William Clayton birthday celebration highlights frontier history

 

story and photos by Ruby Dean
[email protected]

Approximately 100 guests attended the W.H.H. Clayton Birthday Celebration held at the Clayton House in Fort Smith on Saturday (Oct. 15).

The event was free to the public which included a historic ballad performance by Herschel Parker (with song introductions by Judge Jim Spears as featured in A Time in History), “The Arrival of Judge Parker” vignette, Cowboy poet David Carter’s newest work about Clayton and Judge Isaac Parker, Deputy U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves’ (played by Baridi Nkokheli) “My Time-Honored Clayton Connection” and living history re-enactors.

The event started at 11:30 a.m. with a welcome from Julie Moncrief. Actors and actresses from The Fort Smith Little Theatre performed “The Arrival of Judge Parker”, a living history vignette by Dave Ross. Music entertainment was provided by Herschel Parker. The Lawbreakers and Peacemakers came dressed appropriately for the time period during Clayton’s arrival in Fort Smith.

William Henry Harrison Clayton was born in 1840 and spent most of his boyhood in Pennsylvania. He moved to Pine Bluff, Ark., in 1864 and studied law there. He was superintendent of public instruction for a seven-county district and established more than 30 new schools during his tenure.

In 1874, President Ulysses S. Grant appointed Clayton as the U.S. District Attorney to the United States Court of the Western District of Arkansas. Judge Isaac C. Parker arrived in 1875, and together they worked to bring peace and justice to the lawless Indian Territory and western one-third of Arkansas. At the time it was the largest federal court district in the nation, totaling 74,000 square miles.

Handling more than 10,000 cases in Judge Parker’s court, Clayton successfully prosecuted more than 80 men charged with murder, an unparalleled record. He was re-appointed in 1897 by President Rutherford B. Hayes.

Clayton left Fort Smith in 1897 to serve as Judge of the U. S. Court for the Central District of Indian Territory. He died in McAlester, Okla., in 1920. Clayton is buried in the Fort Smith National Cemetery beside his wife, Florence, who had died 14 years earlier.

A lunch of hot dogs, drinks, and desserts were available during the celebration event. Children could enjoy games on the lawn of Graces Hoops and croquet and also art projects. Tours of the Clayton House historic museum were offered at the regular low price of $2.50 for adults, $1.50 for ages 12-18, and free for children under 12. Clayton House memberships, their main income source, were also available.