Alva Review-Courier -

Once upon a time, in the late 19th century, Oklahoma was a rather lawless place. Numerous criminals hid out in Indian Territory to avoid capture and punishment.

Then, however, a new judge came to town. He decided to clean up the territory and bring law and order to the Oklahoma frontier.

The judge was Isaac Parker, who came to be known as the “hanging” judge – although he always said: “I never hung a man. It is the law (that has hung them).”

Parker, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from Missouri from 1871 to 1875, sought appointment as a federal judge from fellow Republican President Ulysses Grant.

Consequently, from March 1875 until his death in November 1896, Parker served as judge of the western district of Arkansas. During his tenure Parker imposed the death penalty on 160 defendants – and 79 of them were executed.

Many of the condemned had their convictions or sentences overturned, were pardoned, or died before they could be hanged.

Parker’s courtroom was situated in Fort Smith, Arkansas, with jurisdiction that extended over all of Indian Territory. One of the first actions that Parker took was to appoint approximately 200 deputy marshals to help apprehend criminals in the lawless environs of Oklahoma.

Deputy marshals served directly under marshals, who were presidential appointees. Deputies were usually chosen by the marshals and often served only briefly. Originally, they had no salaries, being paid only expenses and fees for making arrests. Only later were they given regular salaries.

Several of the deputy U.S. marshals who worked out of Parker’s court were African Americans. This is not surprising since Parker was supportive of the Radical Republican Reconstruction policies that sought to include ex-slaves into all walks of American political and social life.

One of these African American deputy marshals was Bass Reeves. Originally from Arkansas, Reeves patrolled Indian Territory for 32 years, from 1875 until Oklahoma became a state in 1907. We will look at the life and career of Bass Reeves in part 2 of this article.