Last updated: September 30, 2021
Article
Fort Smith Gallows
Location
The gallows proper had their beginning in early August of 1873. The Fort Smith Weekly New Era of August 6, 1873, reported that "Captain C. E. Perry, U.S. Jailer has received orders to erect the gallows for the execution of prisoners sentenced to be hung here shortly." The article also noted "the fatal structure may already be seen going up near the old powder magazine just inside the garrison walls." The only other known description of the location of the first gallows was published in the New Era of August 20, 1873, which placed the scaffold "at the opposite end of the grounds near the magazine."
The area in which the gallows stood was the southwestern corner of the five-sided fort. Each of the corners was to have been originally crowned with a blockhouse or bastion. When the fort's role was changed in the 1840s from that of a frontier defense to a supply depot it was decided to utilize these sturdy foundations for more practical structures. Therefore the foundations of bastion #1 (Northwestern corner) were modified and a two-story stone commissary warehouse constructed upon them. The Southwestern bastion (#2) was later crowned with a very similar structure housing the quartermaster warehouse. In September of 1846, Colonel Arbuckle negotiated a contract which converted the southern blockhouse foundation (bastion #3) into a very sturdy magazine for the storage of munitions. It was against the face of this structure that the two successive gallows were constructed. In October of 1873, after the final closure of Fort Smith by the army, three commissioners appointed by the Secretary of Interior to appraise the buildings of the fort described the structure as follows:
Pentagonal (Magazine) Stone 2 faces 30 ft. 2 faces 20 ½ ft., one 15 ft. used for storage of powder belonging to citizens. Good condition. Valuation - $400
In September 1875, at the first execution carried out after Judge Parker’s arrival in Fort Smith, an extra edition of the Independent described the building and area: "In one corner of this wall stands an old pentagon-shaped building, with iron doors and pointed roof, built of solid masonry…."
By 1896, years of disuse had taken their toll, and a traveler reported that "the scaffold is on a line with the wall, and beyond is a grotto of heavy stone masonry 50 feet in diameter. This was once a bomb-proof magazine, but the top is now off and cavities in the masonry show where the big timber rested that supported the heavy roof of rock and earth."
1873 Gallows
The 1873 gallows were described several times by various reporters.
On September 3, 1875, an article in the Independent of Fort Smith described as follows:
"THE GALLOWS
In the jail yard in front of and close up to the old magazine is a strong platform about 20 feet square and 12 feet high, with a long trap door in the floor, swung on iron hinges for the
DEAD FALL.
Over this about 10 feet higher, framed on upright posts and firmly braced, is a long rope beam with six ropes attached."
Another journalist wrote in the St. Louis Republican of September 4, 1875 this description of the gallows:
"The scaffold upon which they will be executed has been erected at the south side of the old parade ground, right against the front of the old magazine. The structure is built of rough timbers. The cross-beam is a stout stick of hewed oak, supported on two upright posts, very strongly braced. The platform is about seven feet from the ground. The distance between the supporting posts is about twelve feet, giving nearly two feet space for the fall of each victim. The trap extends across the breadth of the platform, and consists of two pieces strongly hinged to the flooring of the platform so that they form a connection in the nature of a double door when closed from below. These are held in place when brought up by a stout beam of oak, extending in the direction of the gallows' beam on which rest two arms firmly fastened to one flap of the door below. To this beam about the middle is secured an iron trigger bar about three feet long, well secured on the facing of the platform floor. By a movement of this lever back, the trigger bar which holds the trap in position is released and the doors drop down."
Some six years later, on September 7, 1881, a reporter from the Fort Smith Elevator visited the garrison and described the execution machinery as follows:
"The scaffold stands eight feet above the ground. A stairway of 12 steps, 3 feet six inches in width, leads up the platform, which is 14 x 15. The trap is twelve feet long by three feet wide, and is so arranged as to give way in the center when sprung, each half being on hinges. The cross beam over head is seven feet two inches above the platform, and is of heavy timber. The ropes are so arranged as to give about six feet drop. A deep trench had been dug directly under the trap, so as to prevent the feet of the condemned from striking the ground."
