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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.
Jack Spaniard and William Walker- August 30, 1889
On August 30, 1889 Jack Spaniard and William Walker were executed.
Both men had been found guilty by a jury of the crime of murder.
Spainard was a known consort of Belle Starr and outlaw associate with the likes of Blue Duck, Jim July, Sam Starr and Jim French, who also saw more than enough of Judge Parker's courtroom in their days. In fact, it's said the Belle Starr took Spainard to her bed "almost before Sam Starr's body was cold" after he was shot and killed at a Christmas party.
Spaniard (or Sevier) shot and killed Deputy Marshal William Irwin in April 1886. The motive was to gain the release of Felix Griffin, a horse thief in Irwin's custody and member of the outlaw band.
.Although other men may have participated in the killing, they were never captured and the jury found Spaniard solely responsible.
William Walker killed Calvin Church in the Choctaw Nation in December 1888.
While admitting his role in the murder, Walker claimed that he had been hired by another man to kill Church. He was to receive ten dollars and two quarts of whiskey for the crime.
Both men plunged to their death when George Maledon sprung the trapdoor on that August afternoon in 1889.
