When we think about the outlaws that were housed in the basement federal jail of what we have all come to know as "Judge Parker's Court" we tend to think about murderer's, hooligans and uneducated thugs being housed like animals in inhumane conditions in that was tagged as being "Hell on the Border".
While conditions in the jail were never pleasant, jailers and the court did make an effort to make the living conditions at least a little more pleasant during the holiday season, and as this transcribed article from the December 3, 1896 Fort Smith Elevator (written by a prisoner) shows, not all of the occupants of the jail were without wit or education, especially considering their situation.
The inmates were all fed a lavish meal and given a "plug of tobacco and a good cigar" for Thanksgiving on that year.
Ironically, at least two men who were executed on the gallows in January of 1887 -- John T. Nichols and Albert O'Dell -- are thought to be among those that were in attendance.
Call it theIr "Next to the Last" Meal...
Thanksgiving in Jail: December 3, 1886
“The prisoners in the U.S. jail having been supplied with their Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday, describe it in the following note to the ELEVATOR:
"A stuffed pig got loose and made its appearance on the table of ‘Hotel de Uncle Sam,’ of which Mr. W.J. Johnston is proprietor, last Saturday.
As it is the practice of Mr. Johnston, and a royally good one it is, to provide something extra good for his boarders to eat on the holidays, his ‘pigship’ was served at dinner with the necessary accompaniments and side dishes, and devoured with a keen relish by all who were so fortunate as to have a ticket for the banquet.
About sixty-five guests now enjoy the hospitality dispensed at the ‘Hotel de Uncle Sam,’ and those who have made the proper arrangements with the ‘powers that be,’ for the coming winter, are looking eagerly forward to the ‘merry Christmas time,’ with its usual accompaniment of egg-nog, and turkey and cranberry sauce.
After dinner, when all were too full (of pig) for utterance, the guests fell into line in the marble floored corridors, and each received a plug of tobacco and a good cigar.
Mr. Johnston is a big-hearted jovial fellow, and has many guests at his hotel, most of whom come from the B.I.T. Owing to the fact that Col. John Carroll, the genial United States marshal, is constantly soliciting boarders for the ‘Hotel de Uncle Sam,’ Mr. Johnston nearly always has a full house, and the undivided attention he extends to each guest tends to make him a popular personage with all.
Long may W.J. Johnston wave and remain in charge of the hotel, with Col. Carroll as solicitor.
ONE OF THE GUESTS.”
- Fort Smith Elevator, December 3, 1886