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 29, 1883 -
William Finch, Martin Joseph,
and Te-o-lit-se
On June 29, 1883, three men were executed for three separate crimes.
William Finch shot and killed two U.S. soldiers who were transporting him to Fort Sill to face charges of desertion.
Martin Joseph shot and killed Bud Stephens and then raped and murdered Stephens' wife.
Te-o-lit-se, a Creek Indian, shot and killed a traveler, E.R. Cochran, to rob him of the $7.40 he carried.
Each of these men pled not guilty to their crimes, but juries convicted them after hearing the evidence at trial.
All three later confessed.