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 stone, 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 the men that met their final justice under the auspices of Parker's court.
John Thornton - June 28, 1892
On June 28, 1892 John Thornton was executed for the murder of his daughter.
In 1891, Thornton was living in the Choctaw Nation and had long been suspected of abusing his daughter, Laura.
On November 11, enraged that Laura had recently married (only six days earlier), Thornton shot and killed her.
At his trial, the 65-year-old Thornton pled not guilty by reason of insanity, saying he was drunk at the time of the murder and did not know what he was doing.
This did not sway the jury.
Thornton was convicted and sentenced to death for his crime.
