Few men in the annals of the American Old West represent the phrase “frontier justice” as well as Judge Isaac C. Parker, the infamous “Hanging Judge” of Fort Smith, who ruled over the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas with an iron hand from 1874-1895.
During his 21-year tenure on the bench, Parker presided over 160 cases that resulted in the sentence of death and 79 of those men met their final fate at the end of a hemp rope attached to the wooden and mortar gallows that defined and justified the nickname “Hell on the Border” on the Arkansas-Indian Territory border.
In later life, Parker was quoted as saying, “I never hanged a man, the law did,” and it was the keen sense of adherence to the law that allowed the court to operate and clean up what had become a lawless civilization in the years after the Civil War.
These are the tales of men executed under the judicial watch of Judge Issac C. Parker.
June 30, 1882 - Edward Fulsom
Found guilty for his involvement in the murders of two men during a saloon fight, Edward Fulsom faced his fate on the gallows on June 30, 1882.
During the execution, his neck did not break.
Fulsom was pronounced dead an hour and three minutes after the drop.
