Where were the majority of prisoners convicted in Judge Parker's court sent?
My great-grandfather, Green Lynch, was convicted of bootlegging in 1887. I sent for his records at NARA in Ft. Worth, but the records didn't indicate to which prison he was sent.

I did find him in the 1890 Confederate Soldiers Census. He was in Rusk State Penitentiary in Texas. I presume he was serving his sentence there. I learned that this prison was built originally to relieve the crowding at Huntsville State Prison. In later years, Rusk was a hospital for mental patients. Does anyone know if Rusk was one of the prisons used for those convicted at Ft. Smith?

Also, I believe D.A. Williams was a U.S. Marshal around that time (late 1800s, early 1900s). Can anyone verify this?

I have never run across Rusk State Pen in TX as being a destination for those convicted at Fort Smith. At various times, federal prisoners were sent to prisons in other states that had contracts with the government to accept federal convicts. These included House of Correction at Detroit, Michigan; Kings County Penitentiary in Brooklyn, New York; Arkansas State Penitentiary at Little Rock, Arkansas; Ohio State Penitentiary at ___[?]; and the West Virginia State Penitentiary at Moundsville.

I wonder if your ancestor was convicted on a state charge in Texas and that is why he was sentenced to a Texas prison probably by a Texas court. If he was convicted on a liquor charge at Fort Smith, his sentence probably was 6 months- 1 year as was pretty standard.

Regarding the National Archives, the case files themselves might contain info on where the convict was to serve his time, but you might also check out the Common Law Record Books and Sentencing Books held by NARA as well for that information.

The Ohio State Penitentiary was at Columbus.

It was in the Columbus penitentiary that Al Jennings, the Terror of Oklahoma, shared a cell with William Sidney Porter, better known as O. Henry, the short story writer.

--meursault

Majority of people who were sentenced by Parker were sent to Detroit. Although for bootlegging he most likely would've stayed in Fort Smith. One year or less- stay in Fort Smith, year or more- most likely sent to Detroit.

Fyi... I'm a ranger at Fort Smith NHS. What's the name and I can look up sentencing records for you.

~C

Ok, duh... I see the name, Green Lynch. Actually I found this guys sentencing records for March 1887. Says he was booked March 10, and spent 30 days in jail... which would've meant he spent 30 days here in Hell on the Border.

~C

Has anyone had any luck in locating "mugshots" from the various state prisons that we've been discussing in this post? I have seen some at the Territorial Museum in Guthrie that are from Leavenworth, but I don't believe I have located any repository for the other prisons we noted. That would a veritable treasure trove of history if they still exist. From what I've found, many of these prisons were taking photos of their prisoners upon intake by the late 1870s.

The historian at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester told me several years ago that they have photographs going back to the early days of the prison, but that they are in no particular order and are being stored in boxes!!!! Really a shame.

Catherine, have you ever run across any mention of "mugshots" being taken at the Fort Smith Jail? I have never found mention of that.

Albany New York was also used. According to articles found in April and May, 1895, Bill Cook and 17 others arrived there on April 25th. They received a great deal of attention as they were still in their western garb. They were met at the depot by armed guards, chained, and marched off.

quote:

Originally posted by Diron:
Has anyone had any luck in locating "mugshots" from the various state prisons that we've been discussing in this post? I have seen some at the Territorial Museum in Guthrie that are from Leavenworth, but I don't believe I have located any repository for the other prisons we noted. That would a veritable treasure trove of history if they still exist. From what I've found, many of these prisons were taking photos of their prisoners upon intake by the late 1870s.

The historian at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester told me several years ago that they have photographs going back to the early days of the prison, but that they are in no particular order and are being stored in boxes!!!! Really a shame.

Catherine, have you ever run across any mention of "mugshots" being taken at the Fort Smith Jail? I have never found mention of that.

I've never ran across any "mugshots" of prisoners, nor have any of my co-workers that I asked. Only ones I've seen are the professional photos that were taken of prisoners, e.g. Cherokee Bill and his mother, Blue Duck and Belle Starr, etc...

This is an interesting topic because we realize that there were many prisoner photos taken of Fort Smith fugitives. Some where taken after capture, some were taken after execution. There is a recent photo of a dead Dynamite Dick Clifton supposedly taken at Fort Smith that has appeared in recent magazines. One notice I seen recently stated the photo was from Muskogee. We also recognize that Executioner Maledon went on tour with his ropes and photos of Fort Smith prisoners.

The question should be what happened to all the photos taken in Fort Smith? This should not be as hard as studying Egyptology and deciphering the writings on the walls and tombs. Besides the outlaws and felons, where are the photos of the officers of the court and the deputies? Something happened in Fort Smith and we are not getting the complete story as yet.

For all the prisoners from the Indian Territory sent to Leavenworth Federal Prison in Kansas, there are generally mug shots available. You have to contact the National Archives in Kansas City, MO, and they will direct you in what to do to obtain the photo of the person you have an interest in. I am not sure about the other prisons. The majority of prisoners were sent to the Detroit House of Corrections and I am not sure of any photo repository for that prison, but there may be someplace in Michigan that has those photos. Most prisons would generally take mug shots for identification purposes and if a felon escapted they would know who they were looking for in the late 19th century.

