Hanging Judge

Isaac C. Parker, the stern U.S. judge for Indian Territory from 1875 to 1896, brought law and order to a lawless frontier region. He held court in the border city of Fort Smith, Arkansas, but his jurisdiction extended over the Indian tribal lands to the west. Pressing juries for convictions, Parker sent seventy-nine convicted criminals to the gallows-as many as six at a time. More ofen than not, however, he passed sentences on thousands of liquor dealers, rapists, and cattle and horse thieves-even throwing Belle Starr in the penitentiary for stealing a horse from a crippled boy.