Isaac C. Parker

For other people named Isaac Parker, seeIsaac Parker (disambiguation).

Isaac Charles Parker(October 15, 1838 – November 17, 1896), also known as"Hanging Judge" Parker,was an American politician and jurist. He served as aUnited States representative(congressman) in two separate districts subsequently fromMissouriand was appointed as the firstUnited States district judgeof theUnited States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas(sitting inFort Smith, Arkansason the border), which also had jurisdiction over the adjacentIndian Territory(futureOklahoma,1907) to the west. He was appointed by 18th PresidentUlysses S. Grantin 1875 and served in the federal judiciary until his death in 1896.

Isaac Charles Parker
Portrait of Isaac C. Parker,Fort Smith National Historic Site
Judge of theUnited States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas
In office March 19, 1875 – November 17, 1896
Appointed by	Ulysses S. Grant
Preceded by	William Story
Succeeded by	John Henry Rogers
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMissouri
In office March 4, 1871 – March 3, 1875
Preceded by	Joel Funk Asper
Succeeded by	David Rea
Constituency	7th district(1871–1873) 9th district(1873–1875)
Personal details
Born	Isaac Charles Parker (1838-10-15)October 15, 1838 Barnesville, Ohio
Died	November 17, 1896(1896-11-17)(aged 58) Fort Smith, Arkansas
Resting place	Fort Smith National Cemetery, Fort Smith, Arkansas
Political party	Democratic(until 1864) Republican(from 1864)
Education	Read law

Parker became known as the "Hanging judge"of theAmerican frontier / Old West,because he sentenced numerous convicts to death.In serving 21 years on the federal bench, Judge Parker tried 13,490 cases. In more than 8,500 of these cases, the defendant either pleaded guilty or wasconvictedat trial.Parker sentenced 160 people to death; 79 were executed.The other 81 either died while incarcerated, were pardoned, or had their sentencescommuted.

Early life

Born in Ohio, Parker was the youngest son of Joseph Parker and his wife Jane Shannon. He was the great-nephew of Ohio GovernorWilson Shannon.He was raised on the family farm nearBarnesville, Ohio.He attended Breeze Hill Primary School, followed by the Barnesville Classical Institute, a private school. He taught in a county primary school to pay for his secondary education.At 17, he began an apprenticeship in law, called "reading the law" with an established firm, and passed the Ohiobar examinationin 1859 at the age of 21.

Parker moved toSt. Joseph, Missouribetween 1859 and 1861, where he joined his maternal uncle's law firm of Shannon and Branch.On December 12, 1861, Parker married Mary O'Toole, with whom he had sons Charles and James.By 1862, Parker had his own law firm. He represented clients in the municipal andcountycourts.

Political career

Photo of Isaac Parker taken between 1860 and 1865

In April 1861, Parker ran as aDemocratfor part-time position of city attorney for St. Joseph. He served three one-year terms, from April 1861 to 1863. When theAmerican Civil Warbroke out four days after Parker took office, he enlisted in a pro-Unionhome guard unit, the61st Missouri Emergency Regiment.He had reached the rank ofcorporalby the end of the war.

During the 1860s, Parker continued both his legal and political careers. In 1864, he formally split from the Democratic Party over conflicting opinions on slavery.He ran as aRepublicanfor county prosecutor of the Ninth Missouri Judicial District. By the fall of 1864, he was serving as a member of theElectoral Collegeand voted for re-election ofAbraham Lincoln.In 1868, Parker won a six-year term as judge of theTwelfth Missouri Circuit.

Parker was nominated forMissouri's 7th congressional districton September 13, 1870, backed by theRadicalfaction of the Republican Party. He resigned his judgeship and devoted his energy to his campaign.Parker won the election after his opponent withdrew two weeks prior to the vote.Parker was elected as a Republican to theU.S. House of Representativesof the42ndand43rd U.S. Congresses,serving from March 4, 1871, to March 3, 1875. He was the caucus nominee of his party forU.S. Senatorin 1874.

The first session of the 42nd Congress convened on March 4, 1871. During his first term, Parker helped to secure pensions for veterans in his district and campaigned for a new federal building to be built in St. Joseph. He sponsored a failed bill designed toenfranchise womenand allow them to hold public office in United States territories. He also sponsored legislation to organize theIndian Territoryunder a territorial government.

Parker was again elected to Missouri's 7th district in the 43rd U.S. Congress.A local paper wrote of him, "Missouri had no more trusted or influential representative in... Congress during the past two years".

