Sam was a homicide victim. He attempted to keep the perpetrator from forcibly entering through the front door of his home and was shot and died almost instantly.
The two knew each other and the perpetrator was apparently bent upon revenge. Further details about the motive could not be retrieved from surviving digitized archives.
Sam was a ranch hand in the county and an excellent horseman. He regularly toured with the famous Irwin Brothers Wild West Show.
Sam was survived by his wife, mother, and siblings.
--submitted by Clint Black, May 2012
YOUNG NEGRO SHOT AND KILLED BY UNKNOWN THROUGH DOOR OF HOUSE
____________
Sam T. Palmer Falls Dying While Wife Sees Assassin Dash Through Alley
____________
SUSPECT, ALSO A NEGRO, STILL AT LARGE
____________
Police Believe There Was “A Woman In the Case” – Dead Man Well Known In Cheyenne
____________
Sam T. Palmer, 27, a mulatto, who is well known in Cheyenne, was killed last night shortly before 7 o’clock at his home at 1710 Snyder street, by an unknown assailant who fired two shots at him through the panel of the front door.
Mrs. Palmer had stepped out for a few minutes at the time to visit some of her friends, and her husband was alone. Someone knocked on the front door and as he opened the door, Palmer, recognizing the visitor, asked, "What do you want?"
According to information last night the reply came back, "You know what I want," and as Palmer bent over, pushing hard against the door and trying to close it, the other fired two shots through the wood.
One of them struck Palmer in the left shoulder and came out through the right after passing entirely through the body. The other went wild.
When the shots were fired Mrs. Palmer, who was returning, was within a few feet of her home and saw the murderer leave the door and dash down the alley, running west. Others who heard the shot and rushed out to find the trouble also stated that they saw the man. Because of the darkness none of them was able to identify him.
Mrs. Palmer picked up her husband from the floor where he had fallen and half dragged and carried him to a bed but he died before aid reached him. She at once telephoned the police and Chief Embery, Nels Perry, Sheriff Pat Hayes, Deputy Sheriff Carroll and others, rushed to the scene at once, some of them going in the patrol wagon.
When they arrived a number of people had gathered around the home and more were coming. They took charge of the body and waited for Coroner Early who was summoned and at once took the body to his undertaking parlors.
A number of the men at the Palmer home were taken to the station and a cross-examination held, but little was found out. Mrs. Palmer also failed to tell much of importance, except to say that so far as she knew Sam did not have an enemy of any kind. It was generally believed that a negro did the shooting.
Later in the evening two men dropped into the police station and said that they were certain as to who did the shooting and that they could identify him. During the afternoon, they stated, a colored man, whose name was not given, had told them and several other men in a saloon that he was going to get Palmer, alleging that he wouldn't have any ____ taking up with his woman. Who the woman was no one was able to find out.
Early this morning investigations were still being made.
Palmer is survived by his wife, his mother, who lived here for a number of years but whose whereabouts was not learned last night, and two sisters last known to be living in Denver.
The dead man has many friends in Cheyenne who have known him practically all of his life. For many years he has been a rider for Charles Irwin in his wild west show and has made all his trips with him. Until recently he was employed by Jim Askin, driver of the LaGrange stage. He had worked at one time or another for several of the ranchers in this county.
© Cheyenne State Leader no. 337 February 22, 1917, page 1
____________________________________
ARREST SLAYER SUSPECT
________
Police Believe That Smith Shot Palmer
________
PRISONER IS SILENT
________
Fits Description Given By Slain Man’s Wife – Other Evidence
________
Will Smith, a Cheyenne negro with no settled place of residence in the city, was arrested yesterday afternoon in the California bar at the corner of Seventeenth street and Pioneer avenue by tenth and Thomes street by officer Peterson, on suspicion of being the man who shot and killed Sam T. Palmer, colored, Wednesday night about 7 o’clock at his home, 1710 Snyder street.
PRISONER HAD A REVOLVER.
The shots, one of which passed entirely through Palmer's body entering the left shoulder and passing out the right, were fired from a .38 caliber revolver through the door as the victim was trying to close it against his assailant. A gun owned by Smith, which was taken by police from a Mrs. Lewis to whom he gave it early yesterday afternoon for safe keeping, was found to be a .38 Colt.
Palmer was alone in the house at the time he was shot but Mrs. Palmer was within a few yards of home, on her return from a short visit to one of the neighbors and saw the slayer. After she had carried her husband to bed where he died almost instantly, and after the police had arrived, she said that the murderer was a tall, slender man and she believed, a negro.
Later in the evening two men dropped into the police station and told the officers that they would know the man who did the shooting if they saw him. stating that he was about 6 feet tall, slender and wore a mackinaw and cap. They also said that he had told them in a saloon that afternoon that he "was going to get Palmer," and wouldn't stand for any ____ taking up with his woman.
So far the woman in the case has not developed but, Smith corresponds exactly with the description of the murderer as given by both men and Mrs. Palmer. He is about 6 feet tall, slender and was wearing a mackinaw and cap. Officer Peterson declared that when he arrested Smith the latter made no trouble and asked no questions, not even wanting to know what the charge against him was.
WIFE OF VICTIM ACCUSES HIM.
Mrs. Palmer was summoned and after arriving at the police station shook her fist in the face of Smith and accused him of being the slayer of her husband. He did not say anything and stood mute with downcast head, showing no interest in anything she said, although she berated him vigorously.
In almost the only question he answered, he was caught in a lie, according to the police. He said that he stayed at the rooming house of Mrs. Ben Davis at the corner of Seventeenth and O’Neil streets, when in reality he stayed at the rooming house of Mrs. Lewis at 615 West Eighteenth street. It was here that he left his gun yesterday afternoon.
When he pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to Mrs. Lewis it was loaded with six shells which she asked him to remove, saying that she was afraid of a loaded gun. He took out the bullets and left the weapon. Christensen got it later from Mrs. Lewis. Two chambers in the gun show that it has been fired recently and the barrel is also slightly smokeburned. Smith will make no statement, however.
