October 20, 2025 • 9 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, in a Colorado mining town torn apart by violence and lawlessness, a man named Willie Kennard rode in to restore order. He was Black, he was new to town, and he was willing to take on a job no one else would. What followed turned him into a frontier legend. Armed with quiet confidence and a strong sense of right and wrong, Kennard faced down gunmen, earned the respect of miners, and kept peace in a place that didn’t expect it from him. Our American Stories regular contributor Richard Muniz joins us to tell the story.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
And we returned to our American stories, and up next
to a story about the first black lorman in Colorado, Willie Kenner.
Here to tell a story is our regular contributor, Richard Munez.
Take it away, rich.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
The man on horseback paused about a mile from the town.
Like so many old West communities, the town was made
of logs, roughly so on boards, and they al together
with dreams. He studied the community for a moment before
urging the horse towards it. He didn't look like much.
He just a rangy, middle aged cow hand, like so
many cow has across the West. But if you studied him,
(00:50):
you know those things about him towards guns Low. This
was the side of a man accustomed to fighting for
his life. People look at him with shock as he
came into the town. Now this was a novelty. Someone
wondered what he was doing here, After all, there was
a review of his kind around. Maybe he was lost,
But the miners in the town of Yankee Hill, Colorado,
was certainly one thing. This man was trouble. Why else
(01:12):
would a black man be right into their town. The
year was 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
(01:32):
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, Caswock gunned him down, left him dead
in the street. The town marshall, a man named Craig,
tried to arrest him. Casewood laid him out right next
to Bertie's father being read from nearby. Ruby Hill replaced Craig,
(01:55):
he didn't do any better. The next Marshall left town
after seeing case would kill two saddle trams. Like the
giant glathe in the Bible, men feared that no one
could match him. No one challenged him. This was his
and no one and nothing would take it away from him.
What this particular glath hadn't counted on was that David's
having annoying intendency to just show up in his case.
(02:16):
David had just ridden into town. Matt Borden owned the
Square Deal General Store. He was also the mayor of
Yankee Hill, and here a couple of the city counselmen
discussing town business in fant Sarah Palmer's cafe over coffee
when the black cowboy walked in. He went straight over
(02:40):
to them and said, my name is Willie Kenned. I
read your towns looking for a Marshall. I'd like to
apply for the job. Gordon would say years later, he
wasn't impressed. One of the councilmen looked up at Kennard
and asked, you can read, boy. But if the comment
irritated Willie, he didn't show it. Gordon decided he had
some fun with the applicant. He said, the hiring process
(03:03):
is pretty steep. We have to make sure you can
handle the job. Oh and what is that there's a
man in the bar across the street. He'd already killed
several men, to include two former marshals. Arrest him in
The job is yours. They handed in the Marshall badge,
fairly sure they'd be getting it back soon. With a nod,
(03:25):
the newly minted Marshalls started walking across the street. Now,
if he's been expected Willie to run or just to die,
that grossly underestimated him. Willie was a battle hardened warrior.
He fought a corporate with the seventh Illinois Rifle Company.
He had also served as a ninth calvary and entirely
black human those at Fort Bliss, Texas. I later moved
out to Fort Davis, Arizona. There he fought against the Apaches.
(03:46):
Being a corporal made him a leader of men. His
time in the units soon convinced others. He knew his
way around a firearm and became an instructor at the
Montroth's training camp. But when the war was over, and
like so many others, Willie looks around and found virtue
opportunities for a man of his talents. So he drifted
to Denver and one day he reads about this town
and he's a marshall. Now with minutes behind the badge,
(04:07):
he walked into the saloon. He sees Case what it's
been 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 that
he's under arrest. Well, Case With his friends thought that
was probably the funniest thing they'd ever heard. I'm supposed
(04:28):
to just come with you. Casewood asked, where are we going?
It's your choice, will He answered, you can go to
jail or you can go to hell. Well, now, Case
what was in 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 was easy. He stood,
(04:51):
intended to add to his list, and stry to reach
for his pistols. What happened next is debated. Some say
before you even touch the guns, Willie had drawn him
fired twice. They said the bullet struck the pistols, nearly
ripping him from the gun belt and rendered both weapons useless.
Others say that Willie drew and club Case Wood hard
across the side of the head with the drawn pistol.
(05:12):
Unlike the glocks and weapons favorite today, the old West
pistol was American heavy metal at its very best. While
the story's just pure, what happened to Case what? No
one disputes what happened there's case What's buddies both tried
to draw on the new Marshal, and before they even
got half way 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. Case who
(05:38):
was tried for the rape of the Campbell girl, the
murders of the marshals and the townspeople, and he was
taken the edge of town to a pine tree and hung.
Stroys have it that he wrapped his legs on the
tree and effort to keep from dying. But all I
did was prolonged his agonies. It was a fitting in
for the brutal man, and the town at Yankee Hill
had a new marshal. Willie was paid a hundred dollars
(06:00):
a month, which a little bit shy of twenty three
hundred dollars in today's money. Now he did get tested again.
