The branch and the scaffold : the true story of the West's legendary hanging judge

When Judge Isaac Parker first arrived in Fort Smith, Arkansas, the town had thirty saloons and one bank. Inheriting a corrupt court and a lawless territory roughly the size of Great Britain, he immediately put the residents on notice by publicly hanging six convicted felons at one time. For the next two decades, his stern and implacable justice brought law and order to the West . . . and made him plenty of enemies. As the sole law on the untamed frontier, Parker tried civil and criminal cases throughout the Western District of Arkansas and the Indian Nations. Only God and the president had the power to challenge Parker. His severe judgments scandalized Washington and the Eastern press, and took an onerous toll on his private life, but the Hanging Judge of the Border never flinched from his duty. Over the years, he and his marshals, dubbed Parkers Men, ran up against some of the most colorful and dangerous outlaws the West had to offer, including the notorious Dalton Gang; Belle Star, the Bandit Queen; the murderous Cherokee Bill; and Ned Christie, a vengeful Indian who carried on a private war against the U.S. government for seven years. The Branch and the Scaffold is a fascinating depiction of Judge Parkers life and times, as told by a five-time winner of the Spur Award.

The true story of the West’s legendary Hanging Judge!

Publishers Weekly

Estleman (Billy Gashade) turns in a sharp, funny and exciting western centering on Isaac C. Parker (1838-1896), the notorious federal "Hanging Judge" for Arkansas and the Indian Territory (Oklahoma) from 1875 until his death. Aided by his malevolent and ruthlessly efficient executioner, George Maledon, and a small army of deputy marshals, Estleman's Parker crusades to rid his jurisdiction of murderers, rapists, thieves and other unfragrant owlhoots. Without using fictional characters, Estleman loads his entertaining yarn with colorful anecdotes of notorious criminals like Belle Starr, Ned Christie, Rufus Buck and Bill Doolin, as well as tenacious and famous lawmen like the legendary Three Guardsmen-Heck Thomas, Chris Madsen and Bill Tilghman. Parker's liberal application of the gallows took a terrible toll on his health and family life, and earned him many enemies: while outlaws feared and respected him, lawyers and politicians hated him. ("I'd as soon hang a Republican as a Democrat," Parker once said.) There is no mystery or surprise; Estleman sticks to fictionalized history throughout. This is a vivid, fast-paced western adventure brilliantly presented by a masterful storyteller. (Oct.)

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When Judge Isaac Parker first arrived in Fort Smith, Arkansas, the town had thirty saloons and one bank. Inheriting a corrupt court and a lawless territory roughly the size of Great Britain, he immediately put the residents on notice by publicly hanging six convicted felons at one time. For the next two decades, his stern and implacable justice brought law and order to the West ... and made him plenty of enemies. As the sole law on the untamed frontier, Parker tried civil and criminal cases throughout the Western District of Arkansas and the Indian Nations. Only God and the president had the power to challenge Parker. His severe judgments scandalized Washington and the Eastern press, and took an onerous toll on his private life, but the "Hanging Judge of the Border" never flinched from his duty. Over the years, he and his marshals, dubbed "Parkerś Men," ran up against some of the most colorful and dangerous outlaws the West had to offer, including the notorious Dalton Gang; Belle Star, the Bandit Queen; the murderous Cherokee Bill; and Ned Christie, a vengeful Indian who carried on a private war against the U.S. government for seven years