In his second term, Parker concentrated onIndian policy,including the fair treatment of the tribes residing in the Indian Territory. His speeches in support of theBureau of Indian Affairsgained national attention.

In 1874, Parker was the caucus nominee of the Republican Party for a Missouri Senate seat.However, the political tide had shifted in Missouri; it seemed unlikely that the legislature would elect him to the Senate, so he sought a presidential appointment as judge for the Western District of Arkansas.

Federal judicial service

Photo of Parker's courtroom reconstructed at theFort Smith National Historic Site,taken some 70 years later in 1966

On May 26, 1874, PresidentUlysses S. Grantnominated Parker as Chief Justice of theUtah Territoryto replaceJames B. McKean.At his own request ten months later,Parker was instead nominated by President Grant on March 18, 1875, to a seat on theU.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas.It had been previously vacated by federal JudgeWilliam Story(1843–1921), who resigned under threat ofimpeachmentby the Senate for allegations of corruption.

Parker was confirmed the next day by theU.S. Senateon March 19, 1875, and received his commission the same day.He served in this position until his death in office 21 years later, on November 17, 1896.

Parker arrived inFort Smith, Arkansas(which sits on the western border between the 25th state ofArkansasand theIndian Territory,existed 1834–1907), a month and a half later on May 4, 1875, initially without his family. Parker's first session sitting as the district judge a week following was on May 10, 1875, with court prosecutorW. H. H. Clayton(William Henry Harrison Clayton, 1840–1920) present. Clayton subsequently served as theU.S. Attorneyfor the Western District of Arkansas for fourteen of Parker's twenty-one years tenure on the court.

On the same day of his first session in court, May 10, the new judge Parker also commissionedBass Reeves(1838–1910), as aDeputy U.S. Marshalwhom Marshal Fagan had heard about. Reeves knew the Territory well and could speak several Native languages and thus became the first Black /African Americandeputy marshal west of theMississippi River.

In May 1875, Parker tried 18 men during his first session of court, all of whom were charged withmurder;15 were convicted in jury trials. Parker sentenced eight of them to a mandatory death penalty.He ordered six of the men to be executed at the same time on September 3, 1875.One of those sentenced to death was killed trying to escape. TheArkansas Governorcommuted the sentence of another to life in prison due to his youth.In an interview shortly before his death later that November with the well-known daily newspaper with regional circulationThe St. Louis Republic(1808–1919) on September 1, 1896, Parker said that he had really no say in whether a convict was to be hanged or not due to compulsory death sentences dictated by the law, and that he actually personally favored "the abolition of capital punishment".

Parker's court had final jurisdiction over federal crimes in the adjacent Indian Territory for 14 years from the time of his appointment in 1875 until 1889, as there was no other court available for appeals except to the President of the United States through his recently established (1870)United States Department of Justiceof the executive branch in Washington, D.C.. TheFive Civilized Tribesand other Native American tribes assigned in the Indian Territory (originally set up in the 1830s under seventh PresidentAndrew Jacksonin the controversial Indian Removal "Trail of Tears"fromsoutheastern statesin a far wider amount of territories to the west of theMississippi River) had jurisdiction over their own citizens / members through their semi-independent tribal legal systems and governments allowed by treaty. Federal law in the Indian Territory applied to non-IndianUnited States citizens.

According to the policies set up by theUnited States Congress,the federal court for the Western District of Arkansas was to meet in four separate terms each year: in the months of February, May, August, and November. However, the court had such a large heavy caseload and wide territorial jurisdiction for, that the four terms were continuously run together. Parker's court sat for six days a week in order to ensure prosecuting as many cases as possible in each term, and often in session for up to ten hours each day.Finally eight years later, in 1883, the Congress reduced the jurisdiction and territory of the district court, reassigning parts of the Indian Territory to the south and the north borderlands to federal courts in adjacent states ofTexasandKansas(admitted earlier to the Union in 1845 and 1861, respectively); however, the increasing number ofEuropean Americansettlers moving into Indian lands and increased strife and criminal activity in sparsely settled areas still increased Parker and the court's workload.

From May 1, 1889, (because of the opening of the newly organizedOklahoma Territoryfurther west and some parts of the Indian Territories to White settlers in the famousOklahomaLand Rush of 1889of that earlier April), Congress made changes to allow appeals of capital convictions to go instead to theU.S. Supreme Courtin Washington, D.C..Forty-four cases in which Parker imposed the death penalty were appealed to the Supreme Court. It overturned and ordered a re-trial for 30 of them.

