Judge Issac Parker
I enjoyed this book last week. It’s about Issac Parker, the hanging judge of Ft. Smith, AR. You could say he gave his life to clean up the lawless area he served. Parker died at only 58 years. In the end, he tried to hold court from bed. A museum honors him in Ft. Smith. Larry and I visited it long ago, but it’s been redone and improved. I’d love to go again. His first day on the job, May 1875, Parker tried 18, all were charged with murder; 15 were convicted in jury trials. Parker sentenced eight of them to a mandatory death penalty. He ordered six of the men to be executed at the same time on September 3, 1875. Can you imagine 18 trials in a single day! Most of the murderers of that day and time, ran off to Indian Territory to hide, but Parker had a team of U S Marshals who were not afraid to face the Devil. One of those men was Bass Reeves, Black U S Marshal for Parker’s court. My cousin Dan Maples was another. Dan went into the Indian Nations after Ned Christie, Cherokee. Dan was ambushed and murdered.
May 5, 1887, Daniel Maples died. He was my Grandfather, William Burl "Bee" Maples’ first cousin. He died serving the United States trying to arrest illegal whiskey dealers in Indian Territory. Ned Christie, a Cherokee Nation tribal council member, was accused of the murder, though his actual guilt is in dispute. Christie was later killed by a posse of marshals. Deputy Marshal Maples is memorialized on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, DC at Panel 26, W-19.
Bass Reeves
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