Judge Isaac Parker
Posted by: 
linkys
N 35° 23.025 W 094° 25.746
15S E 370199 N 3916538
Judge Parker is remembered today as the legitimate "Hanging Judge" of the American Old West.
Waymark Code: WMF2Z5
Location: Arkansas, United States
Date Posted: 08/13/2012
Views: 10
Anyone who has seen one of the "True Grit" movies has seen some of the exploits of Judge Parker. Also the role of Judge Fenton in Clint Eastwood's "Hang 'em High" was loosely based on the real life Judge Parker. During his 21 years on the federal bench, Judge Parker tried 13,490 cases, 344 of which were for capital offenses. Suspects pleaded guilty or were convicted in 9,454 cases. Of the 160 sentenced to death by hanging (156 men, and 4 women), 79 were hanged. During that time, as many as 109 deputy marshals were killed in the line of duty.
Born in 1838 in Barnesville, Ohio, by 1871 he was U.S. Congressman from Missouri's Seventh Congressional District. In 1875 President Grant nominated Parker as chief justice of the Supreme Court of the Utah Territory, but Parker had submitted a request for appointment as the judge of the federal district court for the Western District of Arkansas, in Fort Smith.
On May 10, 1875 Judge Parker heard his first case and until 1889 his court was the court of final jurisdiction in the Western District. Statutory law did not provide for appeals of Indian Territory cases from this court to any court of appeal. It was during this time that Judge Parker received the nickname "the hanging judge" because of the numerous criminals who were convicted and executed by his court. Judge Parker, whose grave is marked by a simple white marble stone engraved, Isaac Parker, is buried beside his wife in Fort Smith National Cemetery, Fort Smith, Arkansas.
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