When he was searched preparatory to taking him to the county jail where he is now lodged, two .38 cartridges were found in his hip pocket. All have been marked for future identification.
SMITH NERVOUS IN JAIL.
The prisoner was extremely nervous last night, shortly after 6 o'clock when Undersheriff Ed Schoel entered the jail to get some articles, Schoel did not disturb Smith in any way but noticed that he had laid down on his bed with his knees well drawn up and a scared look on his face. He was wringing and rotting his hands in an unconscious manner, one over the other, and was trembling as if from extreme cold.
Late last night he had still refused to talk although he had not gotten over his nervousness, and it is expected that today or before the week is over he will tell some story. Officers last night expressed the opinion that he would confess to being guilty and clear up the whole mystery and the motive for the shooting.
© Cheyenne State Leader February 23, 1917 page 1 & 4
____________________________________
SMITH CONFESSES TO KILLING OF SAM PALMER
______
NEGRO SAYS HE INTENDED TO SURRENDER
______
Went Into Bar and Heard Conversation Which Changed Mind
______
Will Smith, a Cheyenne negro, has confessed to Sheriff Pat Hayes and Undersheriff Ed Schoel that he shot and killed Sam T. Palmer, colored, at his home, 1710 Snyder street, on Feb. 21.
The murder was a peculiar one that attracted a great deal of attention at the time and had everybody guessing for the reason that at first it was believed no clue was left upon which to work. Palmer was alone in the house at the time, his wife having stepped out for a few minutes to visit with one of the neighbors, and Smith shot twice at him through the door when Palmer tried to keep him from entering the house.
Smith, in talking to Hayes and Schoel, acknowledged that he had had trouble with Palmer, and that he was at his home that night. Palmer and he were having some trouble he told the officers and he was trying to get into the house to talk face to face with Palmer, who had the door locked. Palmer left the door and went into another room, he said and then came back.
"I knew he had a gun then, so I just beat him to it," Smith said. "After I shot Palmer I saw a woman corning across the street and I ran down the alley going west until I came to the hill down there. Then I cut around and went back to the California bar to get a drink." Officer N. G. Peterson arrested Smith in the bar the next day.
INTENDED TO GIVE HIMSELF UP.
Smith said that when he entered the bar he intended giving himself up after getting his drink, but he heard two colored men talking about the murder and what they said made him believe he could get away.
"Say, do they know who killed Palmer?" Smith says one of them asked.
"No, all they know about it is that it was a tall feller. They don't know whether it was a nigger, a Mexican or a white man. They only know he was tall," the other is said to have replied. This, he said, made him try to escape the police.
At the time that Smith was arrested the authorities were sure that they had the right man. So far as they were able to find out from Mrs. Palmer, who was the woman Smith saw coming across the street and who was within a few years of the house when Smith shot, the murderer was tall, had on a mackinaw and a cap. She thought he was a negro. Smith fitted this description exactly.
SMITH SUSPECTED FROM THE FIRST.
Others who also saw him run up the alley said he was tall and was wearing a short coat, probably a mackinaw and a cap. Two men who talked to the police late that night, said that they believed they would know the man if they saw him. They said a tall fellow wearing a cap and mackinaw had told them and several others in the California bar that afternoon that he was going to get Palmer and that "he wouldn't stand for any nigger taking up with his woman."
Both Coroner Clyde Early and Police Chief Embery gave it as their opinion that the gun used for the murder was a .38-caliber revolver. The gun that was taken from a Mrs. Lewis, at whose rooming house Smith had stayed the night of the murder and to whom he gave it a few hours before he was arrested, was a .38-caliber Colts, and, according to the police, two chambers were dirty, showing that the gun had been shot recently. Mrs. Lewis said that at the time she got it the chambers were all filled and she made him empty them. Smith had four cartridges on him when arrested.
When Officer Peterson arrested him, Smith went peaceably to jail without asking with what he was charged and later when Mrs. Palmer accused and berated him as being the man who murdered her husband, he took it all with downhung head and refused to say a word. He later told the police that he stayed at Mrs. Ben Davis' rooming house the night of the murder but was caught in a lie when it was found he stayed at Mrs. Lewis’.
Shortly after he was turned over to the sheriff's office to be held in the county jail, Undersheriff Schoel entered the cell and found him all huddled up on his bed, with his knees drawn up and shaking and trembling while he rolled one hand over the other.
The police believed that Smith would talk the next day and either confirm or deny the story but when he refused to meet any advances and held steadily to that policy they concluded that he would wait until taken into court before making a statement of any kind. It therefore came as more or less of a surprise when he told the officers later that he was guilty of the crime.
© Cheyenne State Leader no. 346 March 04, 1917, page 1 and 6
____________________________________
WILLIAM SMITH IS CONVICTED HERE OF MURDER OF PALMER
_____
William Smith, the negro tried yesterday for the slaying of Sam Palmer at the latter's home February 21, last evening was found guilty of murder in the first degree. In the verdict returned by the jury, it was recommended that Smith be allowed to pay the penalty for his crime without suffering capital punishment. It is considered likely that he will be sentenced to life imprisonment.
Mrs. Palmer asserted on the witness stand yesterday that Smith had nearly run into her after firing the shots through the door that killed his victim. She identified Smith as the man.
Smith made no defense other than to say that he and Palmer had fought and that he was afraid that Palmer meant to take his life if given a chance. Smith said that he had bought the gun with which he killed Palmer and had gone to Palmer's home to "apologize with him."
Smith's conviction was secured in record-breaking time for the district court. His trial opened in the morning, the jury being selected and the entire evidence and arguments having been presented long before court adjourned.
The jury was out but a few minutes.
© Wyoming Tribune no. 140 June 12, 1917, page 2
____________________________________
Smith was sentenced to life in prison on June 19, 1917 by Judge Mentzer.
