HALLOWEEN FOREMAN CREEK DOUBLE MURDER NEAR
Harry Switzer, aged forty-five, and his older partner Thomas Webber, aged sixty-plus, an emigrant from France, were bachelors. They were squatting on two-quarter sections of land following the April 22, 1889 ‘Run’ that opened the “Unassigned Lands” of Oklahoma Territory (O.T.) to settlement. They had come from the area around El Dorado, Kansas, where they had been partners for over eight years, and now they had a double cabin with a connecting breezeway straddling the line between the NE quarter and the SE quarter of Section 17, T10N, R5W. The double log house faced the dusty road leading to the town of Mustang; the road was not much more than twenty-yards east of the cabin. The cabin was proof that they were in the middle of “proving up” their individual claims, and the nearby “out buildings” were symbolic of their industriousness.
Thomas Webber had been Harry Switzer’s partner for over eight years. It was rumored that prior to arriving at this location in the country the two men had fought Indians and prairie fires, but it was only a rumor. Information on Harry is skimpy at best; he had an older sister that he looked after. She had taken him in when he was eight years old and treated him like a son following the death of their parents. Harry enlisted in the Indiana 72nd Volunteer Regiment at the outbreak of the Civil War and was involved in many battles, but there is no mention of Harry receiving any serious wounds or medals during the four years of combat.
He and Thomas were both bachelors and very frugal. Their acquired wealth: five head of horses, twelve head of cattle, forty head of hogs, one-hundred bushels of corn and other property, were jointly held. Both men were hard working, friendly, and well respected by all their neighbors except the unknown party or parties that left them lying dead on a crispy cold Halloween morning, not far from where Foreman Creek empties into the Canadian River.
Thomas Webber’s claim, the NE section of Section 17, T10N, R5W, was free from being contested. But, Harry Switzer’s claim, the SE section of Section 17, T10N, R5W, was being challenged by George Washington Casey, who lived in a house he had erected about 300 yards south of Switzer’s double-log house.
Friday evening as dusk was fading into darkness while Harry and Thomas visited with neighbors, two rough looking men on horseback rode up to the cabin and requested permission to stay the night. Permission was readily given; however, when the two noticed the neighbors, whom they recognized, they decided to stay at the Casey’s and they immediately rode south toward Casey’s house.
Sunday morning October 26, 1890, dawned clear and crisp, and the chill in the air called for wearing a jacket. It was Halloween morning, and Harry Switzer, donning his jacket, left the cabin first to check on their livestock. He no sooner shut the door and turned the corner of the cabin (He had cleared the cabin by about fifteen feet.) when suddenly, without warning, he was bushwhacked, and fell to the ground dying. On hearing the shots, Thomas instantly rushed outside to see what the commotion was all about, and he, too, was bushwhacked, collapsing and dying a short distance from where Switzer lay.
Sheriff James Godfrey of County #4 (Canadian County) was called upon to investigate the double murders of the quiet, friendly bachelors. The prime suspect was George Washington ‘Old Man’ Casey and his family, for they had lost the first round of their court case for the contested section of land and were known to have said, “If we don’t get the claim, Harry Switzer won’t.” Along with ‘Old Man’ Casey, his sons, Frank and Sherman, also fell under suspicion, as did Joseph Pickens who was a consort of Sherman’s (A little known fact was that Joseph was an in-law by the marriage of his older brother, John T. Pickens, to their sister, Mary Casey). Thirty minutes after the murders, Old Man Casey and Frank, unarmed and on foot, showed up at the claim of a man named Lawson about a mile east of Switzer’s place. They claimed they were hunting hogs and horses that had strayed from their place. Frank was known to own a .44 caliber Winchester that was later found at his house. Sheriff James Godfrey placed Frank and George W. Casey in custody, even though they denied any part to the killings. The circumstantial evidence against them included horse tracks, boot heel marks, and other material facts.
According to one report: “Old Man Casey and some of his brood came from the Chickasaw country were it is said that he has two sons, very bad men, living in the Arbuckle Mountains. It is thought that the two rough looking men that visited the bachelor’s cabin Friday night were them and they probably did the killings for they can not be found.”
As usual, the disposal of the bodies was quick for those times. Thomas Webber was buried on his claim while the body of Switzer was shipped home by train to his sister and buried the afternoon it arrived. The trial of George Washington Casey and his son, Frank, was held in July of 1891. Both men were acquitted. Joseph Pickens died of pneumonia before the trial, although some members of his family claim his death came long before the trial was even held, possibly as early as 1889. As for Sherman Casey, he hid out in Palo Pinto County, Texas, where it’s said he found himself a pretty wife.
Epilog
Unfortunately, this wouldn’t be the last time that the good citizens of the Twin Territories (present Oklahoma) would have to deal with the murderous Casey clan.
On May 21, 1894, Jim and Vic Casey, sons of George W. “Old Man” Casey, were involved in a shoot-out at Yukon (O.T.) with Deputy Sheriff Sam Farris, killing him in a hail of gunfire. The Casey boys were quickly captured, incarcerated and removed, for their own safety, to a more secure jail in Oklahoma City. They escaped on August 16, 1894, only to be re-captured a few days later and returned to their cells. While languishing in jail, awaiting trial, Vic Casey died of blood poisoning from an infected wound to the foot that he had suffered in the shoot-out with Deputy Farris.
On June 30, 1895, Jim Casey would die in another violent exchange of gunfire during a second escape attempt from the Oklahoma City jail. Chief of Police Milton Jones would be the victim this time, killed by Casey and fellow escapees, Bill and Bob Christian.
Young Bert Casey, “Old Man” Casey’s grandson and nephew to Jim and Vic Casey, may have written the final, fateful chapter to the notorious Casey family saga. For several years following Jim Casey’s death and into the early 1900’s, Bert Casey would lead several ruthless outlaw gangs, marauding bands of thieves and murderers, who terrorized the inhabitants of the Oklahoma and Indian Territories, until hot led and the law ended his bandit reign.
Bibliography:
Newspapers:
Frisco Herald, October 26, 1890, “Another Damnable Murder in Canadian County”
Frisco Herald Thursday April 16, 1891 “The Trial of the Caseys."