Hanging Judge

by Fred Harvey Harrington

Isaac C. Parker, the stern U.S. judge for Indian Territory from 1875 to 1896, brought law and order to a lawless frontier region. He held court in the border city of Fort Smith, Arkansas, but his jurisdiction extended over the Indian tribal lands to the west. Pressing juries for convictions, Parker sent seventy-nine convicted criminals to the gallows-as many as six at a time. More ofen than not, however, he passed sentences on thousands of liquor dealers, rapists, and cattle and horse thieves-even throwing Belle Starr in the penitentiary for stealing a horse from a crippled boy.

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story of judge Isaac C. Parker is the story of the frontier expansion. Questions of the law = justice are examined in the context of the migration of large groups of people who share differing views. This is the model for so many movies where a judge seems to have absolute power in a small town - a fascinating look back at a very turbulent time.

[Larry · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short but well-researched overview of the U.S. District Court for Western Arkansas, with Criminal Jurisdiction over the Indian Territory, from 1875, when Judge Isaac C. Parker came to its bench, until 1896, when the court's jurisdiction over the Indian Territory ceased, and Judge Parker died. Parker is known for having passed sentence of death 160 times - approximately 80 of which were carried out in the courtyard in Fort Smith, Arkansas - and Harrington, once chair of the History Department at the University of Arkansas, does a credible job of bringing insight into the times, the criminals, the deputy marshals, and the judge without dwelling on the sensational. Good book.

[Joseph Hamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a university press reprint of a 1951 book. If its “A Note on Sources” is correct the only previous book devoted to Isaac Parker, the hanging judge is “Hell on the Border; He Hanged Eighty-Eight Men” published two years after the judge died. (The subtitle continues for twelve more lines.)

I first became aware of Judge Parker when I read “True Grit.” Quite a few books have been written about him since “True Grit” came out.

This book fleshes out that cameo appearance. Besides the judge himself, there are chapters on the criminals (male and female), the deputies, the jail known as Parker’s Hotel, the executions, non-violent crime cases related to the overrunning of the Indian Territory by land grabbers and to sales of alcohol to Indians, appeals to the U. S. Supreme Court, and the death of Judge Parker and end of his court.