Of the appurtenances of the gallows there is only limited evidence. It is known that the area adjacent to the gallows was fenced prior to the execution of John Postoak and James Diggs in 1878. The New Era of December 18, 1878, noted that, "the execution will be conducted in a private manner, the gallows being surrounded by a high board fence, which shuts out from public gaze the terrible scene which is to take place there." The roof that formed a major feature of the second gallows either never became a part of the first gallows or was at best a very late addition.
As late as 1881, during a September execution, it was noted that, "the condemned sat on a bench beneath an awing which shielded them from the boiling sun." This only casually mentions the benches, which might, or might not have been an integral part of the gallows structure. Another feature of the gallows that was described in the years before Judge Parker and not subsequently, was a screen beneath the gallows.
The August 20, 1873 New Era noted "at 1:40 p.m. John S. Childers was LAUNCHED INTO ETERNITY, the body disappearing with a heavy 'thud' behind the screen." Coverage of a dual hanging two months later also mentions the screen, under what can be considered far darker circumstances; "After the drop had fallen the Officers, in order to allow the crowd to satisfy its appetite for the horrible, knocked down the sides of the under part of the gallows so that the bodies were exposed to full view as they hung from the ropes." The first gallows operated for over a decade.
he 'U.S. Court Proceedings' column in the Elevator for April 16, 1886 noted that, "the old gallows, upon which forty three men have been hung have been torn down and a new one put up where it stood. The old one had become rotten and dilapidated generally."
1886 Gallows
"The new gallows is put up in a more neat and substantial manner than the old one was. The platform is 16 x 20 feet, supported by solid oak columns 12 x 12 inches square; the cross beam is of solid oak 9 x 11 inches 16 feet in the clear and rests on two upright columns of oak sixteen feet high, and about 12 x 12 inches square. The beam is braced on top by heavy timbers, the ends of which rest on the upright columns. The trap door is sixteen feet long and three feet wide. The drop is fully six feet."
- Fort Smith Weekly Elevator, April 23, 1886
The new gallows was reportedly built by well-known Fort Smith craftsman, Martin Luther Stoufer. There is a wide spread tradition that the earlier gallows had a capacity of six men executed at one time, and that the new gallows was designed with a capability of executing twelve men at one time. The dimensions established for the 1886 gallows tend to dispute this, if a spacing of two feet per man is used.
On the night of April 24, 1886, the fence that enclosed the gallows was blown down and entirely demolished in a severe wind. U.S. Marshal Carroll not being opposed to public hangings, there was some doubt that the enclosure would be rebuilt. However, by the next execution the enclosure was back in place. When Marshal Carroll left his post in May 1889, it was noted that he "left to his successor a brand new gallows enclosure and new roof." The article did not specify whether or not this was the first roof, or merely a replacement. A photograph of the courthouse and grounds taken prior to 1887 does not seem to indicate the presence of a roof on the gallows.
During the time in-between executions the gallows was used by the jail and court staff as a corral for horses and cattle. In fact, the official records of the federal court hardly make notice of the gallows structure, except in passing.
In the summer of 1896 the crossbeam of the gallows was replaced. A local newspaper described the event:
"Last Monday, Jailer Berry had the old cross beam of the gallows, on which so many men have been hung, removed and a new on(e) substituted in its place. The old beam upon removal was found to be rotten through and through, and it is a matter of wonder that it did not long ago break under one of the many strains to which it has been subjected. The condition of the beam was discovered by Mr. Eoff, the turnkey, about the time of the last execution, but not in time to replace it. When it was removed Monday it broke into several pieces as it fell to the ground. One end was sound, but the remainder was rotten to the core."
Only six more men met their maker via the new beam, the last man on July 30, 1896.
