October 12, 2022 • 9 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, murder and mayhem ran unchecked in the town of Yankee Hill....things were a mess, and they needed a real life good guy to save them. Thankfully, Willie Kennard was that man.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
And we returned to our American stories, and up next
a story about the first black lawman in Colorado, Willie Kenner.
Here to tell the story is our regular contributor Richard Munez.
Take it away, rich The man on horseback paused about
a mile from the town. Like so many old West communities,
(00:34):
the town was made of logs, roughly sawn boards and
nailed together with dreams. He studied the community for a
moment before urging the horse towards it. He didn't look
like much. He's just a ranging, middle aged cow hand,
like so many count as across the West. But if
you studied him, he knows things about him. He wore
his guns low. This was the sign of a man
(00:54):
accustomed to fighting for his life. People looked at him
with shock as he came into the town. Now this
was a someone wondered what he was doing here, after all,
The review was kind around. Maybe he was lost. But
the miners in the town, if Yankee Hill, Colorado, were
certainly one thing. This man was trouble. Why else would
a black man be ride into their town. Here was
(01:20):
eighteen seventy four. The mining town was called Yankee Hill, Colorado,
was high in the mountains, and it happened to be
the personal playground of a man named Bartie Casewitz. Now
Barney had bullied and terrorized the town for over two years.
He had killed men, killed a marshal or two, scared
off a few more, and raped a fifteen year old
girl named Bertie Campbell. When Bertie's father confronted him, Casswid
(01:43):
gunned him down, left him dead in the street. A
town marshal, a man named Craig, tried to arrest him.
Casewitt laid him out right next to Bertie's father being
read for nearby. Ruby Hill replaced Craig. He didn't do
any better. The next marshal left town after seeing case
would kill two saddle trams Like the giant Golithe in
the Bible. Men fear no one could match him, No
(02:04):
one challenged him. This was his and no one and
nothing would take it away from him. What this particular
Glithe hadn't counted on was that David's having an annoyed
in tendency to just show up in his case. David
had just ridden into town. Matt Borden owned a square
(02:25):
deal general store. He was also the mayor of Yankee Hill,
and here a couple of the city of councilman were
discussing town business and fat Sarah Palmer's cafe over coffee
when the black cowboy walked in. He went straight over
to them and said, my name is Willie Kennedy. I
read your towns looking for a Marshall. I'd like to
apply for the job. Borden would say years later he
(02:49):
wasn't impressed. One of the councilmen looked up at Kennard
and asked, you can read, boy, But if the common
irritated Willie, he didn't show it. Gordon decided has in
front of the applicant. He said, the hiring process of
pretty steep. We have to make sure you can handle
the job. Oh and what is that there's a man
(03:09):
in the bar across the street. He's already killed several men,
to include two former marshals. Arrest him in the job
of yours. They handed in the Marshall badge fairly sure
they'd be getting it back soon. With a nod, the
newly minted marshall started walking across the street. Now if
he's unexpected Willie to run or just to die. That
(03:31):
grocer underestimated him Willie was a battle hardened warrior. He
foss a corporal with the seventh Illinois Rifle Company. He
had also served as ninth Calvary and entirely black hunt.
It was at Fort Bliss, Texas, and later moved out
to Fort Davis, Arizona. Derry fought against the Apaches. Being
a corporal made him a leader of men. His time
in the units soon convinced others. He knew his way
(03:51):
around a firearm and became an instructor at the Montro's
training camp. But when the war was over, and like
so many others, Willie looked around and found very few
opportunities for a man of his talents, So he drifted
to Denver and one day he reads about this town
and he's a marshal now with minutes behind the badge,
he walked into the saloon and he sees Casewood. He
(04:14):
spent a minute studying him, knowing how he also wore
his pistols low, and he studied the man's two associates.
Soon he approached the table and informs case with it
he's under arrest. Well, Casewin and his friends thought that
was probably the funniest thing that ever heard I'm supposed
to just come with you, Casewood asked, where are we going?
