This much is known: Jim Parker was hanged in Prescott, AZ on June 3, 1898, for the murder of Assistant District Attorney Lee Norris during a jailbreak.
One of the great legends around Parker says he asked for a little female companionship on the night before his execution—and his longtime friend, Sheriff George Ruffner, brought a local hooker to Parker’s jail cell to fulfill that last reque

True West March/April 2025
In This Issue:
Western Books & Movies
More In This Issue
- Truth Be Known
- What Has Taught Me: Deb Goodrich
- Earp, Cowboy Songs & Prairie Hygiene
- Trails of the Old West
- The Frontier Characters of South Dakota
- The Bowie Knife
- The Kindled Flame 1835
- King of the Scatterguns
- Selling the Mythic West and the Real West
- A Gut Punch Turns into a Miracle Reprieve
- The Beginnings of the Bird Cage
- Frontier Colossus