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 stories of men who met justice under the gavel of Issac C. Parker.
Malachi Allen and James Mills - April 19, 1889
Malachi Allen and James Mills were executed by the federal court at Fort Smith on April 19, 1889.
Both of these men were found guilty of murder in jury trials held before Judge Isaac C. Parker.
On July 15, 1888, Malachi Allen shot and killed Shadrach Peters and Cy Love during an argument over a saddle.
When deputy U.S. marshals tried to arrest Allen for the murders, he resisted until wounded. Allen's arm, badly shattered in the shootout, had to be amputated before he was taken to Fort Smith.
James Mills was guilty of murdering John Windham in the Seminole Nation on December 15, 1887.
No motive for his crime is known.