Additional articles located by Lostnwyomn December 2014.
The two knew each other and the perpetrator was apparently bent upon revenge. Further details about the motive could not be retrieved from surviving digitized archives.
Sam was a ranch hand in the county and an excellent horseman. He regularly toured with the famous Irwin Brothers Wild West Show.
Sam was survived by his wife, mother, and siblings.
--submitted by Clint Black, May 2012
YOUNG NEGRO SHOT AND KILLED BY UNKNOWN THROUGH DOOR OF HOUSE
____________
Sam T. Palmer Falls Dying While Wife Sees Assassin Dash Through Alley
____________
SUSPECT, ALSO A NEGRO, STILL AT LARGE
____________
Police Believe There Was “A Woman In the Case” – Dead Man Well Known In Cheyenne
____________
Sam T. Palmer, 27, a mulatto, who is well known in Cheyenne, was killed last night shortly before 7 o’clock at his home at 1710 Snyder street, by an unknown assailant who fired two shots at him through the panel of the front door.
Mrs. Palmer had stepped out for a few minutes at the time to visit some of her friends, and her husband was alone. Someone knocked on the front door and as he opened the door, Palmer, recognizing the visitor, asked, "What do you want?"
According to information last night the reply came back, "You know what I want," and as Palmer bent over, pushing hard against the door and trying to close it, the other fired two shots through the wood.
One of them struck Palmer in the left shoulder and came out through the right after passing entirely through the body. The other went wild.
When the shots were fired Mrs. Palmer, who was returning, was within a few feet of her home and saw the murderer leave the door and dash down the alley, running west. Others who heard the shot and rushed out to find the trouble also stated that they saw the man. Because of the darkness none of them was able to identify him.
Mrs. Palmer picked up her husband from the floor where he had fallen and half dragged and carried him to a bed but he died before aid reached him. She at once telephoned the police and Chief Embery, Nels Perry, Sheriff Pat Hayes, Deputy Sheriff Carroll and others, rushed to the scene at once, some of them going in the patrol wagon.
When they arrived a number of people had gathered around the home and more were coming. They took charge of the body and waited for Coroner Early who was summoned and at once took the body to his undertaking parlors.
A number of the men at the Palmer home were taken to the station and a cross-examination held, but little was found out. Mrs. Palmer also failed to tell much of importance, except to say that so far as she knew Sam did not have an enemy of any kind. It was generally believed that a negro did the shooting.
Later in the evening two men dropped into the police station and said that they were certain as to who did the shooting and that they could identify him. During the afternoon, they stated, a colored man, whose name was not given, had told them and several other men in a saloon that he was going to get Palmer, alleging that he wouldn't have any ____ taking up with his woman. Who the woman was no one was able to find out.
Early this morning investigations were still being made.
Palmer is survived by his wife, his mother, who lived here for a number of years but whose whereabouts was not learned last night, and two sisters last known to be living in Denver.
The dead man has many friends in Cheyenne who have known him practically all of his life. For many years he has been a rider for Charles Irwin in his wild west show and has made all his trips with him. Until recently he was employed by Jim Askin, driver of the LaGrange stage. He had worked at one time or another for several of the ranchers in this county.
© Cheyenne State Leader no. 337 February 22, 1917, page 1
____________________________________
ARREST SLAYER SUSPECT
________
Police Believe That Smith Shot Palmer
________
PRISONER IS SILENT
________
Fits Description Given By Slain Man’s Wife – Other Evidence
________
Will Smith, a Cheyenne negro with no settled place of residence in the city, was arrested yesterday afternoon in the California bar at the corner of Seventeenth street and Pioneer avenue by tenth and Thomes street by officer Peterson, on suspicion of being the man who shot and killed Sam T. Palmer, colored, Wednesday night about 7 o’clock at his home, 1710 Snyder street.
PRISONER HAD A REVOLVER.
The shots, one of which passed entirely through Palmer's body entering the left shoulder and passing out the right, were fired from a .38 caliber revolver through the door as the victim was trying to close it against his assailant. A gun owned by Smith, which was taken by police from a Mrs. Lewis to whom he gave it early yesterday afternoon for safe keeping, was found to be a .38 Colt.
Palmer was alone in the house at the time he was shot but Mrs. Palmer was within a few yards of home, on her return from a short visit to one of the neighbors and saw the slayer. After she had carried her husband to bed where he died almost instantly, and after the police had arrived, she said that the murderer was a tall, slender man and she believed, a negro.
Later in the evening two men dropped into the police station and told the officers that they would know the man who did the shooting if they saw him. stating that he was about 6 feet tall, slender and wore a mackinaw and cap. They also said that he had told them in a saloon that afternoon that he "was going to get Palmer," and wouldn't stand for any ____ taking up with his woman.
So far the woman in the case has not developed but, Smith corresponds exactly with the description of the murderer as given by both men and Mrs. Palmer. He is about 6 feet tall, slender and was wearing a mackinaw and cap. Officer Peterson declared that when he arrested Smith the latter made no trouble and asked no questions, not even wanting to know what the charge against him was.
WIFE OF VICTIM ACCUSES HIM.
Mrs. Palmer was summoned and after arriving at the police station shook her fist in the face of Smith and accused him of being the slayer of her husband. He did not say anything and stood mute with downcast head, showing no interest in anything she said, although she berated him vigorously.
In almost the only question he answered, he was caught in a lie, according to the police. He said that he stayed at the rooming house of Mrs. Ben Davis at the corner of Seventeenth and O’Neil streets, when in reality he stayed at the rooming house of Mrs. Lewis at 615 West Eighteenth street. It was here that he left his gun yesterday afternoon.
When he pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to Mrs. Lewis it was loaded with six shells which she asked him to remove, saying that she was afraid of a loaded gun. He took out the bullets and left the weapon. Christensen got it later from Mrs. Lewis. Two chambers in the gun show that it has been fired recently and the barrel is also slightly smokeburned. Smith will make no statement, however.
