People need to study the old west a bit and law enforcement during that time. Judge Isaac C. Parker was appointed to the bench for the U.S. Court for the Western District of Arkansas and served there for 21 years. Prior to his appointment to that bench outlaws would rob and kill in various states and then flee to the Indian Territory in Oklahoma where local sheriffs had no jurisdiction. These were hardened and vicious criminals. U.S. Marshals had the only authority there and Judge Parker was placed in charge of the judicial system and deputizing Marshals to go into the Indian Territory to arrest and bring back to Ft. Smith, AR for trial and sentencing. He eventually cleaned up the outlaw problem but it took stern justice to accomplish it. Hangings and lengthy prison sentences were handed out.
Judge Isaac C. Parker
Fort Smith NHS
"I have ever had the single aim of justice in view... 'Do equal and exact justice,' is my motto, and I have often said to the grand jury, 'Permit no innocent man to be punished, but let no guilty man escape.'"
-Judge Isaac C. Parker, 1896
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