The Gallows
With the largest criminal jurisdiction of any federal court at the time, the Western District of Arkansas handled an extraordinary number of murder and rape cases. When a jury found defendants guilty in these capital cases, federal law mandated the death penalty. In Fort Smith, that meant an execution by hanging on a “crude and unsightly” gallows.
A visitor to the city in 1893 recommended constructing a new gallows to evoke the “sacredness and majesty of the law.” This was never achieved and a year after the last execution, the city of Fort Smith destroyed the gallows structure.
“I do not desire to hang you men. It is the law.” Judge Isaac C. Parker
Marker is on Parker Avenue, on the left when traveling north.
Courtesy hmdb.org