When he was searched preparatory to taking him to the county jail where he is now lodged, two .38 cartridges were found in his hip pocket. All have been marked for future identification.
SMITH NERVOUS IN JAIL.
The prisoner was extremely nervous last night, shortly after 6 o'clock when Undersheriff Ed Schoel entered the jail to get some articles, Schoel did not disturb Smith in any way but noticed that he had laid down on his bed with his knees well drawn up and a scared look on his face. He was wringing and rotting his hands in an unconscious manner, one over the other, and was trembling as if from extreme cold.
Late last night he had still refused to talk although he had not gotten over his nervousness, and it is expected that today or before the week is over he will tell some story. Officers last night expressed the opinion that he would confess to being guilty and clear up the whole mystery and the motive for the shooting.
© Cheyenne State Leader February 23, 1917 page 1 & 4
____________________________________
SMITH CONFESSES TO KILLING OF SAM PALMER
______
NEGRO SAYS HE INTENDED TO SURRENDER
______
Went Into Bar and Heard Conversation Which Changed Mind
______
Will Smith, a Cheyenne negro, has confessed to Sheriff Pat Hayes and Undersheriff Ed Schoel that he shot and killed Sam T. Palmer, colored, at his home, 1710 Snyder street, on Feb. 21.
The murder was a peculiar one that attracted a great deal of attention at the time and had everybody guessing for the reason that at first it was believed no clue was left upon which to work. Palmer was alone in the house at the time, his wife having stepped out for a few minutes to visit with one of the neighbors, and Smith shot twice at him through the door when Palmer tried to keep him from entering the house.
Smith, in talking to Hayes and Schoel, acknowledged that he had had trouble with Palmer, and that he was at his home that night. Palmer and he were having some trouble he told the officers and he was trying to get into the house to talk face to face with Palmer, who had the door locked. Palmer left the door and went into another room, he said and then came back.
"I knew he had a gun then, so I just beat him to it," Smith said. "After I shot Palmer I saw a woman corning across the street and I ran down the alley going west until I came to the hill down there. Then I cut around and went back to the California bar to get a drink." Officer N. G. Peterson arrested Smith in the bar the next day.
INTENDED TO GIVE HIMSELF UP.
Smith said that when he entered the bar he intended giving himself up after getting his drink, but he heard two colored men talking about the murder and what they said made him believe he could get away.
"Say, do they know who killed Palmer?" Smith says one of them asked.
"No, all they know about it is that it was a tall feller. They don't know whether it was a nigger, a Mexican or a white man. They only know he was tall," the other is said to have replied. This, he said, made him try to escape the police.
At the time that Smith was arrested the authorities were sure that they had the right man. So far as they were able to find out from Mrs. Palmer, who was the woman Smith saw coming across the street and who was within a few years of the house when Smith shot, the murderer was tall, had on a mackinaw and a cap. She thought he was a negro. Smith fitted this description exactly.
SMITH SUSPECTED FROM THE FIRST.
Others who also saw him run up the alley said he was tall and was wearing a short coat, probably a mackinaw and a cap. Two men who talked to the police late that night, said that they believed they would know the man if they saw him. They said a tall fellow wearing a cap and mackinaw had told them and several others in the California bar that afternoon that he was going to get Palmer and that "he wouldn't stand for any nigger taking up with his woman."
Both Coroner Clyde Early and Police Chief Embery gave it as their opinion that the gun used for the murder was a .38-caliber revolver. The gun that was taken from a Mrs. Lewis, at whose rooming house Smith had stayed the night of the murder and to whom he gave it a few hours before he was arrested, was a .38-caliber Colts, and, according to the police, two chambers were dirty, showing that the gun had been shot recently. Mrs. Lewis said that at the time she got it the chambers were all filled and she made him empty them. Smith had four cartridges on him when arrested.
When Officer Peterson arrested him, Smith went peaceably to jail without asking with what he was charged and later when Mrs. Palmer accused and berated him as being the man who murdered her husband, he took it all with downhung head and refused to say a word. He later told the police that he stayed at Mrs. Ben Davis' rooming house the night of the murder but was caught in a lie when it was found he stayed at Mrs. Lewis’.
Shortly after he was turned over to the sheriff's office to be held in the county jail, Undersheriff Schoel entered the cell and found him all huddled up on his bed, with his knees drawn up and shaking and trembling while he rolled one hand over the other.
The police believed that Smith would talk the next day and either confirm or deny the story but when he refused to meet any advances and held steadily to that policy they concluded that he would wait until taken into court before making a statement of any kind. It therefore came as more or less of a surprise when he told the officers later that he was guilty of the crime.
© Cheyenne State Leader no. 346 March 04, 1917, page 1 and 6
____________________________________
WILLIAM SMITH IS CONVICTED HERE OF MURDER OF PALMER
_____
William Smith, the negro tried yesterday for the slaying of Sam Palmer at the latter's home February 21, last evening was found guilty of murder in the first degree. In the verdict returned by the jury, it was recommended that Smith be allowed to pay the penalty for his crime without suffering capital punishment. It is considered likely that he will be sentenced to life imprisonment.
Mrs. Palmer asserted on the witness stand yesterday that Smith had nearly run into her after firing the shots through the door that killed his victim. She identified Smith as the man.
Smith made no defense other than to say that he and Palmer had fought and that he was afraid that Palmer meant to take his life if given a chance. Smith said that he had bought the gun with which he killed Palmer and had gone to Palmer's home to "apologize with him."
Smith's conviction was secured in record-breaking time for the district court. His trial opened in the morning, the jury being selected and the entire evidence and arguments having been presented long before court adjourned.
The jury was out but a few minutes.
© Wyoming Tribune no. 140 June 12, 1917, page 2
____________________________________
Smith was sentenced to life in prison on June 19, 1917 by Judge Mentzer.
Additional articles located by Lostnwyomn December 2014.
