The Fort Smith Courtroom

Historic Furnishings Report The Fort Smith Courtroom Fort Smith National Historic Site Fort Smith, Arkansas By John Demer Staff Curator Media Services Harpers Ferry Center National Park Service, 2005 2 NATIONAL PARK SERVICE HISTORIC FURNISHINGS REPORT Contents Cover: Restored Ft. Smith Courthouse. Ft. Smith National Historic Site, June 2001 3 Administrative Information 5 Interpretive Objectives 5 Operating Plan 7 Prior Planning Documents 7 Historical Information 9 A Note on Sources 11 Analysis of Historic Occupancy 12 Legal structure 14 Charge, warrant, and indictment 14 The grand jury 14 Crimes, evidence, and arrest 15 Terms 15 The petit, or trial, jury 15 The prosecuting attorney 16 The clerk 16 Women employed by the court 17 The U.S. marshal 17 Defense attorney 18 Evidence of Original Furnishings 19 Physical Evidence Removed 19 Furniture Location 21 Furnishings Plan 25 List of Recommended Furnishings 27 The real historic scene 28 Furnishings in the 1880s 28 Floor covering 29 Variance 30 Interior fi nishes 30 The bar 30 The fl oor within the bar 30 Judge’s bench 30 Judge’s chair 31 Cottage revolving bookcase 31 THE FORT SMITH COURTROOM CONTENTS Chandelier 31 Jury chairs 31 Spectator chairs 32 Window coverings 32 Common practice objects 32 Placement of objects 33 Recommended Objects for the Courtroom 33 Objects Listed in the Inventory but Not Recommended for Installation 36 Illustrations 37 4 List of Illustrations 39 Illustrations with Captions 41 Appendixes 73 Appendix A: 75 Letter from Logan Roots to Attorney General, September 22, 1871 Appendix B: 77 Letter from Logan Roots to Attorney General A. T. A. Kirman, October 17, 1871 Appendix C: 78 Letter from W. A. Britton to the Attorney General George H. Williams, January 4, 1872 Appendix D: 79 Letter from W. A. Britton to Attorney General George H. Williams, November 20, 1872 Appendix E: 80 Letter from D. P. Upham to the Attorney General, July 12, 1878 Appendix F: 81 Property Receipt, James F. Fagan to D. P. Upham, July 24, 1876 Appendix G: 82 Letter from Stephen Wheeler to the Attorney General Alphonso Taft, September 23, 1878 Appendix H: 83 Letter from D. P. Upham to the Attorney General, September 28, 1878 Appendix I: 84 Transcript of Hearing, United States v. Thomas Cheatham, et. al., February 3, 1888 Appendix J: 89 Petit Jurors, May Term, 1876, Federal Court for the Western District of Arkansas Appendix K: 91 Requisition for supplies, U.S. Marshal Thomas Boles to Geo. D. Baruard & Co., St. Louis, Mo., August 1883 Bibliography 93 NATIONAL PARK SERVICE HISTORIC FURNISHINGS REPORT Administrative Information On September 13, 1961, Congress authorized During this 17-year period, the Army helped 5 Fort Smith National Historic Site by Public maintain order between two principal Indian Law 87-215. According to its 1994 statement nations, the Cherokee and the Osage. “The of park signifi cance, Fort Smith National His- intermittent use of the fort from 1824 to 1838 toric Site “preserves the site of two frontier was tied to the forced removal of the Five forts and the site of the Federal Court for the Tribes—Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Western District of Arkansas, including the Creek, and Seminole—beginning in 1830.”2 Indian Territory.”1 These nations were moved to lands histori- cally occupied by the Osage. Interpretive Objectives To fulfi ll its obligation to Fort Smith’s en- The removal of these nations provided the abling legislation, National Park Service need to authorize a second fort. The term interpretation can be grouped into the fol- “Second Fort” refers to remains of a second lowing three periods: fort slightly to the northeast of the present courtroom and jail. This second fort served • First Fort: continuous military occupa- primarily as a supply depot. From 1838 to tion from 1817 to 1824, then intermittent 1851, the Army occupied this second Fort military occupation from 1824 to 1834 Smith site intermittently, and from 1851 to • Second Fort: intermittent military oc- 1871 an army occupied the second fort con- cupation from 1838 to 1851; continuous tinuously. The term “an army” is appropri- military occupation from 1851 to 1871 (in- ate because during the Civil War federal and cluding occupation by the Confederacy confederate armies occupied the second fort.3 during the Civil War) • Federal Court: judicial era from 1872 to The term “federal court” refers to the use of 1896 Army buildings as a federal court. In 1872, the year after the Army vacated Fort Smith, the In brief: the term “First Fort” refers to a fort U.S. Court for the Western District of Arkan- the Army built on a bluff at the confl uence of sas moved into the Army’s former barracks the Arkansas and Poteau Rivers. The Army building. The federal court modifi ed the occupied the fi rst Fort Smith continuously barracks into a courthouse and added a wing from 1817 to 1824, then intermittently to 1834. 