"WHEN ONE BROTHER IS SETTLED INTO SOME NORMACLY, ANOTHER IS LOSING A FAMILY MEMBER OR GETTING INTO A DUEL": FOUR AGAINST THE WEST'S JOE PAPALARDO

Joe Papalardo looks at the expansion of the American West by focusing on the lives of The Bean Brothers. While the youngest, Roy, built himself into a legend as a colorful (if crooked) judge, siblings Sam, Joshua, and James also went west for their fortune, working as soldiers, lawmen, politicians, and businessmen, not always operating within the law. Mr. Papalardo took some time to talk to The Hard Word about the brothers and the book.

SCOTT MONTGOMERY: How did the idea of not only doing biography Judge Roy Bean, but his brothers as well?

JOE PAPALARDO: I arted by looking at Roy, because he caught my eye during the research of a previous book, Red Sky Morning. One of “my” Company F Rangers, the famous John Rogers, tangled with Bean when he staged that illegal championship boxing match in Langtry. These events happened many years later, and the research went unused. But the cat and mouse dynamic caught my eye, and I dug into Roy’s not-so-illustrious life.  That’s how I found his brothers, via their achievements - the first mayor of American San Diego, the first sheriff of Dona Anna County, in New Mexico, and so on. Independently, they led an interesting life during tumultuous times. Together, the Bean brothers enable readers to experience a wide scope of vantages, settings and scenarios, from the adventures of riding the Santa Fe Trail to the political chicanery of settling the California territory to the horrors of the Civil War. I suspected the promise in a quadruple biography and dove deep into the research. And the boys delivered.

 S.M.: Did one brother surprise you more than the others from what you learned?

 J.P.: Sam Bean surprised me with his story’s arc. He starts as a Santa Fe trader and then a soldier, the picture of Manifest Destiny. But he quickly absorbs the beauty and promise of the west, and sees himself as a living bridge between the Mexican and American cultures as a merchant and public servant in New Mexico. None of this works out for him in the end, but Sam’s expansive attitude stands in stark difference to Roy, whose coarse views and speech earn him rebukes from his older brother when they work together in New Mexico. It's a lesson Roy doesn’t seem to learn, as his future actions and words reflect, but it’s a reminder for readers that history is made of individuals and not caricatures.     

 S.M.: At this point, Judge Roy Bean is as much legend and tall tale as much as a historical figure. How difficult was it to find the real facts on him?

 J.P.: One obstacle was Roy himself, who like to spin yarns. But biographers have done admirable jobs tracing his comings and goings, usually focusing the attention on his time in Langtry. I may have focused on his earlier life more, but earlier accounts certainly leave an impression that he was a deeply flawed, even dangerous man. Readers are surprised to find Roy wasn’t a nice guy, but I guess they saw the Paul Newman movie and didn’t read the biographies.

 Later in life Roy Bean became adept as using newswires to spread word of his antics, which drew visitors from the train depot. But earlier in his life, he made news, and not always because he sought attention. Using historic newspaper databases, I found articles describing someone shooting him in California, and the coverage basically called him a jerk who deserved it. So part of his nature was to aggrandize, but he also left inadvertent paper trails to follow if you look closely enough.        

S.M.: What made you choose present tense for this?

 J.P.: The intent was to show, not tell, readers the story. Experiences made a deeper impression on readers than facts, to be sure, and through those a writer can try to appeal to universal human emotions – fear, greed, love, belief – to understand a topic. But the active voice also doubled as a reminder to myself to always slow down and consider the people who lived through the events in this book; not just the four brothers, but everyone else around them.

S.M.: How did you handle the juggling of four lives in your narrative?

J.P.: Most of the book flowed nicely between the events that shaped the events of the time, like Sam and Joshua’s military careers during the Mexican-American war, and James’ involvement with it in Missouri. But it became clear that, in order for this to work, I couldn’t seek parity between the characters. Unburdened by that thought, I was able to present a sprawling narrative as more lean and spry. It also enabled me to independently manage the pace of each brother’s narrative arc. Call it a benefit of a quadruple biography – when one brother is settled into some normalcy, another is losing a family member or getting in a duel.

S.M.: Which two brothers do you think had the most impact on one another.

 J.P.: It would be Roy, and not because he was famous.  History’s gift to this author was that the younger Roy popped up in his brothers’ lives repeatedly, like an unwanted Jack-In-The-Box, and usually to the ultimate detriment of his siblings. This provided a dynamic that helped me arrange the book. It also helped me focus on his life before he found fame, and when the west was very wild. In part, thanks to him.