Sam was a homicide victim. He attempted to keep the perpetrator from forcibly entering through the front door of his home and was shot and died almost instantly.
The two knew each other and the perpetrator was apparently bent upon revenge. Further details about the motive could not be retrieved from surviving digitized archives.
Sam was a ranch hand in the county and an excellent horseman. He regularly toured with the famous Irwin Brothers Wild West Show.
Sam was survived by his wife, mother, and siblings.
--submitted by Clint Black, May 2012
YOUNG NEGRO SHOT AND KILLED BY UNKNOWN THROUGH DOOR OF HOUSE
____________
Sam T. Palmer Falls Dying While Wife Sees Assassin Dash Through Alley
____________
SUSPECT, ALSO A NEGRO, STILL AT LARGE
____________
Police Believe There Was “A Woman In the Case” – Dead Man Well Known In Cheyenne
____________
Sam T. Palmer, 27, a mulatto, who is well known in Cheyenne, was killed last night shortly before 7 o’clock at his home at 1710 Snyder street, by an unknown assailant who fired two shots at him through the panel of the front door.
Mrs. Palmer had stepped out for a few minutes at the time to visit some of her friends, and her husband was alone. Someone knocked on the front door and as he opened the door, Palmer, recognizing the visitor, asked, "What do you want?"
According to information last night the reply came back, "You know what I want," and as Palmer bent over, pushing hard against the door and trying to close it, the other fired two shots through the wood.
One of them struck Palmer in the left shoulder and came out through the right after passing entirely through the body. The other went wild.
When the shots were fired Mrs. Palmer, who was returning, was within a few feet of her home and saw the murderer leave the door and dash down the alley, running west. Others who heard the shot and rushed out to find the trouble also stated that they saw the man. Because of the darkness none of them was able to identify him.
Mrs. Palmer picked up her husband from the floor where he had fallen and half dragged and carried him to a bed but he died before aid reached him. She at once telephoned the police and Chief Embery, Nels Perry, Sheriff Pat Hayes, Deputy Sheriff Carroll and others, rushed to the scene at once, some of them going in the patrol wagon.
When they arrived a number of people had gathered around the home and more were coming. They took charge of the body and waited for Coroner Early who was summoned and at once took the body to his undertaking parlors.
A number of the men at the Palmer home were taken to the station and a cross-examination held, but little was found out. Mrs. Palmer also failed to tell much of importance, except to say that so far as she knew Sam did not have an enemy of any kind. It was generally believed that a negro did the shooting.
Later in the evening two men dropped into the police station and said that they were certain as to who did the shooting and that they could identify him. During the afternoon, they stated, a colored man, whose name was not given, had told them and several other men in a saloon that he was going to get Palmer, alleging that he wouldn't have any ____ taking up with his woman. Who the woman was no one was able to find out.
Early this morning investigations were still being made.
Palmer is survived by his wife, his mother, who lived here for a number of years but whose whereabouts was not learned last night, and two sisters last known to be living in Denver.
The dead man has many friends in Cheyenne who have known him practically all of his life. For many years he has been a rider for Charles Irwin in his wild west show and has made all his trips with him. Until recently he was employed by Jim Askin, driver of the LaGrange stage. He had worked at one time or another for several of the ranchers in this county.
© Cheyenne State Leader no. 337 February 22, 1917, page 1
____________________________________
ARREST SLAYER SUSPECT
________
Police Believe That Smith Shot Palmer
________
PRISONER IS SILENT
________
Fits Description Given By Slain Man’s Wife – Other Evidence
________
Will Smith, a Cheyenne negro with no settled place of residence in the city, was arrested yesterday afternoon in the California bar at the corner of Seventeenth street and Pioneer avenue by tenth and Thomes street by officer Peterson, on suspicion of being the man who shot and killed Sam T. Palmer, colored, Wednesday night about 7 o’clock at his home, 1710 Snyder street.
PRISONER HAD A REVOLVER.
The shots, one of which passed entirely through Palmer's body entering the left shoulder and passing out the right, were fired from a .38 caliber revolver through the door as the victim was trying to close it against his assailant. A gun owned by Smith, which was taken by police from a Mrs. Lewis to whom he gave it early yesterday afternoon for safe keeping, was found to be a .38 Colt.
Palmer was alone in the house at the time he was shot but Mrs. Palmer was within a few yards of home, on her return from a short visit to one of the neighbors and saw the slayer. After she had carried her husband to bed where he died almost instantly, and after the police had arrived, she said that the murderer was a tall, slender man and she believed, a negro.
Later in the evening two men dropped into the police station and told the officers that they would know the man who did the shooting if they saw him. stating that he was about 6 feet tall, slender and wore a mackinaw and cap. They also said that he had told them in a saloon that afternoon that he "was going to get Palmer," and wouldn't stand for any ____ taking up with his woman.
So far the woman in the case has not developed but, Smith corresponds exactly with the description of the murderer as given by both men and Mrs. Palmer. He is about 6 feet tall, slender and was wearing a mackinaw and cap. Officer Peterson declared that when he arrested Smith the latter made no trouble and asked no questions, not even wanting to know what the charge against him was.
WIFE OF VICTIM ACCUSES HIM.
Mrs. Palmer was summoned and after arriving at the police station shook her fist in the face of Smith and accused him of being the slayer of her husband. He did not say anything and stood mute with downcast head, showing no interest in anything she said, although she berated him vigorously.
In almost the only question he answered, he was caught in a lie, according to the police. He said that he stayed at the rooming house of Mrs. Ben Davis at the corner of Seventeenth and O’Neil streets, when in reality he stayed at the rooming house of Mrs. Lewis at 615 West Eighteenth street. It was here that he left his gun yesterday afternoon.
When he pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to Mrs. Lewis it was loaded with six shells which she asked him to remove, saying that she was afraid of a loaded gun. He took out the bullets and left the weapon. Christensen got it later from Mrs. Lewis. Two chambers in the gun show that it has been fired recently and the barrel is also slightly smokeburned. Smith will make no statement, however.
