Judge Isaac Parker (1838-1896)

Known in the Old West as the “Hanging Judge,” Isaac Charles Parker served as a U.S. District Judge presiding over the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas for 21 years. He served in that capacity during the most dangerous time for law enforcement during the western expansion. In 21 years on the bench, Judge Parker tried 13,490 cases, 344 of which were capital crimes. Guilty pleas or convictions were handed down in 9,454 cases. Of the 160 (156 men and 4 women) sentenced to death by hanging, 79 were actually hanged. The rest died in jail, appealed, or were pardoned. He converted to Catholicism, largely through the infleunce of his Catholic wife, shortly before his death on this day in 1896.
(From Wikipedia)