It's your choice, will He answered, you can go to
jail or even go to hell. Well, now, Casewoo wasn't
(04:39):
a pickle, and he had exactly two choices surrender or
add to his list of killings. Option one didn't appeal
to him. Option two is easy. He stood, intended to
add to his list and stary to reach for his pistols.
What happened next is debated. Some say before he even
touched the guns, Willie had drawn him fired twice. They
(05:02):
said the bullets struck the pistols, nearly ripping him from
the gun belt, and rendered both weapons useless. Others say
that Willie drew and club Casewood hard across the side
of the head with a drawn pistol. Unlike the glocks
and weapons favorite today, the old West pistol was an
American heavy metal AT's very best. While the stories just
what happened to case what, no one disputes what happened
there's case What's buddies both tried to draw on the
(05:24):
new Marshal, and before they even got halfway out, he
had taken them both out with a bullet between the eyes.
Case with them went to jail. Justice was very swift
back then. Casey was tried for the rape of the
Campbell girl, the murders of the marshals and the townspeople,
and he was taking to the edge of town to
(05:45):
a pine tree and hung. Stories have it that he
wrapped his legs on the tree and affort to keep
from dying. But all I did was prolong his agonies.
It was fitting in for the brutal man, and the
town at Yankee Hill had a new Marshal. Willie was
paid hundred dollars a month, which is a little bit
shy of twenty three hundred dollars in today's money. Now,
(06:05):
he did get tested again. There was a robber named
Billy McGeorge. He was an escapee from the Colorado Territorial Prison.
He formed a gang around himself and they played on
the freight wagons and the stages around the Gold Trail.
The town cancel asked Marshall Kenner to track him down. Well,
Kennard realized this wasn't such a great idea. Colorado is huge,
(06:30):
Colorado is rugged, and he could chase these guys all
over the territory. Until doomsday and still never catch them.
I'm going to make them come to me, he said.
Soon wanted posters started showing up on trees and posts.
The marshall who put a bounty in mc george's head
of a measily fifty dollars. Now this tick mc george
(06:51):
off quite a bit. Every other marshall around was asking
at least three hundred fifty bucks. That almost wasn't worth
walking across the street. Four So what he decided to
do was going to Yankee Hill, him and his gang,
and they're going to explain the facts of life to
this black man who had insulted himself. Well, they got
to Yankee Hill and Marshall Kenner was waiting for them.
(07:11):
He was armed with a double barrel shotgun. You men
can just drop your weapons, Cannada order, and loving the
shotgun at them. One of them, an outlaw named cashed
down and tried to pull him Willie. Willie blew him
off the horse with a blast and the shotgun. The
blast also killed the outlaw right next to downing and
blew the window at the general store with one barrel
still loaded and Named dried at him. Mc george fulled
(07:32):
his men a surrender. As Kenner took them to jail,
they breathed out threats of vengeance. They never got the chance.
They soon found themselves damning from the same tree the
case would had died on a few months before. By
eighteen seventy seven, Yankee Hill was a quiet town, but
it was also a die in town. The gold in
(07:54):
the area had ran out and people were just moving on.
Willie looked around relies. The place was going to be
a ghost town soon. He ended in his badger said
I'm going out east. I'm gonna find myself a wife.
Then Willie vanishes from history forever where he went when
he died and where he's buried donknnes for the time being,
and like so many Old West heroes, Willie Kinne rode
(08:16):
into history, leaving a lastin legacy as Carlo's first black
law man. And a special thanks to Monte for doing
the production on that piece, and to Richard Munez for
his terrific storytelling. And by the way, this was a
real life bad guy terrorizing a town and needed a
(08:37):
real life tough good guy to save him, and he did.
And my goodness, the stories of towns we've told a few,
and we'll be telling a lot more. Send them to
our American Stories dot com. We'll listen to one hundreds
affiliates all over this great country and we love hearing
your story. Send them heroes in your town, whether it's cops,
(08:58):
first responders, or well heroic stories going way back to
the early days in your town. Willie Kennard, Colorado's first
black lawman, here on our American Story
And we returned to our American stories, and up next
a story about the first black lawman in Colorado, Willie Kenner.
