January 8, 1847

The Arkansas Democrat noted in an editorial that, in order for a U.S. deputy marshal to enforce law in the Indian Territory, he was forced to travel 160 miles from Little Rock (Pulaski County) just to reach Indian lands and then had to travel another 200 miles to get to the western boundary of his jurisdiction. This was compounded by the difficulty of capturing and transporting suspects back to Little Rock, as well as serving subpoenas to pertinent witnesses. Deputy marshals received the sum of two dollars per warrant and ten cents per mile of travel, from which they had to pay all their expenses. The division of the state’s judicial system into the Eastern District and Western District in 1851 helped alleviate these problems.