While serving as a federal district judge in Fort Smith, Parker also was active in the local community, serving on the Fort Smith School Board. He was the first president of St. John's Hospital, established by the local parishSt. John's Episcopal Church.Today, this hospital still exists as a medical agency (although affiliated with a differentProtestantdenomination) as Baptist Health Fort Smith.

(Left):Cherokee Bill Goldsby posing with his captors during a stop by train to Nowata, 1895. Left to right are #5)Zeke Crittenden; #4)Dick Crittenden;Cherokee Bill; #2)Clint Scales, #1) Ike Rogers; #3) Deputy Marshall Bill Smith.;
(right):depiction of the hanging, as it was published by newspapers after his execution

In his time on the federal court, Parker presided over a number of high-profile cases, including the trial ofCrawford Goldsby,famously known as "Cherokee Bill", and the "Oklahoma Boomer" case involvingDavid L. Payne,a non-Indian who illegally settled on tribal lands in the Indian Territory.In 1895, Parker heard two cases involving Goldsby. In the first, Goldsby was charged with killing a bystander during a general-store robbery the year before in 1894.

He was convicted in that case that lasted from February 26 to June 25, 1895, and Parker sentenced him to death. While awaiting execution, Goldsby attempted to escape prison and killed a prison guard during the incident. He was tried again and convicted once again in Parker's court; the judge sentenced him to a second death penalty on December 2, 1895. Goldsby was subsequently hanged three months later on March 17, 1896.

Later years

Parker in his later years

Keeping with continued settlement in the American West, the Courts Act of 1889 enacted by Congress finally established a federal court system in the Indian Territory. This decreased the span of jurisdiction of the Western District of Arkansas Federal Court at Fort Smith.

Parker clashed with the U.S. Supreme Court in far off Washington on a number of occasions. In around two-thirds of cases appealed to the Supreme Court from his district court (before the authorization of the current intermediateUnited States Circuit Court of Appealsregional system in theJudiciary Act of 1891), his rulings were upheld.In 1894, Parker gained national attention in a dispute with the Supreme Court over the case of Lafayette Hudson.

Hudson was convicted of assault with intent to kill and sentenced to four years' imprisonment. He appealed to the Supreme Court and was grantedbail.Judge Parker refused to release Hudson on the grounds that thestatute lawdid not provide the Supreme Court with the authority to demand Hudson's release.

A year later in 1895, Congress itself addressed the issue in dispute by passing a Courts Act that removed the remaining Indian Territory jurisdiction of the Western District of Arkansas in Fort Smith and powers of Judge Parker, effective September 1, 1896.

Death and legacy

Present-day image of the reconstructed gallows now located at the Fort Smith National Historic Site, taken in 2008

When the August 1896 term began, Parker was at home, suffering fromBright's diseaseand too ill to preside over the court. The jurisdiction of the court over Indian Territory was ended on September 1, 1896. Reporters wanted to interview Parker about his career, but had to talk to him at his bedside.Parker died on November 17, 1896, of a number of health conditions, including heart degeneration and Bright's disease.His funeral in Fort Smith had the highest number of attendees up to that point.He is buried at theFort Smith National Cemetery.

In 2019, the city of Fort Smith unveiled a statue of Parker representing law and order.