There was a robber named Billy McGeorge, used an escapee
from the Colorado Territorial Prison. He formed a gang around
himself and they played on the freight wagons and the
stages that around the Gold Trail. The town council asked
Marshall Kenner to track him down. Well, Kennard realized this
(06:26):
wasn't such a great idea. Colorado is huge, 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 had
put a bouty in mcgeorge's head of a measly fifty dollars.
(06:49):
Now this tick McGeorge off quite a bit. Every other
marshal around was asking at least three hundred of fifty bucks.
That almost wasn't worth walking across the STREETO. So what
he decided to do was going to Yankee Hill, him
and his gang and they were going to explain the
facts of life to this black man who had insulted
him so well. They got to the Yankee Hill and
(07:10):
Marsha Kenned was waiting for them. He was armed with
a double barrel shotgun. You man can just drop your weapons,
canad to order. Loving the shotgun at them. One of them,
an outlaw named cash down He tried to pull on
Willie Willi blew him off the horse with a blast
from the shotgun. The blast also killed the outlaw right
next to Downing and blew the window out of the
general's store. With one barrel still loaded and named dried
(07:31):
at him. McGeorge filled his menace surrender, but as kenned took
them to jail, they breathed out threats of vengeance. They
never got the chance. They soon found themselves dangning from
the same tree that Case would have died on a
few months before. By eighteen seventy seven, Yankee Hill was
a quiet town, but it was also a die in town.
(07:53):
The gold in the area had ran out and people
were just moving on. Willy looked around realized it was
going to be a ghost town soon. He handed in
his badge and said, I'm going out east. I'm gonna
find myself a wife. Then will he vanishes from history
forever where he went when he died and where he's
buried Dunnownes for the time being, And like so many
(08:14):
Old West heroes, Willie Kenneth rode into history, leaving a
lasting legacy as Carlo's first black law man.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
And a special thanks to Monty 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 real life tough
good guy to save him, and he did. And my goodness,
the stories of towns. Well, he told a few, and
(08:45):
we'll be telling a lot more. Send them to our
Americans 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, first responders,
or well, heroic stories going way back to the early
days in your town. Willie Kennard, Colorado's first black lawman.
(09:07):
Here on Our American Story. This is Lee Habib, host
(09:30):
of our American Stories. Every day on this show we
tell stories of history, faith, business, love, loss, and your stories.
Send us your story small or large to out email
oas at Ouramerican Stories dot com. That's oas at Ouramerican
Stories dot com. We'd love to hear them and put
(09:50):
them on the air. Our audience loves them too,
And we returned to our American stories, and up next
to a story about the first black lorman in Colorado, Willie Kenner.
Here to tell a story is our regular contributor, Richard Munez.
Take it away, rich.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
The man on horseback paused about a mile from the town.
Like so many old West communities, the town was made
of logs, roughly so on boards, and they al together
with dreams. He studied the community for a moment before
urging the horse towards it. He didn't look like much.
He just a rangy, middle aged cow hand, like so
many cow has across the West. But if you studied him,
(00:50):
you know those things about him towards guns Low. This
was the side of a man accustomed to fighting for
his life. People look at him with shock as he
came into the town. Now this was a novelty. Someone
wondered what he was doing here, After all, there was
a review of his kind around. Maybe he was lost,
But the miners in the town of Yankee Hill, Colorado,
was certainly one thing. This man was trouble. Why else
(01:12):
would a black man be right into their town. The
year was 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
(01:32):
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, Caswock gunned him down, left him dead
in the street. The town marshall, a man named Craig,
tried to arrest him. Casewood laid him out right next
to Bertie's father being read from nearby. Ruby Hill replaced Craig,
(01:55):
he didn't do any better. The next Marshall left town
after seeing case would kill two saddle trams. Like the
giant glathe in the Bible, men feared that no one
could match him. No one challenged him. This was his
and no one and nothing would take it away from him.
What this particular glath hadn't counted on was that David's
having annoying intendency to just show up in his case.
(02:16):
David had just ridden into town. Matt Borden owned the
Square Deal General Store. He was also the mayor of
Yankee Hill, and here a couple of the city counselmen
discussing town business in fant Sarah Palmer's cafe over coffee
when the black cowboy walked in. He went straight over
(02:40):
to them and said, my name is Willie Kenned. I
read your towns looking for a Marshall. I'd like to
apply for the job. Gordon would say years later, he
wasn't impressed. One of the councilmen looked up at Kennard
and asked, you can read, boy. But if the comment
irritated Willie, he didn't show it. Gordon decided he had
some fun with the applicant. He said, the hiring process
(03:03):
is pretty steep. We have to make sure you can
handle the job. Oh and what is that there's a
man in the bar across the street. He'd already killed
several men, to include two former marshals. Arrest him in
The job is yours. They handed in the Marshall badge,
fairly sure they'd be getting it back soon. With a nod,
(03:25):
the newly minted Marshalls started walking across the street. Now,
if he's been expected Willie to run or just to die,
that grossly underestimated him. Willie was a battle hardened warrior.
