Judge Isaac Charles Parker - The Hanging Judge of Fort Smith, Arkansas

Actually a liberal and compassionate man who opposed the death penalty but who was determined to uphold the law, Judge Parker was sensationalized in the press of his day as the "Hanging Judge" of Fort Smith, Arkansas


1908 Reunion of U.S. Deputy Marshals that rode for Judge Parker. The picture was taken in front of the remodeled old courthouse and jail. The large buildings to the right and rear of the courthouse no longer exist. Click on image for larger picture
Judge Isaac Charles Parker - The Hanging Judge
Judge Isaac Parker 1875	Isaac Charles Parker was born in a log cabin in Belmont County, Ohio on October 15, 1838. He was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1859 at the age of 21. Soon after he moved to St. Joseph, Missouri where he began to practice law. In St. Joe he met Mary O'Toole. He was Methodist and she Catholic but Isaac and Mary, known for their life-long tolerant attitudes, fell in love and married soon after Isaac set up his practice. Two sons, Charles and James were born to them in Missouri. It was not long before Parker became well known as a fair and honest lawyer and a leader of his community. Parker was an ardent Democrat until the outbreak of the Civil War. When war started he switched parties and for the remainder of his life he was a loyal Republican and espoused the principals of the party. In 1864 he was elected state's attorney for the Twelfth Judicial Circuit of Missouri and in 1868 he became a judge of that circuit. Two years later he was elected U.S. Representative from his district. He remained in Congress until he was appointed as judge for the Western District of Arkansas. Parker was greatly respected by members of both parties and when it became evident that an incorruptible man was needed for the job, he was elected federal judge by a significant majority of Congress.

No Law West of Arkansas

The man holding the position before Parker was William Story, a political appointee. Story's court was corrupt from top to bottom. The deputy marshals employed by his court were as bad as the outlaws, and often outlaws themselves. During his tenure the inhabitants of western Arkansas and Indian Territory were without effective law enforcement of any kind. The Indian territories, under the jurisdiction of the United States Court of the Western District of Arkansas, became a haven for outlaws. Technically whites could not own tribal land but they could and did lease it.

If they married they became members of the tribe with the same privileges as full-blooded tribal members. Many worked for Indians or simply lived in the territories doing whatever was necessary to remain there. Tribal courts had no authority over white men or Indians of other tribes and Story's court had little interest in enforcing the law in Indian Territory. In reality, there was no law west of Arkansas. Criminals swarmed into the territory to escape justice. Once there, they had little reason to change their ways. Many passed down their lack of respect for the law to their offspring. As a result, three generations of outlaws terrorized Indian Territory.

In 1874 Story resigned to avoid impeachment and Parker was appointed. Judge Parker and his family arrived in the dirty little frontier town of Fort Smith in 1875. On the bench Parker was a strict law and order judge. For the first fourteen years of his tenure there was no appeal above his court, yet he never let that immense power over come his sense of justice. Parker was also a community leader in Fort Smith. During his 21 years on the bench he watched the dirty little frontier town become a first class city on the Arkansas River. Judge Parker helped to bring about the transformation. Considered stern and unbending on the bench, in private life he was respected as a kind and gentle man.

The Hanging Judge

During his years on the bench, Judge Parker heard more than 12,000 criminal cases, 344 of them capital crimes. 160 men were convicted of rape or murder and sentenced to death by hanging. Only about half, 79 men, actually died on the gallows. The rest had their sentences reduced, received Presidential pardons or commutations, had their sentences appealed and won, or died in jail waiting execution.

Parker's court was both the first and final court in the Western District of Arkansas. At that time the U.S. Supreme Court did not hear appeals for capital crimes. Appeals were heard by the same court (and judge) that tried the original case. From 1875 to 1889 only the President of The United States could change a sentence imposed by Parker. However, Parker was a fair man. He occasionally granted retrials some times resulting in acquittals or reduced sentences.

Judge Isaac Parker - 1895

The number of executions under Parker's court was hardly excessive, given the vast territory over which he had jurisdiction and the length of time he was on the bench. Rampart lawlessness reigned in Indian Territory, and the utter viciousness of the crimes merited the sentences imposed. It was the fact that several executions were multiple hangings (at one time six men died at the end of a rope) that Judge Parker earned the title of "Hanging Judge" given to him by the Eastern press and the outlaws who feared him.

End of an Era

Ironically, Parker favored the abolition of the death penalty, "...provided there is a certainty of punishment following crime, whatever the punishment may be, for in the uncertainty of punishment following crime lies the weakness of our halting justice." Words that ring as true today as they did in 1889 when he spoke them.

Gradually, Parker's jurisdiction shrank as more courts were given authority over parts of Indian Territory. In September 1896 Congress closed the court. In the summer of 1896 Parker became too ill to sit on the bench and other judges took over his duties. On November 17, 1896 he died, only six weeks after the Court of the United States for the Western District of Arkansas was adjourned for the last time.

Judge Parker ca. 1895