FYI, the US Penitentiary at Leavenworth did not begin receiving inmates until 1903. The US Disciplinary Barracks at Ft. Leavenworth did house a few civilian inmates prior to the USP being built. But, the majority of federal inmates who were incarcerated in the area prior to Oklahoma statehood would have been held at Kansas State Penitentiary which is actually located in Lansing, KS about five miles south of the entrance to Ft. Leavenworth and the current US Penitentiary. KSP construction was interrupted by the Civil War, so it was there during Judge Parker's time on the bench. The US Disciplinary Barracks on Ft. Leavenworth was opened for business in 1875 I believe.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Crosstimbers Okie,

From the Oklahoma Kid's comments above, it struck me that if the Ft. Smith court did not take photos of its prisoners, then the ones we know exist were done by private photographers. Seems we ought to be looking for collections from picture takers local to Ft. Smith, Little Rock, Muskogee, and other points nearby. Probably not many have survived, at least intact, but it's a place to start.

Just this week a couple of fellows from the National Archives have been poking around in the old records at United States Penitentiary Leavenworth. Apparently, it's the intention of the agency to preserve all of the old records that are housed in the Records Department and in boxes & old file cabinets in every nook & cranny of the upper rotunda--probably 10,000 pounds worth.

We are wondering if this is a precursor to turning it from a working prison into a national park or museum. Jimmy Carter wanted to close the place when he was President, but he didn't get a second term.

Just found this. It is an answer for the original question for the year 1891 anyway.

Territorial Topic, April 23, 1891:
...communication has been recived from Attorney General Miller, with reference to the places of imprisonment for prisoners sentenced for one year or over as follows:
The House of Corrections at Detroit, Michigan, is designated as the place of confinement for prisoners sentenced to a penitentiary for one year or more. The Reform School in the District of Columbia, is designated for white male prisoners under 16 years of age; and the House of Reformation, at Cheltenham, Maryland, for colored prisoners under 16 years of age. Female prisoners under 16 years of age, as has heretofore been stated, shall be confined in the Reform School at Indianapolis, Indiana. The period to commence from date of rendition of sentence.

One of the people I am writing about was U. S. Deputy Marshall George Redman Tucker. He was interviewed for Oklahoma Pioneer papers in 1937 and he talked about transfer of Prisoners as follows:
"I suppose that I ought to mention the methods used in transporting the batches of convicted prisoners to the penitentiaries in the north. I never went on but two of these trips, and I went then only because I wanted to see the country. One time I was a member of the group that took sixty prisoners to Detroit, Michigan. The other time we took eighty five convicts to Brooklyn, New York. We came back through Chicago from Detroit on the first trip On the New York trip we returned by way of Washington, D.C. I enjoyed both of the trips,but I much preferred to work in the field. There was more spice to it.
On the Detroit trip, if I remember correctly, there were twenty-seven deputies and the marshal who constituted the escort. The prisoners were carried handcuffed and shackled in special coaches. We kept a pretty close watch over them. The biggest job was when we took them off the train to feed them. We had arrangements all made ahead of time as to where we would feed them.
My recollection of these trips is that the deputies had a hard time getting enough to eat. They were so busy feeding and looking after the prisoners there wasn’t any time to eat their own meals.
On those trips, we had some pretty tough customers in the convoy. They were more desperate on the way to the penitentiary than they had been before. Some picked their shackles. They would use almost any kind of small wire or metal to do it. Most were not successful. I remember one old doctor who used the spring out of his watch to pick his shackles. He got the spring fast in the lock and broke it off, so that our keys would not work. We had to cut the shackles off him, but we gave him a new pair right away. We delivered every man whom we started with on each of the trips.

See my full article about him titled "Pioneer Lawman Geoge Redman Tucker".
Norm Brown

Bennie Reeves was sent to Leavenworth Federal Prison in February of 1903. It appears that all the convicted felons from the Muskogee court after that date were sent to Leavenworth. I have come across a newspaper article where Bass Reeves escorted prisoners to Leavenworth around 1905. They do have photo images available for prisoners arrested in the I.T. from that court in the National Archives Branch in Kansas City. I don't know if prisoners from the Southern and Central Districts were also sent to Leavenworth, they probably were.

I have articles from the Fort Smith Elevator newspaper that state in the summer of 1895, federal prisoners were being sent to the prison at Leavenworth. Now this could have been the barracks at Leavenworth. But the newspaper referred to it as the "prison at Leavenworth." Is it possible they had an older federal prison before a newer one was built in 1903.

The Leavenworth Penitentiary website gives the following information which gives the sense that there was a military prison at Fort Leavenworth prior to 1896. I seem to recall seeing in the Fort Sill Museum Archives mention of military prisoners found guilty in courts martial and being sent to "Leavenworth" in the 1880s and early 1890s.

"The USP Leavenworth came into existence through an act of Congress in 1895. Inmates from the military prison at Fort Leavenworth were used in the early construction and were marched two and one-half miles to the site daily, returning each night to the prison at Fort Leavenworth. This continued until February, 1903 when the first 418 inmates to occupy the prison site were moved into what now serves as a laundry building."