2 J. Galonska, “Reforming ‘Hell on the Border’: 1 T. E. White, Revised Trip Report: Interpretive Changes in the U.S. Jail for the Western District of Consultation Visit for New Visitor Center for Fort Arkansas, 1872-1896” (Park fi les, Fort Smith Na- Smith National Historic Site, Nov. 28 - Dec. 3, 1994. tional Historic Site, Fort Smith, Arkansas, 1997), 2. Mini-Interpretive Planning Trip (Fort Smith National 3 John C. Paige, Historic Structure Report and Furnish- Historic Site, Fort Smith, Arkansas, December 19), ing Study (Denver, Colorado: National Park Service, 9-21. Denver Service Center, 1981), 1. THE FORT SMITH COURTROOM ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION for a jail in 1887. The court used this federal place the objects in their historical context jail until 1917. The federal government main- following a 1883 newspaper description of tained control of the building until 1920. The Mat Music’s trial. By acquiring replicas of principal fi gure of federal occupancy from the furnishings in 1999, the interior of the 1875 to 1889 was Judge Isaac Charles Parker courtroom at the National Historic Site will (1838–96). Judge Parker served at Fort Smith most closely resemble its appearance in 1883. from 1875 to 1896. In 21 years on the bench, The purpose of the report, then, is to pro- he heard more than 12,000 cases.4 vide park managers with documentation of original furnishings and a rationale for the Fort Smith NHS represents the site of the recommended furnishings that were installed Federal Court for the Western District of Ar- in 2000. 6 kansas by preserving the courtroom to its appearance in 1883. In one part of this historic Fort Smith’s period of interpretation en- building (completed as a military barrack in compasses the years 1817 to 1896, a time of 1851 and converted to a courtroom in 1872), profound change throughout America and visitors will view furnishings representing the especially in western Arkansas. This furnish- building’s use as a courtroom. ings report focuses on one signifi cant change that began in 1872, and that is the transfor- This historic furnishings report summarizes mation of a military barrack into a federal primary evidence of objects in the courtroom courtroom. Specifi cally, this furnishing for the years 1872 to 1883; it then recom- report describes what the courtroom looked mends objects appropriate for a historic fur- like in 1883. Judge Parker’s most active period nishing of the courtroom to the appearance was during the 1890s when he held court in of the room in 1883. The principal reason the a purpose-built courthouse on Sixth Street. report recommends 1883 as the date of inter- The report focuses on furnishings used dur- pretation is that a description of the contem- ing the years 1876 to 1883 because documen- porary appearance of the courtroom appears tation for this period is the most complete. in a secondary account of a trial occurring in that year. The trial was that of Mat Music, an Following the Schematic Design Plan ap- accused man who tried to escape during his proved by Superintendent William Black in trial by diving through a doorway to the right 1997, the National Park Service decided to of Judge Parker. More detail about that trial replace period furnishings with reproduc- and the newspaper description come later in tions. The use of reproductions serves the this report. important function of allowing visitors, especially groups of students, to sit in the restored The rationale for replicating the historic courtroom and take part in mock trials. A scene, then, is twofold. First, curators will secondary benefi t to using reproductions is reproduce the forms of individual objects that they allow a more accurate depiction of according to object descriptions in contem- interior furnishings during the 1880s when porary documents. Most of these documents Judge Parker held court. date to the late 1870s and are cited as appendixes to this report. Second, curators will Planners can recommend the use of diff erent media to approach the theme of “introduc- tion of justice on the frontier.” The range of 4 J. Burton, Indian Territory and the United States, media includes exhibits, waysides, publica- 1866-1906: Courts, Government, and the Move- ment for Oklahoma Statehood (Norman, Oklahoma: tions, historic furnishings, and audiovisuals. University of Oklahoma Press, 1995), 229-30. Each media has its respective advantages and NATIONAL PARK SERVICE HISTORIC FURNISHINGS REPORT disadvantages. Some advantages to a histori- Operating Plan cally furnished area in the courtroom are: The visitor center, exhibits, and restored • Site-specifi c interpretation - The visitor is courtroom are open daily, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 present in the precise place where history p.m.; they are closed Christmas and New occurred.

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