E11 - No Noose is Good Noose: Two Murders and First Capital Punishment in Colorado

Homicide - First Execution - First Capital Murder Case and Trial - Denver / Auraria - P.T. Bassett and John Scudder - John Scudder and Thomas Biencroff - New County Elections The first "legal" execution occurs in Auraria (now Denver) and a friendship ends in bloodshed, this episode details the first murders and trials in the western edge of the Kansas Territory.  John Stoefel is tried for capital murder, the first case of a people's court and execution at the future site of Denver.  Also, John Scudder shoots and kills his former friend P.T. Bassett - the trial and verdict surprising.  Justice in the old west? FRIENDS and Family  History of Colorado, Hall, 1889 Rocky Mountain News, July 11, 1859 History of Colorado, Smiley, 1901