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 Isaac
Charles Parker was born in Maryland on October 15, 1838, and was admitted
to the Ohio bar at the age of 21 in 1859. In 1864, Parker was elected as
the state attorney for the 12th Judicial Circuit.
The only court with jurisdiction over the Indian Territory, which is now
known as the state of Oklahoma, was the U. S. Court for the Western
District of Arkansas located in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Fort Smith was
situated on the border of Western Arkansas and Indian Territory. In May of
1875 Parker was named the judge over Fort Smith by President Grant. At the
age of 36, Judge Parker became the youngest Federal judge in the West. He
was nicknamed the "Hanging Judge" and his court was nicknamed
the "Court of the Damned" because of his strict observence of
the law.
It didn't take Judge Parker long to get going. On May 10, 1875, only 8
days after he arrived at Fort Smith, he opened his first term of court.
During his first eight weeks as judge, eighteen people came before him
charged with murder. Of the eighteen, fifteen were convicted, six were
hung, eight were sent to prison, and one was killed trying to escape.
Originally, eight of them were sentenced to die on the gallows on
September 3, 1875. But one was killed trying to escape and a second had
his sentence commuted to life in prison because of his youth.
The hanging of the remaining 6 became an extraordinary media event for its
times. Newspapermen came from Little Rock, St. Louis, and Kansas City.
Many of the large Eastern and Northern daily newspapers sent reporters to
cover the hangings. Even strangers from abroad filtered into the city a
week before the executions. More than 5,000 people saw the condemned men
marched from jail to the gallows. There were 3 Whites, 2 Indians, and 1
African-American. The 6 criminals were seated on a bench along the back of
the gallows and their death warrants were read to them. Each was asked if
he had any last words. The 6 were then lined up on the scaffold while
executioner George Maledon adjusted the nooses around their necks. The
trap was sprung and the 6 died all at once at the end of the ropes.
The Fort Smith Independent was the first newspaper to report the
event. Its extra of September 3, 1875 was a 12 inch by 12 inch broadside
with the large column headings reading: "Execution Day!!" In
smaller type the paper explained: "Large Crowd -- 6 Murderers Hanged
-- Details of the Execution -- Brief Sketches of the Convicts and the
Crimes for Which They Suffered." Other newspapers around the country
reported the event one day later. These press reports shocked people
throughout the nation. "Cool Destruction of Six Human Lives by Legal
Process" reported the headlines.
From these first 6 in 1875 through the 81 more up until 1896, District
Judge Isaac Charles Parker became famous for his stern brand of justice in
a wild and untamed west. For the first 14 years of his 21 at Fort Smith,
Judge Parker's judgments were final and irrevocable. He was hard on
killers and rapists but was not a cruel man. He reserved most of his
sympathy for the victims and his family. Most of Parker's critics lived in
civilized communities and did not appreciate the raw frontier conditions
of the Indian Territory. Most local citizens approved of the "Hanging
Judge." During his 21 years on the bench at Fort Smith, Judge Parker
sentenced 160 men to die, hanging 79 of them. Sixty-five of his deputies
were killed during the same period of time in the process of trying to
bring criminals in. He died on November 17, 1896.
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