|
 |
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Fort Smith Criminal Case Files, 1866-1900
About the Data
This database consists of criminal court cases of such famous outlaws as Wyatt Earp and "Cherokee Bill" Goldsby. Many of these 50,000 cases were heard by the famous "hanging" Judge Isaac C. Parker, appointed by President Grant to bring law and order to the territory of Arkansas. The descriptions provide the first and last name of the defendant, the type of crime, the year, the jacket number, and other information.
The following was submitted by Barbara Rust an archivist in the National Archives-SW Region. The Ft. Smith criminal jackets consist of over 300 linear feet of records (at 2,000 pages per foot); it is a sizeable collection to microfilm. No group, including the LDS church, has mentioned filming the case files. Any company or organization that wishes to microfilm any National Archives records must make a written proposal, identifying the groups of records to be filmed, equipment being used, and expectant time frame for completing the work. We must also verify that their camera operators have been properly trained for handling old, formerly triple-folded materials. Targets would need to be prepared so researchers could tell when the film went from one jacket to another. Microfilming is very labor intensive when older records are involved. For that reason, the National Archives charges $34 per roll. If an organization filmed our records, we would be the agency selling the film, not the other organization. Other information about the criminal jackets: Dispositions of the legal proceedings are not found in the jackets, but entries relating to disposition can be found in the court's common law volumes. Liquor violations are misdemeanor charges, convictions resulting in jail sentences of one year or less. Testimony will generally not be found because defendants did not appeal misdemeanor convictions; they took their "lumps" and spent the six months or a year in the jail. For one thing, they could not afford an attorney. The Ft. Smith jackets also do not contain biographical information (ages, distinguishing marks, family histories, or addresses). The files were created as the federal court conducted its business. All the court wanted to know is what violation of law occurred, when and where did it occur (had to be within the court's geographical jurisdiction and time limits exist for most criminal violations-murder being an exception), and what adult person is charged with the crime. If I hold up a federally-insured bank today, Barbara Rust would be charged with violation of title ?, section ? of the U.S. Code for holding up the (name of the bank) Bank at (bank's address) on April 4, 2000. The grand jury indictment charging me with the crime would not mention whether I was married, had children, who my parents were, where I was born, my social security number, or my address. The court does not need that information to try, convict, and sentence me to prison. Court cases can be fun and they constitute one more piece of information about a family, but, unfortunately, criminal cases will never contain a lot of family information. Barbara Rust Archivist National Archives-SW Region
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| © 2009 Ancestry.com | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Books