The Gallows: 1897 to 1957
The gallows at best could be considered a crude device and was the source of much controversy even while it was in use. Frank Strong, General Agent of the Attorney General, noted in his Report of the Inspection of the Fort Smith Federal Jail that:
"The arrangements for executing criminals are crude and unsightly. Unless some reasons exist (certainly to me unknown) for preserving intact the rude appliance by means of which so many criminals have been executed, it should be replaced by a newer arrangement, decently enclosed, where those who are sentenced to death may meet their fate amid surroundings more suggestive of the sacredness and majesty of the law than are the weather scarred beams and boards now devoted to the purpose."
Mr. Strong's reactions were shared and amplified by the citizens of Fort Smith. They felt that the large number of executions occurring here had unjustly slandered their fair city. The newspapers were quick to point out that no one was ever sentenced there for a crime committed in Arkansas, much less in Fort Smith.
On September 1, 1896, the Federal Court for the Western District of Arkansas lost its jurisdiction over Indian Territory, rendering the gallows excess property. A congressional act on February 26, 1897 transferred the bulk of the property once used by the court, including the gallows, to the control of the city of Fort Smith. Former hangman and jail guard George Maledon approached the city council with a request to purchase the trapdoor from the gallows for use in his traveling display. While there is no record of the council's reaction to this request, shortly thereafter, in the summer of 1897, the mayor of Fort Smith ordered that the gallows be dismantled and burned. The Weekly Elevator supported this action, stating, "this removes an object which, unsightly and gruesome as it might be, was, nevertheless an interesting one to strangers from abroad." Shortly thereafter, the old fort wall at the site of the gallows was torn down, and Parker Avenue was extended through the location of the gallows enclosure. At the time the gallows was removed, a more romantic mind wrote these words to mark the end of the structure:
"The Passing of the Old Government Suspender: Fare thee well old gallows! Whether thou has been a necessity in the suppressing of crime, or whether thou art a lingering relic of the dark ages that has lapped over our modern civilization, remains to be decided by that divine tribunal before whose law must stand the mighty nations of the earth as well as their weakest subjects."
After the wall surrounding the old fort was removed, the city of Fort Smith built streets through the grounds of the former garrison, and right through the location of the gallows. For over fifty years there was no trace of the gallows; it remained only as a memory.
Gallows Today
In the mid 1950s, as interest in the American West grew, the city of Fort Smith formed a commission to study the possibility of restoring the courtroom and the gallows. By May of 1957 the restoration of Parker's courtroom was completed and a replica of the gallows had been built.
The 1957 reconstruction was built to the south of the former barrack/courthouse and jail buildings, approximately 75 yards away from the original location, which at that time was occupied by a trucking warehouse. The reconstructed gallows was based on descriptions in historic newspapers and the image of the 1886 gallows. This reconstruction remained in place until 1981, when it was torn down, and the National Park Service built a reconstructed gallows on the original location. The second reconstruction remains in place today.
Archeology done at the site of the gallows in the early 1980s was not able to locate any trace of the original wooden wall or gallows structure.
Frequently Asked Questions
In the twentieth century, as the stories of Judge Parker and the Fort Smith court were handed down, the executions that occurred at the Gallows gained mythic stature. Many of the books written in the 1950s and later treated the legends, folktales, and myths. Here are the facts behind some of the myths and misconceptions:
How many men did Judge Parker hang?
During the course of his 21 year tenure at Fort Smith, Judge Parker sentenced to the gallows 160 men and women who had been found guilty of rape or murder by a jury. Of this total, 79 men were executed on the gallows. The judge only handed down the death sentences; he did not attend the executions or participate in them in any official capacity.
How many executions were there in total?
From 1873 through 1896, a total of 39 executions occur, putting to death 86 men for convictions of rape and murder.
Was Judge Parker the only judge to sentence men to die on the gallows at Fort Smith?
No. Judges William Story and Henry Caldwell also handed down death sentences prior to Judge Parker's appointment here in 1875.
Could you be sent to the gallows for stealing a horse?
No. The only crimes that carried a death sentence rape and murder. A larceny case, such as stealing a horse, would likely end you up at the Detroit House of Corrections for a year.
