn himself into an animal. Once when a posse was on his trail, the hunting dogs were joined by a stray dog and they lost all scents they were trailing. Another time, a grinning fox appeared in front the dogs, and everyone knows a dog is going to choose to hunt a fox anytime he can. The fox disappeared into a hollow log, and a skunk came out the other end of that log, putting an end to that hunting trip.

Lawmen pledged to take Bill, dead or alive. Sheriff McMillan was elected on that promise. He got a note one day from Bill: “I wish you hadn’t made that statement, Mr. Ed, because I love you and don’t want to kill you, so don’t come after me.”

But, Bill did shoot Ed McMillan when he came after him. Efforts to rid the county of the outlaw were intensified. However, every time a lawman would get close to Bill, he would somehow slip away. One time, they saw a cat run out of the house where they thought Bill was hiding, and no sign of Bill was found inside the house. From that time on, Bill was associated with mysterious cats, which would appear and disappear at the strangest times.

The hunt for Railroad Bill ended when a man was shot in a general store in Atmore. Some say a posse happened on the store and recognized Bill sitting on a barrel eating cheese and crackers. Others say the lawmen had been tipped off and ambushed him there. Nonetheless, the L&N agent rushed there and took the body to the funeral home where it was embalmed. The Constable posed with the body strapped to a wooden plank and souvenir hunters paid 50 cents for a copy of that photo.

They took the body from town to town to show people that Bill was dead. The last stop was Bay Minette.  That is where Daddy saw that body and witnessed something he never forgot. As the coffin was being closed, a strange mist escaped and then the coffin was empty. There under the coffin bier was a grey cat with a curious grin on his face. That cat went right to the caboose and made himself at home.  The railroad officials said they buried the body, but no one could every recall where.

  People still talk about the last day that anyone saw Railroad Bill, at least in his human form before it changed into that gray cat. The Bay Minette depot was moved out to Highway 59, where there is always a gray cat strolling around just as cool as can be. He sleeps peacefully in that red caboose. The workers at the Chamber of Commerce there say the cat will not be caught, but they feed him nonetheless. I guess they know about all those times Railroad Bill fed the people along the tracks and they think he deserves some payback.

Regardless of what is true, Bill is a legend who will live on in songs, such as the one sung by Janice Joplin, and sometimes people see a tall, lean man walking alongside the railroad tracks between Bay Minette and Brewton. He has a stiff legged limp.