Fort Smith, Arkansas and Hangin' Judge Parker [April 25, 2017]

What remains of Fort Smith, which became the Federal Court building

You have likely seen a movie where Deputy U.S. Marshalls rode into the Indian Territory to apprehend outlaws and bring them back to Fort Smith to stand before Hangin' Judge Parker and face justice.   Well, this is where that happened, Fort Smith, Arkansas.

A model of the original Fort Smith on the Arkansas River

The history of the founding of Fort Smith is pretty sad.  A wooden army fort was originally built here in 1817 on the banks of the Arkansas River to preserve peace between the newly relocated Cherokee and the already resident Osage Indians.  Over time, as the frontier pushed West, so did the army and Fort Smith fell into disrepair.

The site of the first Fort Smith

In1838 another fort was built here, serving as a supply depot for forts that were being built further west.  Westward booms like the California gold rush made Fort Smith an important center of supplies and immigration.  It was also a depot and way point in the tragic Trail of Tears.  After the Civil War, the army closed the fort, but the town continued to grow.

Judge Parker's court room

The Federal Court of the Western District of Arkansas had jurisdiction over the area known as the Indian Territory, and set up jails, offices and a courtroom in the abandoned enlisted men's barracks in 1872.  Deputy Marshalls maintained law and order in the Indian Territory.  We came to learn that at this point "Indian Territory" referred to the area we now know as Oklahoma.  The territory was divided up into districts for different Indian tribes.

The Gallows - you needed a ticket to get inside the enclosure to see a hanging

Initially, the judges in Fort Smith were corrupt.  Judge Isaac Parker was sent there in 1875 to establish consistent and fair judgements.  He presided over the Federal Court for 21 years, hearing over 13,000 cases and sentencing 160 men to hang (only 79 actually did).  The court was disbanded in 1896, and Judge Parker died 10 weeks later.

The "hell-on-the-border" jail cell

Initially, the jail was an airless basement room which housed up to 50 prisoners, who slept on straw stuffed mattresses on the floor.  This "hell-on-the-border" was replaced by a system of cells in the upper part of the building, where for certain times of day prisoners could move between cells inside a larger enclosure, a system designed by Judge Parker.

Reproduction of the "modern" jail designed by Judge Parker

The  Fort Smith National Historic Site (Happy 101 Birthday NPS) is really interesting!  They have done an excellent job presenting the history of the fort, setting it in the context of the history of forced Indian relocation and White westward expansion, and describing the Marshalls and their prisoners.  You can see reproductions of the jails, Judge Parker's courtroom, and the gallows.  A lovely walk takes you to the banks of the Arkansas River, past a stone marker designating the boundary between Arkansas and the Choctaw Nation.

Stone marking the border between Arkansas...

...and the Choctaw Nation

In 1896, the violent era of Fort Smith's history came to an end.  Just three years later, in 1899, Dana's grandmother Mary Theresa Morgan Jones was born in Fort Smith.  To have known her, you would never have guessed that she spent her childhood in a rough border town on the western frontier.  She would not have found it remarkable.  In retrospect, we do.