LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,
I GIVE YOU THE ONE AND ONLY
~Isaac Parker~
"The Hanging Judge"
Isaac Charles Parker was born in Ohio and in 1859 he graduated from lawschool. Later that year he moved to St. Joseph, Missouri, opened up his own business and met his wife to be. In 1868 Parker was appointed judge, a post he held onto until he was elected to the Congress two years later. Parker ended his political career in 1875, and before the end of that year he had been appointed Federal Judge in the Western District of Arkansas.
The Federal Court had its headquarter in Fort Smith. The Federal Court for the Western District of Arkansas was also ruling over the Indian Territory (Oklahoma). With his mind set on bringing law and order to the area Parker told the US Marshal James F. Fagan to hire 200 deputies to bring in all the robbers, murderers and thieves they could find. During the 21 years Isaac Parker was responsible for the law and order in this part of the United States he sentenced 168 men and four women to hang by the neck until they were dead. Even though many of the sentenced were hardened criminals some of lectures Parker gave when reading them the verdict were sadistic to an extent that few of the sentenced could be accused of.
The Hangman was a mean looking German, George Maledon, who eagerly looked forward to execute the verdict. Pardons and appeals cheated Maledon of his fun in more than half of the cases. Maledon was almost as skilled in handling his gun as he was with the rope, and he shot down five men sentenced to death while they were trying to escape. Isaac Parker died on his post, from a heartattack in 1896.