When he was searched preparatory to taking him to the county jail where he is now lodged, two .38 cartridges were found in his hip pocket. All have been marked for future identification.
SMITH NERVOUS IN JAIL.
The prisoner was extremely nervous last night, shortly after 6 o'clock when Undersheriff Ed Schoel entered the jail to get some articles, Schoel did not disturb Smith in any way but noticed that he had laid down on his bed with his knees well drawn up and a scared look on his face. He was wringing and rotting his hands in an unconscious manner, one over the other, and was trembling as if from extreme cold.
Late last night he had still refused to talk although he had not gotten over his nervousness, and it is expected that today or before the week is over he will tell some story. Officers last night expressed the opinion that he would confess to being guilty and clear up the whole mystery and the motive for the shooting.
© Cheyenne State Leader February 23, 1917 page 1 & 4
____________________________________
SMITH CONFESSES TO KILLING OF SAM PALMER
______
NEGRO SAYS HE INTENDED TO SURRENDER
______
Went Into Bar and Heard Conversation Which Changed Mind
______
Will Smith, a Cheyenne negro, has confessed to Sheriff Pat Hayes and Undersheriff Ed Schoel that he shot and killed Sam T. Palmer, colored, at his home, 1710 Snyder street, on Feb. 21.
The murder was a peculiar one that attracted a great deal of attention at the time and had everybody guessing for the reason that at first it was believed no clue was left upon which to work. Palmer was alone in the house at the time, his wife having stepped out for a few minutes to visit with one of the neighbors, and Smith shot twice at him through the door when Palmer tried to keep him from entering the house.
Smith, in talking to Hayes and Schoel, acknowledged that he had had trouble with Palmer, and that he was at his home that night. Palmer and he were having some trouble he told the officers and he was trying to get into the house to talk face to face with Palmer, who had the door locked. Palmer left the door and went into another room, he said and then came back.
"I knew he had a gun then, so I just beat him to it," Smith said. "After I shot Palmer I saw a woman corning across the street and I ran down the alley going west until I came to the hill down there. Then I cut around and went back to the California bar to get a drink." Officer N. G. Peterson arrested Smith in the bar the next day.
INTENDED TO GIVE HIMSELF UP.
Smith said that when he entered the bar he intended giving himself up after getting his drink, but he heard two colored men talking about the murder and what they said made him believe he could get away.
"Say, do they know who killed Palmer?" Smith says one of them asked.
"No, all they know about it is that it was a tall feller. They don't know whether it was a nigger, a Mexican or a white man. They only know he was tall," the other is said to have replied. This, he said, made him try to escape the police.
At the time that Smith was arrested the authorities were sure that they had the right man. So far as they were able to find out from Mrs. Palmer, who was the woman Smith saw coming across the street and who was within a few years of the house when Smith shot, the murderer was tall, had on a mackinaw and a cap. She thought he was a negro. Smith fitted this description exactly.
SMITH SUSPECTED FROM THE FIRST.
Others who also saw him run up the alley said he was tall and was wearing a short coat, probably a mackinaw and a cap. Two men who talked to the police late that night, said that they believed they would know the man if they saw him. They said a tall fellow wearing a cap and mackinaw had told them and several others in the California bar that afternoon that he was going to get Palmer and that "he wouldn't stand for any nigger taking up with his woman."
Both Coroner Clyde Early and Police Chief Embery gave it as their opinion that the gun used for the murder was a .38-caliber revolver. The gun that was taken from a Mrs. Lewis, at whose rooming house Smith had stayed the night of the murder and to whom he gave it a few hours before he was arrested, was a .38-caliber Colts, and, according to the police, two chambers were dirty, showing that the gun had been shot recently. Mrs. Lewis said that at the time she got it the chambers were all filled and she made him empty them. Smith had four cartridges on him when arrested.
When Officer Peterson arrested him, Smith went peaceably to jail without asking with what he was charged and later when Mrs. Palmer accused and berated him as being the man who murdered her husband, he took it all with downhung head and refused to say a word. He later told the police that he stayed at Mrs. Ben Davis' rooming house the night of the murder but was caught in a lie when it was found he stayed at Mrs. Lewis’.
Shortly after he was turned over to the sheriff's office to be held in the county jail, Undersheriff Schoel entered the cell and found him all huddled up on his bed, with his knees drawn up and shaking and trembling while he rolled one hand over the other.
The police believed that Smith would talk the next day and either confirm or deny the story but when he refused to meet any advances and held steadily to that policy they concluded that he would wait until taken into court before making a statement of any kind. It therefore came as more or less of a surprise when he told the officers later that he was guilty of the crime.
© Cheyenne State Leader no. 346 March 04, 1917, page 1 and 6
____________________________________
WILLIAM SMITH IS CONVICTED HERE OF MURDER OF PALMER
_____
William Smith, the negro tried yesterday for the slaying of Sam Palmer at the latter's home February 21, last evening was found guilty of murder in the first degree. In the verdict returned by the jury, it was recommended that Smith be allowed to pay the penalty for his crime without suffering capital punishment. It is considered likely that he will be sentenced to life imprisonment.
Mrs. Palmer asserted on the witness stand yesterday that Smith had nearly run into her after firing the shots through the door that killed his victim. She identified Smith as the man.
Smith made no defense other than to say that he and Palmer had fought and that he was afraid that Palmer meant to take his life if given a chance. Smith said that he had bought the gun with which he killed Palmer and had gone to Palmer's home to "apologize with him."
Smith's conviction was secured in record-breaking time for the district court. His trial opened in the morning, the jury being selected and the entire evidence and arguments having been presented long before court adjourned.
The jury was out but a few minutes.
© Wyoming Tribune no. 140 June 12, 1917, page 2
____________________________________
Smith was sentenced to life in prison on June 19, 1917 by Judge Mentzer.
