# Talk:Isaac C. Parker

Isaac Parker (1838-1896 was an important figure of the American frontier in the post Civil War period.  As a judge he presided over the Western District of Arkansas where he earned the sobrioquet, the 'Hanging Judge.'
Parker was born in a log cabin in rural Ohio on October 15, 1838.  He passed the bar in 1859 and moved to St. Joseph, Missouri where he gained a reputation as an honest lawyer and a leader in local politics.  In 1868 he was elected a judge of the twelfth Missouri circut.  He resigned his judgeship in 1870 to run for the U.S. Senate on the Republican ticket.  He was electec and held this position until 1874 when the politics of Missouri shifted away from the republicans.
Parker sought and received the judgeship of the Western District of Arkansas which also gave him jurisdiction over the vast and lawless Indian Territory (modern Oklahoma).  The territory was a notorious haven for bandits and other outlaws, and the district had been marred by corruption.  From his seat in Fort Smith, Arkansas Parker had the daunting job of supervising the policing of the area.
Parker's term as judge was marked by a reputation for incorruptability and by a strict, even harsh, zeal for law enforcement.  In his term he sentenced 75 men and 4 women to execution by hanging.  This made him a controversial figure, especially when he had a special gallows built that could hang six people at once.  The gallows was first used on September 3, 1875, earning Parker his nickname.  George Maledon, the hangman during Parker's long tenure, became known as the "Prince of Hangmen."
Judge Parker continued on as judge over the territory until his death on 1896.  He is a powerful symbol of the imposition of law on the "Wild West."  He has been portrayed in fiction several times, notably in the film True Grit {1969}with James Westerfield playing Parker.  The character played by Pat Hingle in Hang 'em High has a different name, but is clearly meant to be Parker.
Sources:
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/AR-IsaacParker.html

Above text does not add anything significant to biography, is not bias free, and contains many errors. The wiki article itself is currently far better in content and substance.E leonard 02:31, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

There was a separate article on this same judge at Issac Parker. I have merged content from that article into this one, and converted that one to a redirect to this article. I merged only content that seemed to me to possibly add soemthing to the current article, but it may need further editing. The history of the article I merged from can be found here. DES (talk) 17:38, 25 January 2006 (UTC)

Of the vaunted "Three Guardsmen" of Oklahoma:Chris Madsen, Bill Tilghman and Heck Thomas, only Heck Thomas actually worked for the Fort Smith court during the Parker era. A little light reading proves this conclusively; don't trust the excellent fiction of Elmer Kelton and others as fact. Adding Tilghman and Madsen's names to this page is incorrect. E leonard 22:59, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

A temporary subpage at User:Polbot/fjc/Isaac Charles Parker was automatically created by a perl script, based on this article at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges. The subpage should either be merged into this article, or moved and disambiguated. Polbot (talk) 18:02, 5 March 2009 (UTC)
Added link to the Federal Judicial Center biography and will redirect the bot page to this wiki entry. E leonard (talk) 18:27, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

There's a decent article by Professor Kopel discussing Parker's cases, their regular appeal, and changes in the law of self-defense towards the end of the 19th century: https://davekopel.org/2A/LawRev/Self-Defense-Cases.htm . It's probably worth referencing in this article, especially in regards to Judge Parker's reversal rate.98.206.218.218 (talk) 23:15, 5 August 2012 (UTC)

I corrected Judge Parker's dates of service in the infobox to be consistent with his FJC bio -- begin March 19, 1875 (confirmed and received commission), end November 17, 1896 (his death); I also added his successor per the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas article.  Whoever previously dated the article, and noted no successor, apparently confused his seat as judge with the Western District's jurisdiction.  Judge Parker's judicial seat was never specifically over Indian Territory; he was the sole district judge for the Western District, whose jurisdiction included all or part of Indian Territory until September 1, 1896.  Congress terminated the Western District's jurisdiction over Indian Territory on that date; but as Federal judges are lifetime appointees, Judge Parker continued as Western District judge until his death, and was succeeded in that seat by John Henry Rogers.  (The seat continues in the Western District to this day, and is presently held by Paul K. Holmes III.)  --RBBrittain (talk) 07:14, 4 July 2014 (UTC)

I should add that Judge Parker probably did not conduct court in the final months of his life; numerous historical sources confirm he was too ill to attend court when his Indian Territory jurisdiction ended.  Nonetheless, since he was appointed as district judge for the Western District (not Indian Territory specifically) and did not resign (senior status was not available then), he remained a judge until his death.  --RBBrittain (talk) 07:23, 4 July 2014 (UTC)

The infobox claims that he left his office of the Presiding Judge on November 25, 1896. However, Parker died on November 17, 1896, due to complications related to Bright's disease/nephritis. Parker was succeeded by John Henry Rogers, who received the recess appointment from President Grover Cleveland on November 27. But Parker probably left his office upon the announcement of his death, not 8 days thereafter.--89.173.227.64 (talk) 06:03, 24 May 2016 (UTC)

Fixed, thank you! Callanecc (talk • contribs • logs) 12:22, 24 May 2016 (UTC)

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I have just modified one external link on Isaac Parker. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

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Hello fellow Wikipedians,
While doing some research at work (I am curator for the United States Marshals Museum, opening September 24, 2019, in Fort Smith, Arkansas), I noticed an incorrect claim on the page that is derived from Parker folklore. He was not the youngest judge in the West. His two predecessors in this seat were younger than him at the time they were each appointed. Their ages are shown on their wiki pages (with appropriate sourcing). I removed this claim accordingly.
Separately, re: the Three Guardsmen comment above - All three worked in the Western District of Arkansas at one point as shown by their Oaths of Office held in our collection.
Thanks! 
Montanakennedy (talk) 22:30, 28 December 2017 (UTC)

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it was told too me as a child, that Bill was sentenced to be hanged twice, one for the by stander killed in the general store robbery, and once fore killing a Guard while trying too excape.
Up holding with the law, judge parker ordered him hung twice,by commuting the word in the first case, to be hung,( cut out the words (until dead). So the day of the hanging bill was placed on a three legged milking stool, and it was pulled out from under from him he was allowed too dangle and be hung for about 2 mins.he was then replaced back on the stool, given a min too get a few breaths, and hung again until dead.
Satisfying both family's seeking justice..and Satisfying the letter of the law. 107.147.163.153 (talk) 03:35, 8 June 2023 (UTC)

That paragraph is badly written and likely not true; there is no citation, and a quick search reflects that it doesn't appear to be anywhere else.  It should be modified, if not removed altogether. 72.193.85.115 (talk) 22:28, 17 October 2023 (UTC)

Removed reference to the hiring of U.S. Marshal James Fagan by Isaac Parker (and ensuing hiring of 200 deputies). 
United States Marshals are appointed by the President and are confirmed by the U.S. Senate (in the same manner as federal court judges). Additionally, Fagan was appointed on February 10, 1875, a full month before the nomination of Parker as judge. (US Marshals Service listing of Marshals for Arkansas) 
The '200 deputies' story is fiction. It first showed up in the 1930s in newspapers and is not supported by any records of the court. There were occasions in the 1870s-1900s of districts hiring "200 deputies" to serve for several days during national elections, labor disputes, etc. but few long term matters required it. The district court for the Territory of Oklahoma (located in Guthrie) may have hired as many as 200 deputies and posse while chasing down the Doolins, Daltons, and others in the mid-1890s but that lasted only a couple of years and was not related to actions taken by Parker. Montanakennedy (talk) 20:26, 6 October 2024 (UTC)