Fort Smith Sextuple Execution of January 16, 1890

Six Choctaw men were hanged at Fort Smith (Sebastian County) after being convicted of first-degree murder in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas.

Harris Austin was convicted of killing Thomas Elliott at Tishomingo in the Chickasaw Nation on May 25, 1883. Elliott had accused Austin’s half brother of stealing whiskey from him, and Austin abruptly shot Elliott twice before finishing him off with a bullet in the forehead. Austin was then on the run for six years before being shot and wounded by a deputy U.S. marshal in April 1889. He was tried on August 23, 1889, “and a verdict of guilty was delivered within twenty minutes.”

On the night of April 12, 1888, John Billy, Thomas Willis, and Madison (sometimes spelled Mattison) James were drinking with W. P. Williams and Stephen Graham. When they ran out of liquor, they decided to walk to the nearby settlement of Albion to buy more, and Williams and Graham began fighting, with Williams attempting to pistol-whip his foe. Williams began to run, and Billy, Willis, and James chased him, with Billy firing his rifle, and Willis grabbing James’s gun and fatally shooting Williams. Billy, Willis, and James were arrested, then tried and convicted at Fort Smith on October 4, 1889.

Houston Joyce of Franklin, Texas, was traveling in the Indian Territory when he stopped in Towson County in the Choctaw Nation to eat lunch at Jim Goin’s house. When paying for his meal, Joyce showed that he had a substantial amount of money, and Goin told his nephew Sam Goin and Jimmon Burris to kill and rob him, which they did. Sam Goin later told another man what they had done, and this person passed that information on to a U.S. marshal who arrested the three men. They were tried for murder in October 1889. Sam Goin and Burris were convicted, while Jim Goin was acquitted.

Jefferson Jones was convicted of killing Henry Wilson, age sixty-five, in the Choctaw Nation on March 12, 1889. Wilson was walking to Polk County, Arkansas, to buy a horse and never returned. His rifle was later found at James Beam’s house; Beam told lawmen that he got the rifle from Jones. When questioned, Jones admitted shooting Wilson but said he did it in self-defense, though when the body was found, lawmen saw that he had been shot in the back. Jones was convicted on October 12, 1889.

On November 1, 1889, Judge Isaac Parker sentenced the seven men along with convicted murderers Charley Bullard and George Tobler to hang on January 16, 1890. At the request of Parker and district attorney W. H. H. Clayton, Madison James’s sentence was commuted to fifteen years in prison on January 14. Bullard and Tobler received respites until January 30; Bullard received commutation to life in prison, and Tobler would go to the gallows.

The six doomed men reportedly “slept well” the night before their execution “and partook of a hearty breakfast at 9 o’clock.” Their death warrants were read to them at 11:00 a.m., “not the least sign of emotion being evinced by either of the unfortunates,” and “the religious services…were concluded five minutes before 12.” The six men walked to the gallows where between 200 and 300 people had gathered, and after a short religious service each “spoke a few words through an interpreter.” Then “at 12 o’clock precisely the trap was sprung and the six human beings were launched into eternity.” A newspaper noted that hangman George Maledon “had everything well prepared, and no mishaps occurred.”

For additional information:
Akins, Jerry. Hangin’ Times in Fort Smith: A History of Executions in Judge Parker’s Court. Little Rock: Butler Center Books, 2012.

“Cheated the Gallows.” Arkansas Gazette, January 15, 1890, p. 1.

Riley, Michael Owen. “Capital Punishment in Oklahoma: 1835-1966, PhD dissertation, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, August 2012, online at https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/518/ (accessed February 6, 2026).

“Six Hung.” Arkansas Democrat, January 16, 1890, p. 1.

“Six Men Hanged.” St. Louis Globe Democrat, January 17, 1890, p. 3.

Mark K. Christ
Little Rock, Arkansas