Isaac Charles Parker was an American politician and judge.
Background
Isaac Charles Parker was born on Ocrober 15, 1838 in Barnesville, Belmont County, Ohio, United States. He was the son of Joseph and Jane (Shannon) Parker. His mother was a niece of Gov. Wilson Shannon, and Isaac attributed his success largely to her.
Education
Isaac Charles Parker attended a country school and then taught and attended Barnesville Academy alternately.
Career
By the time Isaac Charles Parker was twenty-one he had picked up enough law to begin to practise and had opened an office in St. Joseph, Missouri. He served successively as city attorney, 1860 - 1864, presidential elector in 1864 (voting for Lincoln), corporal in the local militia, judge of the twelfth circuit 1868 - 1870, and member of Congress, 1871 - 1875. In Congress he was a member of the committee on territories of which James A. Garfield was chairman. Here he showed a great deal of interest in the Indians and sought to improve their condition. During his first term he introduced a bill designed to give them civil government in a territory to be called Oklahoma and he continued to urge the adoption of such a measure as long as he was in Washington. He also favored woman's suffrage in the territories.
He introduced a resolution calling for an amendment to the Constitution making members of Congress ineligible for the presidency while members and for two years thereafter. In 1875 President Grant appointed him chief justice of Utah and the nomination was confirmed, but at the request of the President he resigned to accept appointment as judge of the western district of Arkansas. Probably no appointment ever gave more satisfaction. His jurisdiction extended over the Indian Territory, a country infested by "criminal intruders, " renegades and fugitives from justice in other states and foreign countries. His predecessor was a weak man, who had allowed the court to fall into disrepute. On taking office (May 10, 1875) one of Judge Parker's first acts was to appoint 200 deputy marshals. He was to need many fearless men: sixty-five deputies were slain while he was in office. In his first term he tried eighteen murder cases and fifteen convictions were secured. This record struck terror to the hearts of evil doers and raised the hopes of law-abiding citizens. It is said that he passed sentence of death upon 162, in the course of twenty-one years, of whom eighty were hanged, very few judges have a like record.
Because of his great number of executions he won a reputation, outside the state, among those who did not know him or the conditions in his district, for great severity, but he was neither harsh nor cruel; his sympathies went out to the victim and his family rather than to the murderer. He was well versed in the English common law, but treated the law as a growing organism and believed that the safeguards thrown around the accused to protect him from savage judges should not be used to protect murderers. Some of his decisions were reversed because he had brushed technicalities aside; one murderer was convicted three times and, after Parker's death, escaped with a prison sentence. He was intensely interested in education and served as president of the school board at Fort Smith, Arkansas, for several years. He is said to have drawn up the bill, passage of which was secured by John H. Rogers, representative for the district, providing for the donation of the United States Reservation in Fort Smith to the schools of the city instead of to a railroad. He died on November 17, 1896.
Achievements
Membership
Isaac Charles Parker was a member of the Electoral College.
Personality
Isaac Charles Parker had a keen sense of humor and sometimes yielded to it in the court room. He gave freely to charity and never accumulated much property.
Connections
On December 12 1861, Isaac Charles Parker married Mary O'Toole, in St. Joseph, Missouri. They had two sons.