Additional articles located by Lostnwyomn December 2014.
The two knew each other and the perpetrator was apparently bent upon revenge. Further details about the motive could not be retrieved from surviving digitized archives.
Sam was a ranch hand in the county and an excellent horseman. He regularly toured with the famous Irwin Brothers Wild West Show.
Sam was survived by his wife, mother, and siblings.
--submitted by Clint Black, May 2012
YOUNG NEGRO SHOT AND KILLED BY UNKNOWN THROUGH DOOR OF HOUSE
____________
Sam T. Palmer Falls Dying While Wife Sees Assassin Dash Through Alley
____________
SUSPECT, ALSO A NEGRO, STILL AT LARGE
____________
Police Believe There Was “A Woman In the Case” – Dead Man Well Known In Cheyenne
____________
Sam T. Palmer, 27, a mulatto, who is well known in Cheyenne, was killed last night shortly before 7 o’clock at his home at 1710 Snyder street, by an unknown assailant who fired two shots at him through the panel of the front door.
Mrs. Palmer had stepped out for a few minutes at the time to visit some of her friends, and her husband was alone. Someone knocked on the front door and as he opened the door, Palmer, recognizing the visitor, asked, "What do you want?"
According to information last night the reply came back, "You know what I want," and as Palmer bent over, pushing hard against the door and trying to close it, the other fired two shots through the wood.
One of them struck Palmer in the left shoulder and came out through the right after passing entirely through the body. The other went wild.
When the shots were fired Mrs. Palmer, who was returning, was within a few feet of her home and saw the murderer leave the door and dash down the alley, running west. Others who heard the shot and rushed out to find the trouble also stated that they saw the man. Because of the darkness none of them was able to identify him.
Mrs. Palmer picked up her husband from the floor where he had fallen and half dragged and carried him to a bed but he died before aid reached him. She at once telephoned the police and Chief Embery, Nels Perry, Sheriff Pat Hayes, Deputy Sheriff Carroll and others, rushed to the scene at once, some of them going in the patrol wagon.
When they arrived a number of people had gathered around the home and more were coming. They took charge of the body and waited for Coroner Early who was summoned and at once took the body to his undertaking parlors.
A number of the men at the Palmer home were taken to the station and a cross-examination held, but little was found out. Mrs. Palmer also failed to tell much of importance, except to say that so far as she knew Sam did not have an enemy of any kind. It was generally believed that a negro did the shooting.
Later in the evening two men dropped into the police station and said that they were certain as to who did the shooting and that they could identify him. During the afternoon, they stated, a colored man, whose name was not given, had told them and several other men in a saloon that he was going to get Palmer, alleging that he wouldn't have any ____ taking up with his woman. Who the woman was no one was able to find out.
Early this morning investigations were still being made.
Palmer is survived by his wife, his mother, who lived here for a number of years but whose whereabouts was not learned last night, and two sisters last known to be living in Denver.
The dead man has many friends in Cheyenne who have known him practically all of his life. For many years he has been a rider for Charles Irwin in his wild west show and has made all his trips with him. Until recently he was employed by Jim Askin, driver of the LaGrange stage. He had worked at one time or another for several of the ranchers in this county.
© Cheyenne State Leader no. 337 February 22, 1917, page 1
____________________________________
ARREST SLAYER SUSPECT
________
Police Believe That Smith Shot Palmer
________
PRISONER IS SILENT
________
Fits Description Given By Slain Man’s Wife – Other Evidence
________
Will Smith, a Cheyenne negro with no settled place of residence in the city, was arrested yesterday afternoon in the California bar at the corner of Seventeenth street and Pioneer avenue by tenth and Thomes street by officer Peterson, on suspicion of being the man who shot and killed Sam T. Palmer, colored, Wednesday night about 7 o’clock at his home, 1710 Snyder street.
PRISONER HAD A REVOLVER.
The shots, one of which passed entirely through Palmer's body entering the left shoulder and passing out the right, were fired from a .38 caliber revolver through the door as the victim was trying to close it against his assailant. A gun owned by Smith, which was taken by police from a Mrs. Lewis to whom he gave it early yesterday afternoon for safe keeping, was found to be a .38 Colt.
Palmer was alone in the house at the time he was shot but Mrs. Palmer was within a few yards of home, on her return from a short visit to one of the neighbors and saw the slayer. After she had carried her husband to bed where he died almost instantly, and after the police had arrived, she said that the murderer was a tall, slender man and she believed, a negro.
Later in the evening two men dropped into the police station and told the officers that they would know the man who did the shooting if they saw him. stating that he was about 6 feet tall, slender and wore a mackinaw and cap. They also said that he had told them in a saloon that afternoon that he "was going to get Palmer," and wouldn't stand for any ____ taking up with his woman.
So far the woman in the case has not developed but, Smith corresponds exactly with the description of the murderer as given by both men and Mrs. Palmer. He is about 6 feet tall, slender and was wearing a mackinaw and cap. Officer Peterson declared that when he arrested Smith the latter made no trouble and asked no questions, not even wanting to know what the charge against him was.
WIFE OF VICTIM ACCUSES HIM.
Mrs. Palmer was summoned and after arriving at the police station shook her fist in the face of Smith and accused him of being the slayer of her husband. He did not say anything and stood mute with downcast head, showing no interest in anything she said, although she berated him vigorously.
In almost the only question he answered, he was caught in a lie, according to the police. He said that he stayed at the rooming house of Mrs. Ben Davis at the corner of Seventeenth and O’Neil streets, when in reality he stayed at the rooming house of Mrs. Lewis at 615 West Eighteenth street. It was here that he left his gun yesterday afternoon.
When he pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to Mrs. Lewis it was loaded with six shells which she asked him to remove, saying that she was afraid of a loaded gun. He took out the bullets and left the weapon. Christensen got it later from Mrs. Lewis. Two chambers in the gun show that it has been fired recently and the barrel is also slightly smokeburned. Smith will make no statement, however.
