'He Hung 'Em High' - Lewis Holder - July 25, 1894

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.

Lewis Holder - July 25, 1894

On July 25, 1894 Lewis Holder was executed having been convicted of the murder of his hunting and trapping partner, George Bickford.

The body of the victim was found with a shotgun wound in the back in the San Bois Mountains, Choctaw Nation. Deputy marshals arrested Holder after he had been seen with Bickford’s team of horses and wearing his clothing.

While Holder admitted to killing his partner, he insisted it was in self defense. The jury failed to agree and rendered a guilty verdict on September 19, 1892.

An appeal to the Supreme Court did not succeed in overturning the conviction.