Here to tell the story is our regular contributor Richard Munez.
Take it away, rich The man on horseback paused about
a mile from the town. Like so many old West communities,
(00:34):
the town was made of logs, roughly sawn boards and
nailed together with dreams. He studied the community for a
moment before urging the horse towards it. He didn't look
like much. He's just a ranging, middle aged cow hand,
like so many count as across the West. But if
you studied him, he knows things about him. He wore
his guns low. This was the sign of a man
(00:54):
accustomed to fighting for his life. People looked at him
with shock as he came into the town. Now this
was a someone wondered what he was doing here, after all,
The review was kind around. Maybe he was lost. But
the miners in the town, if Yankee Hill, Colorado, were
certainly one thing. This man was trouble. Why else would
a black man be ride into their town. Here was
(01:20):
eighteen seventy four. The mining town was called Yankee Hill, Colorado,
was high in the mountains, and it happened to be
the personal playground of a man named Bartie Casewitz. Now
Barney had bullied and terrorized the town for over two years.
He had killed men, killed a marshal or two, scared
off a few more, and raped a fifteen year old
girl named Bertie Campbell. When Bertie's father confronted him, Casswid
(01:43):
gunned him down, left him dead in the street. A
town marshal, a man named Craig, tried to arrest him.
Casewitt laid him out right next to Bertie's father being
read for nearby. Ruby Hill replaced Craig. He didn't do
any better. The next marshal left town after seeing case
would kill two saddle trams Like the giant Golithe in
the Bible. Men fear no one could match him, No
(02:04):
one challenged him. This was his and no one and
nothing would take it away from him. What this particular
Glithe hadn't counted on was that David's having an annoyed
in tendency to just show up in his case. David
had just ridden into town. Matt Borden owned a square
(02:25):
deal general store. He was also the mayor of Yankee Hill,
and here a couple of the city of councilman were
discussing town business and fat Sarah Palmer's cafe over coffee
when the black cowboy walked in. He went straight over
to them and said, my name is Willie Kennedy. I
read your towns looking for a Marshall. I'd like to
apply for the job. Borden would say years later he
(02:49):
wasn't impressed. One of the councilmen looked up at Kennard
and asked, you can read, boy, But if the common
irritated Willie, he didn't show it. Gordon decided has in
front of the applicant. He said, the hiring process of
pretty steep. We have to make sure you can handle
the job. Oh and what is that there's a man
(03:09):
in the bar across the street. He's already killed several men,
to include two former marshals. Arrest him in the job
of yours. They handed in the Marshall badge fairly sure
they'd be getting it back soon. With a nod, the
newly minted marshall started walking across the street. Now if
he's unexpected Willie to run or just to die. That
(03:31):
grocer underestimated him Willie was a battle hardened warrior. He
foss a corporal with the seventh Illinois Rifle Company. He
had also served as ninth Calvary and entirely black hunt.
It was at Fort Bliss, Texas, and later moved out
to Fort Davis, Arizona. Derry fought against the Apaches. Being
a corporal made him a leader of men. His time
in the units soon convinced others. He knew his way
(03:51):
around a firearm and became an instructor at the Montro's
training camp. But when the war was over, and like
so many others, Willie looked around and found very few
opportunities for a man of his talents, So he drifted
to Denver and one day he reads about this town
and he's a marshal now with minutes behind the badge,
he walked into the saloon and he sees Casewood. He
(04:14):
spent a minute studying him, knowing how he also wore
his pistols low, and he studied the man's two associates.
Soon he approached the table and informs case with it
he's under arrest. Well, Casewin and his friends thought that
was probably the funniest thing that ever heard I'm supposed
to just come with you, Casewood asked, where are we going?
