Wok N Roll with us...Bob and Teri Along with Atlas and Kalani: Fort Smith, Arkansas November 2, 2018

We spent just one night in Fort Smith where we checked out a few things after a day of travel. In the late 1800’s at the border of what was then the United States and Indian Territory sat Miss Laura’s Social Club. There were several bordellos there on First Street and Miss Laura Zieglar bought this one in 1898 for $3,000. Business must have been good as she repaid the bank loan in only 17 months, at a time when the average wage was just $3 per week. Her girls were known to be well taken care of. They all had weekly health inspections, were well fed and treated regularly to the Opera by Miss Laura. The local clothier, the Boston Store, would come to Miss Laura’s (as they did not want these ladies in their store) to sell them the finest dresses. Miss Laura ran the front office where she would sell a customer a token for $3. The customer would then take his token to the front parlor that was filled with women, dancing and liquor. The customer would socialize with the various ladies and then make his choice. Of the $3 for a trick, the woman got $1, the house or expenses got $1 and Miss Laura profited $1. Most girls would work an average of just 18 months with Miss Laura. They would either marry or move on with the money they had saved. By 1910, there was a lot of pressure in the town to do away with the red-light district. On January 7, 1910, a fire broke out sending women and their customers running into the street in their undergarments. Two of the brothels on the street burned to the ground. This night would forever become known as the lingerie parade. Seeing that the business future was precarious, Miss Laura decided to sell the business to Berta Gale Dean, known as Big Bertha. In 1911 Miss Laura got $47,000 for the business! Prostitution became illegal in 1924. The house still ran, however, until Bertha’s death in 1948 under the cover of being a ladies boarding house.

In 1817, the U.S. government founded Fort Smith as a western frontier military post. Today the historic site serves to remind us of many points in history that passed over the Fort Smith grounds. Trying to keep order in the Wild West, it served as a Fort from 1817-1824 and then again from 1838-1871. Later from 1872-1896, it was the site of the Federal Court of Judge Isaac C. Parker, who came to be known as the hanging judge. His legend has since been showcased in movies such as True Grit, Rooster Cogburn and Hang’em High. While it is true he sentenced more men to hang than any other judge in US history, he also served longer than most judges. He tried 13,490 cases with 9,454 resulting in convictions. The law at the time was mandatory hanging for rape and murder. And interestingly, Judge Parker was said to not be a supporter of capital punishment. In fact, he was bothered by the sensationalism when hangings occurred and had the gallows fenced in to shield the hangings from the view of the general public. He also was instrumental in building a more human jail. The jail at the fort would house up to 50 men in one room at a time and the conditions and stench were said to be horrendous. So all in all, Judge Parker in many ways seems to have become a Western Movie Fictional Character, the making of some big box office hits that seem a bit far from the real character that Judge Parker was.

On to Texarkana as we work our way home.