What crimes carried the death sentence at the Federal Court?
Federal law of the time required a mandatory death sentences for convictions of rape or murder.
Were all of the executions open to the public?
The executions that occurred here were only open to the general public for three years (1873-1876). During that time, seven executions (a total of 22 men were hanged in these executions) were conducted where the public was allowed to attend. In 1878 a 16 foot tall fence was built around the gallows scaffold. From 1878 on, most executions had less than 50 spectators.
How many women died on the gallows?
None. While Judge Parker sentenced four women to die for murder convictions, all were eventually spared through presidential commutations or Supreme Court reversals. Three women had their sentences commuted to live in prison and one woman was granted a new trial and was acquitted.
Were there any complaints or protests about the gallows?
While many in Fort Smith felt that the gallows gave the community an undeserved reputation and notoriety, there were no protests against the executions.
Did George Maledon really supervise over half of the executions on the gallows?
Remembered today as the "prince of Hangmen," George Maledon's actual work at Fort Smith is much more difficult to document. Employed as a night guard in the jail, records indicate that Maledon supervised executions from the mid-1880s until 1891, and then again in 1894. He stopped working for the federal court in 1894, and began traveling the area with a tent display showing gallows relics, including nooses and photographs of the men who died on the gallows. Maledon was not the only jailer who participated in the executions. Contemporary newspaper accounts mention other jailers as well.
Did anyone survive a hanging at Fort Smith?
No. While at least one legend claims the possibility of a condemned man escaping justice on the gallows, and last minutes reprieves from the judge are a staple of western novels, no one who walked up the steps to the gallows lived to tell the tale.
Did the gallows really have a stairway with 13 steps?
No. Several newspaper accounts describing the 1886 gallows specifically state that the stairway had 12 steps.
How many men could be hung at once on the gallows?
Folklore traditions hold that the gallows could hang 12 men at once. This is unlikely, and nearly impossible given the size of the scaffold. The 1886 gallows scaffold had a trapdoor 16 feet long; if a space of two feet was allowed for each person, this could at most execute eight men at once. In fact, contemporary accounts confirm this. However, only six men were ever executed at once (on two occasions).
What happened to the original gallows?
Eleven and a half months after the final execution on July 30, 1896, the City of Fort Smith demolished the gallows and burned the pieces. The present reconstruction, built on the original site, was constructed in 1981-82.
Did the largest federal execution in American history occur here?
No. While the largest number of federal executions to occur in one place were done here, the largest number of men executed by the federal government at one time was December 26th 1862, when thirty-eight Sioux Indian men were hanged in Mankato, Minnesota for participation in an uprising earlier that year.
What was the gallows used for when executions were not scheduled?
Largely ignored by the staff of the federal court during the times executions were not scheduled, the enclosure was used on at least one occasion as a horse corral. The structure was usually whitewashed and cleaned up prior to an execution.
Did they leave nooses hanging on the gallows all of the time?
The only time nooses were put on the gallows crossbeam was for an execution. Nooses were not left on the structure in between executions.
Could you buy a ticket or pass to attend a hanging?
No. After the executions began to be conducted privately in 1878, the U.S. Marshal occasionally limited the number of spectators by issuing passes. These passes were reserved for doctors, lawyers, and newspaper reporters. On occasion relatives of the condemned man, or victim of the crime were admitted as well.
Was a man named Jose Gonzales executed on the gallows?
No. A persistent piece of folklore is the so called 'death sentence of Jose Manuel Miguel Xavier Gonzales.' This legend plays on Judge Parker's speaking style and includes racist statements. Records list no such man as ever having appeared before the court. This death warrant is an excellent example of how the legend of the Gallows and the Hanging Judge has taken on a wide variety of epic forms.
Why did executions come to an end in 1896?
The Indian Territory jurisdiction of the court came to an end on September 1, 1896; putting a stop to the criminal cases being heard by the court. With a limited criminal jurisdiction, the court no longer heard capital crimes cases, and no longer needed the gallows.