It's your choice, will He answered, you can go to
jail or even go to hell. Well, now, Casewoo wasn't
(04:39):
a pickle, and he had exactly two choices surrender or
add to his list of killings. Option one didn't appeal
to him. Option two is easy. He stood, intended to
add to his list and stary to reach for his pistols.
What happened next is debated. Some say before he even
touched the guns, Willie had drawn him fired twice. They
(05:02):
said the bullets struck the pistols, nearly ripping him from
the gun belt, and rendered both weapons useless. Others say
that Willie drew and club Casewood hard across the side
of the head with a drawn pistol. Unlike the glocks
and weapons favorite today, the old West pistol was an
American heavy metal AT's very best. While the stories just
what happened to case what, no one disputes what happened
there's case What's buddies both tried to draw on the
(05:24):
new Marshal, and before they even got halfway out, he
had taken them both out with a bullet between the eyes.
Case with them went to jail. Justice was very swift
back then. Casey was tried for the rape of the
Campbell girl, the murders of the marshals and the townspeople,
and he was taking to the edge of town to
(05:45):
a pine tree and hung. Stories have it that he
wrapped his legs on the tree and affort to keep
from dying. But all I did was prolong his agonies.
It was fitting in for the brutal man, and the
town at Yankee Hill had a new Marshal. Willie was
paid hundred dollars a month, which is a little bit
shy of twenty three hundred dollars in today's money. Now,
(06:05):
he did get tested again. There was a robber named
Billy McGeorge. He was an escapee from the Colorado Territorial Prison.
He formed a gang around himself and they played on
the freight wagons and the stages around the Gold Trail.
The town cancel asked Marshall Kenner to track him down. Well,
Kennard realized this wasn't such a great idea. Colorado is huge,
(06:30):
Colorado is rugged, and he could chase these guys all
over the territory. Until doomsday and still never catch them.
I'm going to make them come to me, he said.
Soon wanted posters started showing up on trees and posts.
The marshall who put a bounty in mc george's head
of a measily fifty dollars. Now this tick mc george
(06:51):
off quite a bit. Every other marshall around was asking
at least three hundred fifty bucks. That almost wasn't worth
walking across the street. Four So what he decided to
do was going to Yankee Hill, him and his gang,
and they're going to explain the facts of life to
this black man who had insulted himself. Well, they got
to Yankee Hill and Marshall Kenner was waiting for them.
(07:11):
He was armed with a double barrel shotgun. You men
can just drop your weapons, Cannada order, and loving the
shotgun at them. One of them, an outlaw named cashed
down and tried to pull him Willie. Willie blew him
off the horse with a blast and the shotgun. The
blast also killed the outlaw right next to downing and
blew the window at the general store with one barrel
still loaded and Named dried at him. Mc george fulled
(07:32):
his men a surrender. As Kenner took them to jail,
they breathed out threats of vengeance. They never got the chance.
They soon found themselves damning from the same tree the
case would had died on a few months before. By
eighteen seventy seven, Yankee Hill was a quiet town, but
it was also a die in town. The gold in
(07:54):
the area had ran out and people were just moving on.
Willie looked around relies. The place was going to be
a ghost town soon. He ended in his badger said
I'm going out east. I'm gonna find myself a wife.
Then Willie vanishes from history forever where he went when
he died and where he's buried donknnes for the time being,
and like so many Old West heroes, Willie Kinne rode
(08:16):
into history, leaving a lastin legacy as Carlo's first black
law man. And a special thanks to Monte for doing
the production on that piece, and to Richard Munez for
his terrific storytelling. And by the way, this was a
real life bad guy terrorizing a town and needed a
(08:37):
real life tough good guy to save him, and he did.
And my goodness, the stories of towns we've told a few,
and we'll be telling a lot more. Send them to
our American Stories dot com. We'll listen to one hundreds
affiliates all over this great country and we love hearing
your story. Send them heroes in your town, whether it's cops,
(08:58):
first responders, or well heroic stories going way back to
the early days in your town. Willie Kennard, Colorado's first
black lawman, here on our American Story
Host
Lee Habeeb
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