Most people recognize the western frontier days as wild and woolly times. Many don’t realize the frontier started right here - in the U.S.

court’sWestern District of Arkansas.

Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) beckoned outlaws to hide out just across the state line from Fort Smith and its infamous“Hanging” Judge Isaac Parker.

Officers and deputies of the U. S. Marshals Service earned the charge of settling down the wildest. They pursued and arrested those accused of breaking federal laws and returned them to Parker’s courtroom for justice.

The descendants of these Wild West heroes continue the job today.

Marshals of the past and present will be honored at a museum currently in development in Fort Smith.

Organizers of the future U.S.

Marshals Museum plan a weekend of events Nov. 8-9 to celebrate the placing of a cornerstone at the site of the future museum. Stacia Hylton, director of the U.S. Marshals Service, and descendants and relatives of marshals are expected to attend.

HALL OF HONOR

Early in 2009, the U.S.

Marshals Service decided to create a dedicated location for its artifacts, which were then held in a Wyoming museum, relates Jim Dunn, a retired attorney who currently serves as the museum’s president and chief operatingofficer. Sixteen cities across the United States competed for the honor to build the only museum dedicated to the marshals.

“We have a long history of a relationship to the frontier-era,” Dunn says of winning the bid.

“More U.S. Marshals and deputies have died in the line of service than any other federal agency, and the largestnumbers of marshals killed in the line of duty were killed here - nearly 70, with 40 of those in Oklahoma,” he adds.

“More marshals are buried in and around Fort Smith than any other place in the world, and many descendants live in the Fort Smith area.”

The museum has secured a 12-acre site along the ArkansasRiver in the historic district of Fort Smith, overlooking the Indian Territory. Members of the Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma accepted an invitation to build a monument remembering those who crossed into the Indian Territory on the Trail of Tears, Dunn says.

“We have raised $14 million and still have to raise $50, 000-plus to our goal,” Dunn says. “We said we would have $40 million raised by the time we break ground. We’ve set that date: Sept. 14, 2014, the 250th anniversary of the founding of the Marshals Service.”

CHANGING NATION

The Tulsa World in 1928 recalled the recent times of thefrontier as a “romantic era,” according to a display at the Fort Smith National Historic Site.

“Fort Smith was a nice town, up and coming, with churches being formed,” says Jeremy Lynch, a ranger at the national park. “It had become a trading center.

“But the marshals saw the other side. Railroads between towns were springing up, and there was no law. Indians had their own legal system, and many fugitives would escape into Indian Territory to hide out.”

By 1851, however, Van Buren was the more affluent community, a bigger town, says Tom Wing, an associate professor of history at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith and director of the school’s historic Drennon-Scott House in Van Buren.

The judicial district was headquartered in Little Rock at the time, and the land covered by the district was vast, Wing says. The area included what is now Benton, Washington, Crawford and Sebastian counties in Arkansas and Sequoyah and Latimer counties in Oklahoma.

It was Crow country, and there were disputes over boundaries.

John Drennon served as an Indian agent of the United States, working with the Choctaw Nation. “And he had to deal with these issues,” Wing says. “He wrote to Washington, telling them they needed a court here.”

In 1851, George Washington Knox was appointed by President Millard Fillmore as the first marshal for the newly formed Western District of Arkansas, and victims were brought for justice to the court of Judge Daniel Ringo in Van Buren.

The new district included all of Indian Territory - 640,000 miles - but none of Arkansas.

The court presided over disputes and crimes of American citizens against Indians in the territory, Indians against American citizens and two American citizens against each other living in Indian Territory. An event in Arkansas was assigned to Little Rock, Wing says.

Wing will speak at 3 p.m. Nov.

9 about that first court in Van Buren and will tell the stories of notorious outlaws and hangings.

“It’s exciting, it’s daring, thinking about what these guys did,” Wing says of the deputies.

“Nobody trusted the government.

It’s amazing that people were looking up to them.” JUSTICE SERVED

The fall of Judge Isaac Parker’s gavel signaled justice in the Western District. The Fort Smith National Historic Site will follow that sound back to 1886 next weekend, with a re-creation of an actual case.

“It will take place in the Parker’s restored courtroom,” says Michael Groomer, chief of interpretation and resource management at the historic site.

On March 20, 1886, members of the notorious Lee Gang stood trial for the murder of four lawmen who died trying to arrest brothers Jim and Pink Lee. Many believed the members of this gang killed 40 people.

“During the 1880s, cattle rustling plagued ranchers in Cook County, Texas, near the border of the Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory,” reads a synopsis of the case put togetherby Lynch. The Lees were believed to be the culprits.

In May 1885, Deputy Marshal James Guy gathered a posse of about 12 cowboys and tracked down the Lees to a ranch in the Chickasaw Nation. Seven people were believed to be inside. An ambush and gunfight left Guy and three of his posse dead.

The remaining posse members retreated and gave up the pursuit.

Later, Jim and Pink Lee were killed in a gunfight with Deputy Marshal Jim Taylor and detective Heck Thomas. The three men who ended up in Parker’s court were believed to be in the house during the gunfight.

Ultimately, the men were judged innocent.

But a modern jury has a chance to convict. Twelve people will be chosen from the audience to serve as jurors of this Night Court presentation. Local lawyers and court officials will present the case. Fort Smith defense attorney David Dunagin will and preside over the court.

“They’ll be doing their same jobs in different clothing, stepping back a century,” Lynch says.

“We haven’t reached a conviction in years,” Lynch says. “We often have a hungjury. It’s interesting to compare and contrast how the two juries think.”

MARSHALS TODAY

“They often work under the radar - purposely,” Dunn says.

“They’ve done more with less.”

“Marshals are America’s first and finest federal law enforcement agency,” reads information provided by museum organizers. “Today, they arrest more federal fugitives each year than all other federal law enforcement agencies combined.”

“They were on the scene in the Oklahoma City bombing (of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building),” Dunn continues.

“They weren’t involved in the capture of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, but they pursued the chemist who helped them make the bomb.

“They provided law enforcement and helped in search rescue after Katrina and 9/11,” Dunn says. “And the list goes on and on. They are unsung heroes, who protect individual rights, domestic tranquility and they are vital to the importance of the preservation of the Constitution. They are responsible for spreading the rule of law from coast to coast.”

Whats Up, Pages 16 on 11/01/2013