The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-11-29
TO THELETTER OF THE LAW
THE CHANGING JUDGES METHOD
OF NETTING OUT JUSTICE.
He Was the Terror of All Offenders
of the Law and Most of His JudE-
ments Were Finai--Overruied the
supreme Court of the United
States.

States.
Chicago Times Herald: Fort Smith,
Ark.-Isaacs c. Parker, the famous
hanging judge" 5of Arkansas, has
passed the grimy portals through
which, while judge of a United States
court, he condemned to pass so many
scores of his fellow men.
Not, perhaps, since the time of jeff
reys. the historical hanging judge" of
the reign of James Il. and his some
what less noted successor, Judge Page,
has there been so remorseless a trial
judge on the bench.
Before his appointment to the federal
bench Judge, Parker's career was IN
significant. He had been lawyer.
member of congress from the St Jo-
seph district of Missouri, and man
of some small promi' snce in his own
community. When President Grant APP
pointed him to the position he filled
until his death, Judge Parker began
to become known as jurist who never
let criminal escape, once a trial was
begun, until he had been properly SEN
fenced for his sin. With the Mikado
in the play, JUDGE Parker believed
down TO the heels of his smoothly pol
lSleQ DOOlSt l1ldl the punishment Sl-OOlu
fit the crime. And the community or
the man tried never complained about
the letter of the law being filed to the
fullest measure.
In the % years he sat on the bench
here he sentenced not less than 200
men to the gallows. Any man charged
with murder who was unlucky enough
to face the stern front of the judge
left all hope behind unless he had the
Of 1,fc taf
lished. The records of acquittals in
his court is evanescent. If criminals
were not ruthlessly turned over to the
hangman they were sent to the peni-
Tertiary for the best part of their
lives. Often Judge Parker hanged them
in blocks of three and five.
So great was the terror of murder
ers, horse thieves, cattle thieves and
law breakers for the judges reDuta-
ton that although eager to put him
out of the way, not one of them ever
ventured into the dread precincts Of
Fort Smith unless under the escort of
an officer, and then only for trial, and
more than probable condemnation.
Judge Parker had his defenders, and,
to give him his share of the stern JUS
tice he was himself so fond of, it must
be said that his apparent rigor was
justified by the infamy of his sur
roundings. When he came to Fort
Smith this section of the country was
infested by a crowd of the most des-
perate criminals in the country. No
crime, from murder on speculation as
to the money in a mans pocket, to
stealing a toy horse. was too great or
too little for the ruffians that formed
a good part of the population in the
Indian territory, into which Arkansas.
Kansas, Texas, Missouri. Colorado and
New Mexico had been driving them for
years.
This was the character of the men
whom Judge Parker had to deal with,
and there are not wanting those law
abiding people who praise him for his
fearlessness and the deft manner in
which he laid the knife to the roots
of the social cancer he was sent hither
to treat.
Most of his judgments were final.
There was no court of appeals except
the president of the United States. and
that functionary seldom changed the
decisions of the Arkansas court. Dur
ing Parker's long term on the bench
the records show that from so to 80
per cent of the trials brought before
him resulted in conviction
This, to the judge, gratifying result
was brought about in various ways He
did not believe in wasting his time. He
was surrounded with a very efficient
corps of assistants, who had readily
absorbed his spirit. The accused, be-
fore appearing in court for trial. was
examined by these officials. and the
evidence was thoroughly sifted. I'm
less the evidence was convincing the
case never reached Judge Parker. Brx
whenever d case got as far as the
dock in his department no special
pleading, no technicality, no evasion
and no trickery on the part of defen-
sive attorneys could stop the admins
tration. 1t was as certain as the law
of gravitation.
L have never passed the death SEN
tence on an innocent man." said the
judge recently
The judge was a hard worker. He
never spared himself, and the operators
of the machinery of which he was the
master were well trained. More than
1000 cases We're disposed of each year.
and at the end of every term the
docket was cleared. To accomplish this
sort of work required no small personal
sacrifice on the part of the judge and
court officials. The sessions of court
he held began at $50 o'clock in the
morning, lasted until noon, We're re-
sumed at 100 O'clock in the afternoon
and lasted until O'Clock in the eve
ming. When the docket was over
crowded Judge Parker never hesitatad
to sit late into the night.
He was known as the man who over
ruled the supreme court of the United
States. This he did in November. 1894
in his capacity as United States dis
trict judge for the western district of
Arkansas. AT the May term, in 1894.
Lafayette HUDSON was convicted of an
assault with intent to kill. and SEN
fenced to four years Imprisonment in
the Kings county On. W penitentiary.
On August 14'oounsel for Hudson pre-
sented a patition to Justice White of
the supreme court for writ of error TO
the district court to reverse it's judg-
ment. and for a writ of supersedeas and
bail pending said writ OF error. This
petition was Endorsed by Justice White
IN these words: Writ of error, to oper-
ate as supersedeas, allowed. return
able according to law. The defendant
10 furnish bond in the sum of $1,000.
conditioned according to law, to be an
proved by the district judge"
When the court convened in Septem-
Der, Hudson presented to Judge Parker
his bond in the sum of $1,000. and
asked to be discharged from custody.