Across The Fence: Six Went To The Gallows

"The Gallows. Six Murderers Executed." So read the headlines in the September 4, 1875 edition of The New York Times. This single event, the simultaneous hanging of six men at Fort Smith Arkansas, earned Judge Isaac Parker the moniker of "The Hanging Judge" and executioner George Maledon the distinction of being the "Prince of Hangmen." These seemingly morbid titles might be somewhat repulsive to most people these days. However, to those few who were attempting to live a peaceful, law-abiding existence in 1875 "Indian Territory," these two men wielded the awful power of the law to bring an end...