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Making America's Best Idea Even Better
Fort Smith National Historic Sitehigh water in Arkansas River along walking trail
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Fort Smith National Historic Site
April 3, 1874 Execution
rope tied as noose
On April 3, 1874, three Indian men were executed for three separate crimes. John Billy, a Choctaw Indian was convicted of the murder of deputy marshal Perry Duval on November 2, 1873. Isaac Filmore, a full-blood Choctaw approximately seventeen years old was found guilty of killing a traveler from California for his shoes and $1.50. John Pointer, a Seminole Indian, had murdered a white man in the Chickasaw Nation. This was the third of four executions that occurred before Isaac Parker was appointed District Judge in Fort Smith.
Park staff and volunteers demonstrating using lindstock and slowmatch to ignite the cannon's primer  

Did You Know?
The soldiers who came to Fort Smith in 1817 were still using some 18th century technology and drill. The cannon was discharged using a lindstock and slowmatch to ignite the primer, which originally was loose powder or a turkey quill filled with powder.

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Last Updated: June 16, 2007 at 16:38 EST