When he was searched preparatory to taking him to the county jail where he is now lodged, two .38 cartridges were found in his hip pocket. All have been marked for future identification.
SMITH NERVOUS IN JAIL.
The prisoner was extremely nervous last night, shortly after 6 o'clock when Undersheriff Ed Schoel entered the jail to get some articles, Schoel did not disturb Smith in any way but noticed that he had laid down on his bed with his knees well drawn up and a scared look on his face. He was wringing and rotting his hands in an unconscious manner, one over the other, and was trembling as if from extreme cold.
Late last night he had still refused to talk although he had not gotten over his nervousness, and it is expected that today or before the week is over he will tell some story. Officers last night expressed the opinion that he would confess to being guilty and clear up the whole mystery and the motive for the shooting.
© Cheyenne State Leader February 23, 1917 page 1 & 4
____________________________________
SMITH CONFESSES TO KILLING OF SAM PALMER
______
NEGRO SAYS HE INTENDED TO SURRENDER
______
Went Into Bar and Heard Conversation Which Changed Mind
______
Will Smith, a Cheyenne negro, has confessed to Sheriff Pat Hayes and Undersheriff Ed Schoel that he shot and killed Sam T. Palmer, colored, at his home, 1710 Snyder street, on Feb. 21.
The murder was a peculiar one that attracted a great deal of attention at the time and had everybody guessing for the reason that at first it was believed no clue was left upon which to work. Palmer was alone in the house at the time, his wife having stepped out for a few minutes to visit with one of the neighbors, and Smith shot twice at him through the door when Palmer tried to keep him from entering the house.
Smith, in talking to Hayes and Schoel, acknowledged that he had had trouble with Palmer, and that he was at his home that night. Palmer and he were having some trouble he told the officers and he was trying to get into the house to talk face to face with Palmer, who had the door locked. Palmer left the door and went into another room, he said and then came back.
"I knew he had a gun then, so I just beat him to it," Smith said. "After I shot Palmer I saw a woman corning across the street and I ran down the alley going west until I came to the hill down there. Then I cut around and went back to the California bar to get a drink." Officer N. G. Peterson arrested Smith in the bar the next day.
INTENDED TO GIVE HIMSELF UP.
Smith said that when he entered the bar he intended giving himself up after getting his drink, but he heard two colored men talking about the murder and what they said made him believe he could get away.
"Say, do they know who killed Palmer?" Smith says one of them asked.
"No, all they know about it is that it was a tall feller. They don't know whether it was a nigger, a Mexican or a white man. They only know he was tall," the other is said to have replied. This, he said, made him try to escape the police.
At the time that Smith was arrested the authorities were sure that they had the right man. So far as they were able to find out from Mrs. Palmer, who was the woman Smith saw coming across the street and who was within a few years of the house when Smith shot, the murderer was tall, had on a mackinaw and a cap. She thought he was a negro. Smith fitted this description exactly.
SMITH SUSPECTED FROM THE FIRST.
Others who also saw him run up the alley said he was tall and was wearing a short coat, probably a mackinaw and a cap. Two men who talked to the police late that night, said that they believed they would know the man if they saw him. They said a tall fellow wearing a cap and mackinaw had told them and several others in the California bar that afternoon that he was going to get Palmer and that "he wouldn't stand for any nigger taking up with his woman."
Both Coroner Clyde Early and Police Chief Embery gave it as their opinion that the gun used for the murder was a .38-caliber revolver. The gun that was taken from a Mrs. Lewis, at whose rooming house Smith had stayed the night of the murder and to whom he gave it a few hours before he was arrested, was a .38-caliber Colts, and, according to the police, two chambers were dirty, showing that the gun had been shot recently. Mrs. Lewis said that at the time she got it the chambers were all filled and she made him empty them. Smith had four cartridges on him when arrested.
When Officer Peterson arrested him, Smith went peaceably to jail without asking with what he was charged and later when Mrs. Palmer accused and berated him as being the man who murdered her husband, he took it all with downhung head and refused to say a word. He later told the police that he stayed at Mrs. Ben Davis' rooming house the night of the murder but was caught in a lie when it was found he stayed at Mrs. Lewis’.
Shortly after he was turned over to the sheriff's office to be held in the county jail, Undersheriff Schoel entered the cell and found him all huddled up on his bed, with his knees drawn up and shaking and trembling while he rolled one hand over the other.
The police believed that Smith would talk the next day and either confirm or deny the story but when he refused to meet any advances and held steadily to that policy they concluded that he would wait until taken into court before making a statement of any kind. It therefore came as more or less of a surprise when he told the officers later that he was guilty of the crime.
© Cheyenne State Leader no. 346 March 04, 1917, page 1 and 6
____________________________________
WILLIAM SMITH IS CONVICTED HERE OF MURDER OF PALMER
_____
William Smith, the negro tried yesterday for the slaying of Sam Palmer at the latter's home February 21, last evening was found guilty of murder in the first degree. In the verdict returned by the jury, it was recommended that Smith be allowed to pay the penalty for his crime without suffering capital punishment. It is considered likely that he will be sentenced to life imprisonment.
Mrs. Palmer asserted on the witness stand yesterday that Smith had nearly run into her after firing the shots through the door that killed his victim. She identified Smith as the man.
Smith made no defense other than to say that he and Palmer had fought and that he was afraid that Palmer meant to take his life if given a chance. Smith said that he had bought the gun with which he killed Palmer and had gone to Palmer's home to "apologize with him."
Smith's conviction was secured in record-breaking time for the district court. His trial opened in the morning, the jury being selected and the entire evidence and arguments having been presented long before court adjourned.
The jury was out but a few minutes.
© Wyoming Tribune no. 140 June 12, 1917, page 2
____________________________________
Smith was sentenced to life in prison on June 19, 1917 by Judge Mentzer.
Additional articles located by Lostnwyomn December 2014.
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