Representation in other media

• Carlyle Mitchell was cast as Judge Parker in the 1961 episode "A Bullet for the D.A." on theWesternssyndicatedtelevision seriesDeath Valley Days,hosted byStanley Andrewsin the late 1950s and 1960s.Carole Mathewsplayed notorious female outlawBelle Starrrecently released from federal prison. In the story line, Belle unsuccessfully plots the revenge assassination of U.S. Attorney W. H. H. Clayton (portrayed byDon Haggerty) during aWild West showheld in Fort Smith.
• In the 1968Western filmHang 'Em High(starringClint Eastwood), the character of Judge Adam Fenton (played by longtime character actorPat Hinglein a fictional Fort Grant and town courthouse square, with six-mangallowsscaffold set up in aHollywoodstudio backlot), loosely resembles the person of Judge Parker and his judicial / criminal situation in Fort Smith, who is mentioned in the film as known by the epithet "the hanging judge".
• Charles Portis(1933–2020), features Judge Parker (and mentioned by name) in hisWestern/historical fictionnovelTrue Gritof 1968, which has twice been adapted as notable films of the same name. First starringJohn Waynein 1969 (for which he won his only "Best Actor"Academy Award ( "Oscar" )in 1970), and withJeff Bridgesin a 2010 remake about the hunt for the murder and robbery culprits escaped to the lawless Indian Territory. Parker is also a featured character in the John Wayne sequel movie about the one-eyed / black eyepatch-wearing grizzled boozing old peace officer character of the first film repeated inRooster Cogburnof 1975. The no-nonsense strict judge was portrayed by longtime character actorJames Westerfieldin the1969 movieand in the second by Western film actor and TV series starJohn McIntireof the Cogburn sequel six years later. Four decades later, the jurist was played by Jake Walker in the2010 remakeof the slightly differentTrue Gritstory, closer to Portis' 1968 novel.
• Zeke Proctor, one of Parker's deputy marshals, is featured in noted Westerns authorLarry McMurtry's 1997 novelZeke and Ned.
• In the pilot episode of the early 1970sNational Broadcasting Company(NBC-TV)rotating ( "wheel series" )television programHec Ramseyon the weeklyNBC Mystery Movie(portrayed by veteran film / TV actorRichard Boone). The title character is a former old-time frontier United States Marshal, now serving a modernizing Western town as a veteran grizzled deputy with a young "wet-behind-the-ears" inexperienced police chief who wears a suit and bowler hat in the early 1910s, briefly mentions having ridden for Judge Parker for several years previously.
• In theSteve EarleCountry-Western song, "Tom Ames' Prayer", the narrator Ames is sentenced to death by Parker. The song is also covered byRobert Earl Keen.
• Parker is portrayed by Manu Intiraymi in the 2019 filmHell on the Border.
• Parker is portrayed by actorDonald Sutherlandin the recent 2023 cable / streaming TV seriesLawmen: Bass Reeves,focusing on the formerly lesser known life and career of the BlackDeputy U.S. Marshalin the 19th centuryAmerican frontierand Indian Territory.

See also

• George Maledon,an American hangman aptly nicknamed "The Prince of Hangmen", who served in the federal court of Judge Isaac Parker
• Shannon Political Family

References

Books

• Brodhead, Michael J. (2003).Isaac C. Parker: Federal Justice on the Frontier.Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.ISBN9780806135274.RetrievedDecember 15,2015.
• Burton, Art T. (2008).Black Gun, Silver Star: The Life and Legend of Frontier Marshal Bass Reeves.University of Nebraska Press. p. 30.ISBN9780803205413.
• Burton, Jeffrey (September 1, 1997).Indian Territory and the United States, 1866–1906: Courts, Government, and the Movement for Oklahoma Statehood.Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.ISBN9780806129181.
• Estleman, Loren D. (2009).The Branch and the Scaffold.New York: Tom Doherty Associates.ISBN9781429924368.
• Galonska, Juliet L. (2000). Williams, Nancy A.; Whayne, Jeannie M. (eds.).Arkansas Biography: A Collection of Notable Lives.University of Arkansas Press.ISBN9781557285881.
• Grant, Ulysses Simpson;Simon, John Y.(1998).The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant: June 1, 1871 – January 31, 1872.Southern Illinois University Press. p. 9.ISBN9780809321988.
• Hafnor, John (2009).Strange But True, America: Weird Tales from All 50 States.Lone Pine Productions.ISBN9780964817555.
• Harman, S. W. (1992).Hell on the Border: He Hanged Eighty-eight Men.Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.ISBN9780803223622.
• Harring, Sidney L. (February 25, 1994).Crow Dog's Case: American Indian Sovereignty, Tribal Law, and United States Law in the Nineteenth Century.New York: Cambridge University Press.ISBN9780521467155.
• Harrington, Fred Harvey (1951).Hanging Judge.Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.ISBN9780806128399.
• Leeper, Maranda (2014). Lancaster, Guy (ed.).Arkansas in Ink: Gunslingers, Ghosts, and Other Graphic Tales.University of Arkansas Press.ISBN9781935106739.
• Metz, Leon Claire (2014).The Encyclopedia of Lawmen, Outlaws, and Gunfighters.New York: Infobase Publishing.ISBN9781438130217.
• Shirley, Glenn (1968).Law West of Fort Smith.University of Nebraska Press.ISBN9780803251830.RetrievedDecember 14,2015.
• Tuller, Roger (2001)."Let No Guilty Man Escape": A Judicial Biography of "Hanging Judge" Isaac C. Parker.Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.ISBN9780806133065.

External links

• National Park Service (National Historic Site) entry about Judge Isaac Parker
• United States Congress."Isaac C. Parker (id: P000059)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Judge Isaac Parker reference on AboutArchivedJuly 30, 2016, at theWayback Machine
• List of men executed at Fort Smith while Isaac Parker presided
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