He fought a corporate with the seventh Illinois Rifle Company.
He had also served as a ninth calvary and entirely
black human those at Fort Bliss, Texas. I later moved
out to Fort Davis, Arizona. There he fought against the Apaches.
(03:46):
Being a corporal made him a leader of men. His
time in the units soon convinced others. He knew his
way around a firearm and became an instructor at the
Montroth's training camp. But when the war was over, and
like so many others, Willie looks around and found virtue
opportunities for a man of his talents. So he drifted
to Denver and one day he reads about this town
and he's a marshall. Now with minutes behind the badge,
(04:07):
he walked into the saloon. He sees Case what it's
been 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 that
he's under arrest. Well, Case With his friends thought that
was probably the funniest thing they'd ever heard. I'm supposed
(04:28):
to just come with you. Casewood asked, where are we going?
It's your choice, will He answered, you can go to
jail or you can go to hell. Well, now, Case
what was in 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 was easy. He stood,
(04:51):
intended to add to his list, and stry to reach
for his pistols. What happened next is debated. Some say
before you even touch the guns, Willie had drawn him
fired twice. They said the bullet struck the pistols, nearly
ripping him from the gun belt and rendered both weapons useless.
Others say that Willie drew and club Case Wood hard
across the side of the head with the drawn pistol.
(05:12):
Unlike the glocks and weapons favorite today, the old West
pistol was American heavy metal at its very best. While
the story's just pure, what happened to Case what? No
one disputes what happened there's case What's buddies both tried
to draw on the new Marshal, and before they even
got half way 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. Case who
(05:38):
was tried for the rape of the Campbell girl, the
murders of the marshals and the townspeople, and he was
taken the edge of town to a pine tree and hung.
Stroys have it that he wrapped his legs on the
tree and effort to keep from dying. But all I
did was prolonged his agonies. It was a fitting in
for the brutal man, and the town at Yankee Hill
had a new marshal. Willie was paid a hundred dollars
(06:00):
a month, which a little bit shy of twenty three
hundred dollars in today's money. Now he did get tested again.
There was a robber named Billy McGeorge, used an escapee
from the Colorado Territorial Prison. He formed a gang around
himself and they played on the freight wagons and the
stages that around the Gold Trail. The town council asked
Marshall Kenner to track him down. Well, Kennard realized this
(06:26):
wasn't such a great idea. Colorado is huge, 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 had
put a bouty in mcgeorge's head of a measly fifty dollars.
(06:49):
Now this tick McGeorge off quite a bit. Every other
marshal around was asking at least three hundred of fifty bucks.
That almost wasn't worth walking across the STREETO. So what
he decided to do was going to Yankee Hill, him
and his gang and they were going to explain the
facts of life to this black man who had insulted
him so well. They got to the Yankee Hill and
(07:10):
Marsha Kenned was waiting for them. He was armed with
a double barrel shotgun. You man can just drop your weapons,
canad to order. Loving the shotgun at them. One of them,
an outlaw named cash down He tried to pull on
Willie Willi blew him off the horse with a blast
from the shotgun. The blast also killed the outlaw right
next to Downing and blew the window out of the
general's store. With one barrel still loaded and named dried
(07:31):
at him. McGeorge filled his menace surrender, but as kenned took
them to jail, they breathed out threats of vengeance. They
never got the chance. They soon found themselves dangning from
the same tree that Case would have died on a
few months before. By eighteen seventy seven, Yankee Hill was
a quiet town, but it was also a die in town.
(07:53):
The gold in the area had ran out and people
were just moving on. Willy looked around realized it was
going to be a ghost town soon. He handed in
his badge and said, I'm going out east. I'm gonna
find myself a wife. Then will he vanishes from history
forever where he went when he died and where he's
buried Dunnownes for the time being, And like so many
(08:14):
Old West heroes, Willie Kenneth rode into history, leaving a
lasting legacy as Carlo's first black law man.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
And a special thanks to Monty 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 real life tough
good guy to save him, and he did. And my goodness,
the stories of towns. Well, he told a few, and
(08:45):
we'll be telling a lot more. Send them to our
Americans 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, first responders,
or well, heroic stories going way back to the early
days in your town. Willie Kennard, Colorado's first black lawman.
(09:07):
Here on Our American Story. This is Lee Habib, host
(09:30):
of our American Stories. Every day on this show we
tell stories of history, faith, business, love, loss, and your stories.
Send us your story small or large to out email
oas at Ouramerican Stories dot com. That's oas at Ouramerican
Stories dot com. We'd love to hear them and put
(09:50):
them on the air. Our audience loves them too,
Host
Lee Habeeb
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