08/30/2012
This is a photo that I took of an old photograph of the hanging of convicted train robber/murderer James Fleming Parker on June 8, 1898. In February 1897, Parker, along with an accomplice, robbed a train outside of the settlement of Peach Springs in the Arizona Territory. The robbery was a failure because the accomplice died from his wounds and Parker lost the stolen money. He was hunted by a posse for 8 days in the area of the Grand Canyon led by the sheriff of Yavapai County. He was eventually captured and placed in the Prescott Jail. One of his fellow prisoners was Louis Miller, a forgerer and one time candidate for Yavapai County sheriff. The two soon escaped from jail and, in the process, Parker shot and killed the district attorney in the courthouse square. The two were soon captured and tried for murder (Miller was named as the accomplice). Miller missed the death penalty by one vote; however, Parker was not so fortunate. He was sentenced to death and hanged in the courthouse square. He was buried in the Potter's Field of the Citizen's Cemetery in Prescott.
