American Historical Ephemera & Photography

3 silver gelatin photographs, 4 1/2 x 3 3/4 in. on cardstock mounts. Each with H.L. Hamaker's imprint on verso and previous owners' inked and penciled notations. All lightly and evenly toned; image numbered "4" in ink on mount features spots of discoloration to upper left. Photographs show different moments from the execution, including the placing of the noose on Parker (image numbered "3" in upper left corner).

[With:] 4 x 5 in. silver gelatin photograph, unmounted, with penciled caption on verso, "Execution of Mexican Murderers Prescott, AZ., 1904." Six men stand with their hats in their hands behind three men kneeling beneath the gallows with their heads slightly bowed - one appearing to be reading to the other two. A series of real photo postcards documenting this execution (of Elijo Hidalgo and Francisco Rentezia for the murder of Charles Goddard and Frank Cox, 1903) were made by the Brisley Drug Company in 1907. One features this image. 

Fleming James Parker was executed on 3 June 1898 after a series of crimes, beginning with an ill-fated train robbery in February of 1897 for which Parker was imprisoned at Yavapai County Jail in Prescott. Parker escaped from jail prior to his trial, killing popular district attorney, Erasmus Lee Norris, in the process. He was recaptured and sentenced to death for murder, putting an end to his life of crime. Much legend surrounds the life of Fleming Parker, and many details and embellishments of these events abound, including a popular account that Parker spent the last night before his execution with a local prostitute by the name of "Flossie."